Reality, it seems, can sometimes bite.
Real Housewives of New York alum Sonja Morgan has unloaded her Upper East Side townhouse for a fraction of what she paid for the property, despite the elegant, 5-story prewar building’s frequent presence on the show.
The five-bedroom property at 162 E. 63rd St. between Lexington and Third avenues traded for about $4.5 million Wednesday after a two-week auction, according to The New York Post.
Records indicate that in 1998 Morgan and her ex-husband, John Morgan Jr., a great-great grandson of financier J.P. Morgan, had paid $9.1 million for the home, which features a formal dining room with a fireplace, a primary suite with a fireplace and a koi pond in its large, flagstone-lined garden.
The couple divorced in 2006 after an eight-year marriage, which seemed to lead to a cascade of financial problems for Morgan, whose failed business ideas included trying to launch her own toaster oven business, a flop chronicled on the show.
Not only did the 4,500-square-foot townhouse sell at a 50% loss, but it also struggled to find a taker for more than a decade, a period during which the house fell into disrepair. Morgan first tried to unload No. 162 in 2009 for $9.3 million, according to StreetEasy, around the time she filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reportedly racking up $20 million in debts from a failed John Travolta movie project.
After bouncing on and off the market for years, and being offered as a rental some of the time, the townhouse came back up for sale in 2019 with a new and all-time-high asking price of about $11 million, though it began to be discounted in the pandemic. No. 162 was last listed in April at about $8 million before the auction began. Bidding was expected to start around $2 million.
The identity of the buyer in the deal, which won’t hit the city register for days, is unknown. Adam Modlin, the last broker to market the property, declined to comment, and Concierge Auctions, which began soliciting bids May 15, did not reply to an email by press time.
The Real Housewives of New York premiered on the Bravo network in 2008; Morgan first appeared in its third season, in 2010, and left the show after its 13th, in 2021.
Once considered the most prized of all types of New York real estate, townhouses have fallen out of favor somewhat in recent decades as condos have become larger and more sumptuous, brokers say, adding that like single-family homes, they don’t require the scrutiny of boards. High interest rates also seem to have taken a toll on the sector, along with other kinds of city homes.
C. J. Hughes , 2024-05-30 19:28:43
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