UPDATED: Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi Suffers From Downturn (SLIDESHOW)

As the Manhattan real estate market gets pummeled, artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel's Pompeii-red Palazzo Chupi, a five-unit building in the West Village, is suffering the ravages of the real estate downturn.

The total number of Manhattan real estate sales was sliced in half, according to new first quarter reports. In addition, the number of sales that have closed in new developments plummeted by 67% from the prior-year-quarter, according to the Corcoran Group. And a telling indicator, the number of sales contracts signed, plunged 40% to 1,324, down from 2,225 in the prior-year-quarter, according to real estate listings Web site Streeteasy.com.

Two of the units remain unsold and were recently discounted: the eighth floor duplex was put on the market in 2007 for $27 million, but was recently discounted for the third time to $19 million. The penthouse triplex was originally listed at $32 million, but is now $22 million. It was the fourth price drop, according to StreetEasy.

"The eclectic finishes and design would not appeal to most people," Sofia Kim, vice president of research for StreetEasy, told the real estate magazine The Real Deal. The prices are also still high, despite the price chops. The closest comparable sale--a triplex designed by architect Richard Meier--was priced at nearly one-third less, Kim added.

The actor Richard Gere bought his unit for $12 million in 2007, and originally listed it for nearly $18 million last year. He later lowered the price to $15 million. In February, after it still had not sold, he took the listing off the market.

The investment banker William Brady owns the fourth unit, and the fifth is reserved for Schnabel himself.

Among the amenities are unobstructed views of the Hudson River, a swimming pool and sauna, indoor parking and several original details designed by Schnabel.

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As the Manhattan real estate market finishes the first quarter reporting a 67% drop in sales, filmmaker and artist Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi is suffering the ravages of the downturn.

Comments

[AN2009]

You'd have to be a fool to pay that kind of money for such a hideously-designed condominium...

[Nicole Sutherland]

IT'S HIDEOUS!!!! it needs to be so much cheaper for the complete redecorating costs that will be required.

[Tom95134]

Why is this piece of crap story still showing up? Is there nothing better to discuss that a very, very ugly condo and the fact that some people might be willing to pay really stupid amounts of money to buy the place?

[MsIrisMG]

Finally, something unimportant to focus on. All the doom and gloom and backbiting were starting to get to me.

Now, maybe it's not selling because it's ugly, and people would have to repaint?

[706makeupgirl]

Who is Schnabel? From the looks of that place he is a circus painter. How Garrish!
I bet if he painted the whole thing white and beige and put some nice dark italian leather in there it would sell.
When the economy is bad, people begin to sober up and think, hummm, I could buy a small island for $32mil. What a waste.
MsIrisMG has got it right, Its Ugly.

[JScott]

I think he's like a film director or producer and sometimes painter.
I'm sure there are lotsa results from google.

[nickmagoo]

Julian Schnabel was one of the biggest art stars of the 80s, with an ego that sometimes outstripped his talent (though I do believe he is a talented artist). He has since moved over to directing some wonderful films, such as the beautiful and heartbreaking 'Diving Bell and the Butterfly,' 'Before Night Falls' (about a Cuban poet), and 'Basquiat' (about fellow 80s art legend who died young). he also directed a concert film of Lou Reed's 70s gloomy masterwork 'Berlin.'

[Skeetshooter]

I'm not surprised that the man who sold broken plates as art has an exaggerated sense of the value of his real estate holdings. Maybe he needs to get out into the real world a bit more; the world where people making a living through hard work rather than hype.

By the way, I'm an artist and I do support the arts. I just don't support the buggery of the arts by the rich, the untalented, and the overprivileged.

[Daimon]

OT: My favorite 60 minutes moments is when the talentless Schnabel could barely continue the interview
when Shafer brought up the critic Robert Hughes who dismissed the artist thus: "Schnabel is to painting what [Sylvester] Stallone is to acting - a lurching display of oily pectorals - except that Schnabel makes bigger public claims for himself". Priceless.

[Bucket-Of-Love]

Robert Hughes is certainly not always on the money as a critic and historian. I agree with Hughes's point about Schnabel's muscle flexing, but definitely do not agree with the narrowness with which Hughes forms his conclusion. Hughes can be quite a dismissive twit sometimes.

[ebroadcast]

hidious

[breakingpoint]

nice digs

[hellboundtrain]

Whoa! Kind of like living inside a neon sign!

[tomsemioli]

I got news for yer, Greenwich Village ain't happenin' anymore....

[hmargret]

UGLY.....UGLY!
baroque kitsch.....of course, if he were a truly great artist, his house wouldn't look like this.
He could sell this dump to Damien Hirst, whose work is the diamond skulls...he would be a perfect client for Schnabel.

[MissingAmerica]

I love design and try to incorporate some in a "Design on a Dime" fashion. This one, however, I will not be trying to emulate, at least not in this incarnation!

[rucognizant]

What a crying shame..................the podling masses ( remember them from Dark Crystal? Had their brains sucked out by the evil ones, to make them compliant proletariat workers.) so they wouldn't notice they were being robbed blind!
45 years ago, my family built a business doing these "one of a kind" finishes. ( The rich people we worked for were a whole different crowd, than these corrupt, greedy, "nouveau riche, " ( said with a sneer!)
Granted if I were to move into any of the units, I would chose items different than the red pink & teal furniture.......BUT the basic architecture of the interiors are fantastic. Love the fireplace in the bathroom, the red tile floors, the french doors overlooking the Hudson River.
Sadly, the Fine Arts backlash to the legions marching in dreary unimaginative lockstep, has also distorted that world, and made it false and out of balance!.

[Freenation]

Overated = Overpriced = Unwanted

[markytex]

i'll go ahead and take out a sub-prime loan for the triplex and put the redecorating and new furniture on my credit card. i've got no job, no money so it should be no problem.