For just one day, I would love to know what it’s like to have elite real estate drama. Like, I want to know what it feels like to beef with my neighbors over $10 million-plus properties. Does it feel different from middle-class real estate drama? I bet it does. In any case, Taylor Swift always seems to be causing real estate drama wherever she goes. Tay is big mover in elite real estate circles – she easily owns $100 million worth of real estate in America, from Nashville to LA to New York to Rhode Island. She flips properties, she buys properties close to whatever boyfriend she’s dating, and she’s always adding to her real estate portfolio.
Well, Taylor has gone on another real-estate purchasing binge in New York – late last year, she bought a three-story townhouse next to her current penthouse duplex in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York. Taylor used to be mostly based out of New York, but these days it feels like she’s moving steadily between London, LA, NY and Nashville. My point? I have no idea how much time Taylor even spends in New York at this point, and whether her constant penthouse renovations have anything to do with that. Now her Tribeca neighbors are worried that she’s taking over the block and that she’s going to cause so many headaches as she renovates and converts these properties into some massive Tay Compound.
Tribeca residents better be nice, or Taylor Swift might write a vindictive song about them. As The Post recently revealed, the singer has been building up her downtown real estate collection, adding a $9.75 million apartment at 155 Franklin St. — the address where she already owns an 8,000-square-foot penthouse duplex created from two units. And this past fall, it was reported that she purchased a three-story townhouse next door, at 153 Franklin, for $18 million. Total worth of her block domination: a cool $47.7 million. But not all of Swift’s neighbors in Tribeca — home to the city’s most expensive zip codes — are happy for her.
“We don’t need celebrities here that will draw the focus [of] the paparazzi or extra fan attention. [There’s already a] small swarm of teenage girls lurking and swooning outside [Swift’s home regularly],” said an entrepreneur who lives in the neighborhood. “Yes, we have celebrities living here — [but] we like not having conspicuous celebrities here. That’s why we live in Tribeca. Because the flashier famous people are clustered [in neighborhoods] like the West Village.”
Days after it was reported this past October that Swift had purchased the townhouse, someone posted a flier reading “Taylor Swift Can Go F–k Herself” to a Tribeca lamppost…. Although no work has been reported since Swift purchased the property, neighbors are worried she might begin a large-scale construction project to combine units from the two buildings — just as she combined two apartments to create her 155 duplex.
“People are concerned. Everyone’s wondering what she’ll do — if she will connect the buildings for the garage access [as the townhouse has its own garage with a private entrance] or make a massive compound,” said one resident who lives nearby and who, like the entrepreneur, asked that The Post withhold her name for fear of angering Swift. “There was speculation on what she needs the new townhouse and second unit for. Some think [the townhouse] is for parking!”
“Franklin Street has a history of being an apocalypse of construction,” said the entrepreneur. “When even one lane is blocked off it can cause chaos.” A commenter on the Tribeca Citizen Web site wrote of how Swift’s presence already inconveniences residents of 155 Franklin: “There’s one elevator and if she’s coming or going, [her] bodyguards won’t let anyone get in. They’ll hold the elevator on the top floor for 30 [minutes] waiting for her.”
Meanwhile, the singer has created waves in the real-estate world. Brokerage Douglas Elliman is suing her for unpaid commissions of $1.6 million related to the townhouse sale.
A Swift insider insisted, “It’s not that she’s a bad neighbor — but the [paparazzi loitering outside] really is a problem.” The insider added that Swift had a tough time finding co-op boards and buildings that would sell to her, given the baggage that comes with her level of fame. “People aren’t thrilled that she’s down there, but it comes with the territory. Tribeca is filled with two types of people: older people with a lot of money who want to be left alone and young, cool people who don’t care that she’s there.”
Imagine how wealthy you have to be to even own property in this neighborhood. And then imagine that your day-to-day routines are being disrupted by a snake pop star who is converting an $18 million townhouse into a personal parking garage. Ha! I mean, I’ve always respected Taylor’s business sense, and hell, if I had her money, I would go on a real estate purchasing binge too, so I can’t fault her, in general. Plus I think this is mostly “snooty people being snooty.” But I’ll wait to see what she does next – will she cause more aggravations for her neighbors now that she’s close to owning half a Tribeca block??
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
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