Liam Gallaher Buys Urban American Oasis

BUYER: Liam Gallagher
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $2,500,000
SIZE: 1,575 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Okay, we're stretching it to call this two bedroom New York City apartment an oasis even if it did cost (former) Oasis front man Liam Gallagher $2,500,000. Still, it's pretty nice for a pied-a-terre that the English rock star, now the U.K.-based front man for a band called Beady Eye, will most likely be used more like a luxury hotel suite than a private home.

The New York Observer revealed last week that Mister Gallagher—a man who has previously displayed some disdain for the good ol' United States of America—scooped up a two bedroom and 2.5 bathroom condo nestled onto a high floor of the mixed-used Jumeriah Essex House on Central Park South that does double duty as a high-class residential condominium complex and a high-priced hotel.

The apartment was sold to the sellers in December 2007 for $3,120,936, according to StreetEasy, and flipped back on the market less than 1.5 years later with an asking price of $3,300,000. Six weeks after than the price was briefly reduced to $3,195,000 before it was right back up at $3,300,000. Within days the price inexplicably ballooned to $3,650,000 and two months later it was taken off the market only to reappear nearly two years later with a much lower (but still optimistic) asking price of $2,950,000.

After just two weeks on the (open) market Mister Gallagher came along and snatched the compact, bi-winged contemporary-styled condo into contract and quickly closed with a fairy steeply discounted sale price of $2,500,000.

Listing information shows the 1,575 square foot condo has an open plan main living area with double exposures, over-scaled wide-plank herringbone-pattern wood floors, and a sleek, Euro-style kitchen with marble slab counter tops, dark brown Shaker-style cabinetry and high-grade stainless steel appliances that include a built-in 40-bottle wine cooler.

Each of the two bedrooms, situated down a zig-zagging corridor with laundry closet and powder pooper, has a private, attached bathroom. The only slightly larger master also has more spacious (but still window-free) facility plus a walk-in closet larger than some Manhattan studio apartments.

The full-service hotel-condo building offers residents five-star services such as 24-7 doormen and room service, (pay for play) laundry, dry cleaning and valet services, and access to the hotel's health club, meeting room and concierge services. For all this Mister Gallagher will cough up, as per listing information from the time of his purchase, $4,690 per month in common charges and another $2,089 in property taxes.

Should Mister Gallagher like, he can lease the condo (with a one month minimum) when he's not in residence. Laugh and scoff all you want but stranger things have happened. It's really not such an unusual occurrence for celebs and other high profile types to rent out little used properties in their portfolios. Just yesterday, in fact, it was reported by the property gossips at Zillow that pop star Natasha Bedingfield made the Los Angeles, CA residence she bought in 2009 for $2,300,000 up for rent at $18,000 per month.

listing photos and floor plan: Stribling