SELLER: Billy Bush
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $8,250,000 (last asking)
SIZE: plans call for a new house of 7,280 square feet with 6-7 bedrooms
YOUR MAMA’S NOTES: Having resigned last fall from his extremely short-lived post as one of the many co-hosts of “Today” and, hence, no longer in need of a place to call home in New York City, affable veteran entertainment reporter and long-time Angleno Billy Bush sold a fixer-upper townhouse along a tree-lined block in the Chelsea neighborhood. The 20-foot wide and four-story townhouse, with about 4,300-square feet of interior space already gutted in preparation for a full-scale renovation and expansion, was last listed at $8.25 million and sold, as was first revealed by the celebrity property gossips at The Wall Street Journal, for an as-yet undisclosed amount to an unrevealed buyer.
Mister Bush purchased the property for $8.8 million in December 2015, some six months or so after it was announced the long-time “Access Hollywood” and “Access Live” host had been hired to co-anchor the 9:00 slot on “Today,” Alas, he almost immediately caught a case of The Real Estate Fickle and not even six months later flipped the gutted townhouse back on the market with an asking price of $8.995 million. In late October, just a couple of weeks after the now infamous hot mic video tape surfaced that that showed Mister Bush talking trash about women with then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and that proved to be his demise at “Today,” the asking price was chopped to $8.595 million and quickly lowered again to its final price tag of $8.25 million.
Listing details show “Pre-approved plans” by the innovative architects at ODA call for a snazzy and complete transformation of the existing townhouse that would push the size to 7,248 square feet with at half of a dozen bedrooms and six full and three half bathrooms plus a self-contained apartment for staff or guests with another bedroom, bathroom and full kitchen. Plans for the expanded townhouse call for an elevator to service all six floors plus the roof terrace and for a newly installed and luxuriously heated raised stoop entry to open a loft-style, open-plan parlor floor that incorporates a dining area opposite the main staircase, a sleekly outfitted kitchen, and a living room with fireplace, 22-foot ceiling and towering wall of glass. Plans also show a fully subterranean cellar designed to include a laundry room, a windowless en suite bedroom, a small gym, and a 10-seat home theater. Guest and family bedrooms were spread throughout the townhouse while the planned master suite luxuriously occupies the entire third with a private entry vestibule a street-facing sitting room with fireplace and morning bar, a large bedroom with another fireplace, a roomy bathroom, and a long, wardrobe-lined dressing hall plus a walk-in closet. In addition to a stone-tiled backyard garden accessible from both the parlor and basement levels, plans call for a five-star boutique hotel worthy roof terrace complete with plunge pool, spa, lounge area and outdoor kitchen.
Our research shows Mister Bush, first cousin to former Florida governor Jeb Bush and 41st president George Bush, continues to own his long time home in Encino, a 4,148-square-foot multi-winged ranch-style residence set privately on a knoll behind gates and purchased in August 2004 for $3,050,000, as well as a large home in Park City, UT, owned since at least the spring of 2006.
Listing photos and floor plan: Engel & Völkers (via Street Easy)
