Of Course Sarah Jessica Parker Couldn't Leave the Village

For at least the past three years, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have been scouring the city looking for a new home. They reportedly looked as far afield as the penthouse at 54 Bond Street; a 28-foot-wide, two-townhouse combo in the East Village; a Central Park West co-op The Observer may or may not have driven them from; and even Park Slope!

But, really, how far could Ms. Parker have wandered from her beloved Magnolia Bakery?

Granted, she will not be two blocks away, as was the case with the theatrical couple's current townhouse on Charles Street, but the Village is the
Village, even if the address has "East" in it.

Yesterday, The Observer reported that a mysterious buyer, the Heirloom Trust, had purchased a grand 25-foot-wide, 165-year-old Greek Revival-style townhouse at 20 East 10th Street for $18.995 million. This was a year after the trust had passed on a home two doors down, the Pen and Brush studios at 16 East 10th Street. Patrick Gavin, the Douglas Elliman broker who still has that listing, declined to reveal the buyer's true identity, though he did note that the trust had walked because the home could not be delivered vacant at the time—a number of artists at the Pen and Brush had been fighting to save their studios.

They are gone now, as the listing loudly declares, which is rather ironic—had the trust held tight, it would have been able to move into a gold coast home by now, and The Observer might not have stumbled onto its identity. According to a source, Ms. Parker and Mr. Broderick were the ones prepared to buy the Pen and Brush. This person did not know if they had instead settled for the spread two doors down, but considering Ms. Parker's business manager, Frank Selvaggi, is listed on the deed for 20 East 10th Street, well, The Observer is willing to wager our Sex in the City complete series box set that the stars did.

Mr. Selvaggi did not return requests for comment, but here is a YouTube video of the pair hammming it up at last fall's Empire State Pride gala.

The home was sold by Malaysian media mogul Cliff Ng and former model Farrah Summerford, who bought the townhouse in 2000 for $5.03 million, according to city records. Only the fourth buyers in the home's history, they gave it a serious makeover, according to Corcoran broke Eileen Roberts' listing: "The current residents converted the property back to a single-family home in 2000-2001 and continue to meticulously maintain and update it. The design and usage of every inch of this 6800+' space was thought out in advance, and no expense was spared in the extraordinary renovation."

Among the new features that should come in handy for the celebrity buyers is "a Siedle Video Intercom System with 5 security cameras with on demand call-up and 24 hour time lapse recording which stores data for up to a month and/or it can burn the information on a disc. This monitoring system allows computer access from anywhere in the world."

This would also help explain why Ms. Parker is still so worried about whether or not there is a full-service hospital in the neighborhood.

RELATED: Can't Buy the Townhouse You Wanted? Spend $5 Million More on One Two Doors Down. >>

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mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo