Lenny Kravitz

How'd Lenny Kravitz get pulled into a tabloid love quadrangle with Lenny Kravitz, Mr. and Mrs. Rod and Madonna? According to Page Six, it was the revenge of his manager Guy Oseary, whom he fired two weeks ago. [P6]

Lizzie Grubman will now manage her clients in addition to publicizing them. [P6] 

Ashley Dupré is reportedly in talks with the Los Angeles production company Handprint Entertainment and MTV to do a dating-based reality series in which she may be  "the next  Tila Tequila," says an unnamed source. [E! Online]  read more »

Stoical Exes: Sarah Larson isn't mad about being dumped by George Clooney; she's thankful for the career opportunities she's gotten out of dating him! [

In October 2004, poppy hard rock guitarist Lenny Kravitz was sued for $333,849.77 on account of the “catastrophic water damage” his toilet plumbing caused downstairs neighbor. The neighbor has now left their hip loft building, 30 Crosby Street.  read more »

Even with Courtney Love out of the building, a buyer has not yet scooped up theater chairman Laurence Isaacson's maisonette at 30 Crosby Street. Now, the price has just been reduced from $6.45 million to $5.995 million.

Over the years, Mr. Isaacson has tried to keep up with the Soho building's high-profile residents, as he told The Observer last March.

"I am quite a flamboyant creature," said Mr. Isaacson. "When you have people like Lenny Kravitz in the building--and we've just lost Courtney Love--you have to hold your own."

Since coming on the market earlier this year, celebrities like Kate Hudson and Billy Joel taken a walk through this lavish apartment, which was designed by Benjamin Noriega Ortiz. (He also did Lenny's place upstairs).

Considering that the Piano Man is now looking at a $12.9 million townhouse in Brooklyn Heights, he probably won't be at tomorrow's open house.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

Fame is fickle, even for buildings.  read more »

Corcoran has launched a sleek new design this afternoon for their website. And now buyers can search through listings by school district or subway line. (Ideal for finding hipster hideaways right off the L Train).

But the Arrange-a-Room feature is sure to waste the most precious hours at work. Instead of simply gawking at floorplans, you can place pieces of furniture throughout the sprawling spreads, like this one at 30 Crosby Street.

Just try to imagine how Lenny Kravitz or Courtney Love, who have condos in the Soho building, might have set up their pads.

- Michael Calderone

After putting her Fifth Avenue penthouse on the market over a year ago, Julia Roberts is finally closer to selling, according to the New York Post. Also, whatever happened to Lenny Kravitz buying the Duke Semans mansion? Could the ice-cream man have been wrong?

Hank Azaria dropped $4.75 million on Cindy Sherman’s Soho loft, according to the New York Times. Mr. Azaria will now bask in the downtown co-op’s “sensual elegance,” which The Real Estate last visited in July.

In the New York Times. Charles Bagli looks at the the possible move of Madison Square Garden to a location a few blocks. If built, the future home of the Knicks and Rangers would follow a familiar trend in recently-built arenas--additional luxury boxes! So the West Side Stadium gets struck down and a new MSG could rise up. It looks like those feisty Dolans knew what they were doing all along.

In New York magazine, S. Jhoanna Robledo looks at changes in the co-op approval process, like increased transparency. Also, Barnes and Noble exec Steve Riggio bought a $5.75 million Hamptons home, "according to sources." One of those sources might have been The Observer, which already reported the deal in mid July.  read more »

Also, could mega-developer Gary Barnett and his friends at the Carlyle Group already flip part of the land they bought last June from Donald Trump? According to Crain's, at least two bidders are interested in a $1 billion swath.

-Michael Calderone

Thanks to a very helpful ice cream man, Motoko Rich reports today that rocker Lenny Kravitz has twice viewed the potentially record-breaking Duke Semans Mansion. Does that mean he's one of the three nameless bidders mentioned in the piece?

One guy is sure of it.

"Lenny Kravitz, the rock star and budding designer, has visited the house twice, said Mamdouh Nasr, the owner of an ice cream truck that has parked for 28 years on the corner of 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue, just steps from the mansion's front door.

"To Mr. Nasr, it's clear evidence that the musician, who enjoys buying and fixing up real estate, is buying the home. "To this guy time is money," Mr. Nasr said. "So why he comes inside two times?""

While the ice cream guy is convinced, quick real-estate deals have never been Mr. Kravitz's trademark.

Although Mr. Kravitz has been seen looking at a number of expensive properties in Manhattan, he still has to do something about his Crosby Street penthouse.

The 6,000-square-foot spread has lingered on the market since July 2002, when it was first listed at a staggering $17 million. The price was next slashed to $14.95 million, then $13.95 million, and finally to $12.95 million, where it has remained since last summer.

However, if he does buy the Fifth Avenue mansion, it seems likely that he will want to unload the downtown apartment. Perhaps another drop in price?  read more »

But if that still might be too expensive, and your heart is set on a rock star's apartment, Courtney Love's 4,200-square-foot loft—in the same building—is still available for only $5.5 million.

- Michael Calderone

Today's New York Times House & Home section carries an essay by Rick Marin about manly men who like to talk about fabrics and architecture. Like Brad Pitt and Lenny Kravitz, who apparently redid his New Orleans home: Mr. Kravitz's principal collaborator has been Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, who did Mr. Kravitz's penthouse - Lucite grand piano, Donald Deskey pool table - and worked on the New Orleans place and the Bahamian beach house Mr. Kravitz is building with a local architect, Jackson Burnside. Mr. Noriega-Ortiz, who is not involved in the Kravitz Design venture, schooled his client in eclecticism: that midcentury could also mean mid-18th-century.

As for his client's design skills, Mr. Noriega-Ortiz is generous. "He knows styles and proportions and color," he said. "And the shopping was great." And as a potential competitor? "I don't know how he'd mold his design to other people's taste," he said. For sure! Remember the leaky toilet in Kravitz's extravagantly self-decorated Crosby Street loft, which caused trouble for the rocker's neighbors?  read more »

By the way ... Rick Marin?

Calling all Soho bargain hunters: The lavish penthouse at 30 Crosby Street belonging to Lenny Kravit  read more »

The sprawling Soho loft belonging to rocker Lenny Kravitz, which has been on the market since 2002,  read more »

Generosa Ammon Pelosi, the widow of slain financier Ted Ammon, has taken off the market the $10.5 mi  read more »

Just four months after David Dechman, a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Company, spent $6 million on a P  read more »