Josh Hartnett's Messy (but Tin-Ceilinged!) Downtown Rental

Even though the dreamy, oft-goateed actor Josh Hartnett spent $2.4 million on a Tribeca apartment a few years ago, he had been renting a relatively modest downtown loft until this month, according to three sources. One of them, who saw the place just after Mr. Hartnett left, said the 2,200-square-foot apartment at 237 Lafayette Street was a mess, but in a chic Soho-cum-Hollywood sort of way: “Organic food everywhere … All that’s left is trash and facial products and stuff.”

The loft is on the market for $7,995 per month, but listing broker Danny Davis of Citi Habitats said that his clients would rather sell. According to records, it belongs to the husband-and-wife music executives James Dowdall and Rose Noone, formerly joint heads of A&R at Warner Bros U.K.

Deeds show that the couple spent $2.3 million on the apartment in July 2005, but it was back on the market in mid-2006 for $2.8 million, which became $2,575,000 a year later. It’s been on and off the market since then, the Web site StreetEasy.com shows, taking baby steps down to $2,550,000, to $2,350,000, to $2,300,000, and now to $2,100,000.

Mr. Davis’ listing says the loft has 12-foot-high original tin ceilings, an open island kitchen, gobs of natural light and “a very liberal sublet policy.”

mabelson@observer.com