Some Charming Manhattanites Are Buying Second 'Staycation' Homes In Manhattan For 'A Change Of Scenery'
Every so often, a newspaper will publish a Rich Person Real Estate Trend piece so horrifying I am certain I will keel over at my desk and die. Usually the Times is responsible for these monstrosities. But somehow, today the Wall Street Journal managed to top even the couple that moved to Williamsburg because it was "exotic," diving into the world of Manhattan homeowners who purchase second vacation homes...in Manhattan.
Indeed, the WSJ's strip of real estate discharge introduces one Eric Straus, who, along with wife Varinda Missett, purchased a $1.988 million two-bedroom "weekend home" in Tribeca, which is located a mere 50 blocks from their regular home in Midtown. “What I love is that unlike the Hamptons, it’s a quick subway ride down there, and it totally feels like you’re on vacation,” Straus told the WSJ, adding that Tribeca is "quiet—it feels like a country home."
And while this may sound insane to people whose rental apartments are so crappy they were inspired to rank their bug infestations, it is apparently a "trend" for homeowners to purchase vacation homes in the same cities as their primary residences, so they have crash pads when they go out late downtown, and/or want to experience the "new restaurants and art galleries" opening slightly farther from the boring neighborhoods in which they already live. "Different neighborhoods have different experiences,” one real estate agent told the paper. “If you walk on the street in the West Village, it’s like a different world to the Upper East Side.”
It is unclear whether these folks are aware you don't have to purchase a $2 million home in a neighborhood to be allowed to visit it, but no matter.
Some homeowners profiled in this fairy tale at least seemed to "staycation" in places that take slightly more effort to reach than a 10 minute subway ride, which, as the piece points out, makes sense for people who need to stay close to home for work purposes, etc.. The WSJ mentions people in Brooklyn and Manhattan who rent vacation homes in the Far Rockaway in the summer, but at least there's a beach there, and an historical precedent set by the and the All-of-a-Kind family, who went there to escape the Spanish flu.
There's also a couple who live in the Hollywood Hills and have a loft in Downtown L.A., which is technically only 8 miles away but in Los Angeles that's like a 12 hour drive; another couple who live in South Miami and weekend on Key Biscayne get a mention, but since the entire state of Florida is a beach full of armed alligators waiting on line for Harry Potter Land, that means nothing.
But, again, Manhattanites are purchasing vacation homes in Manhattan. "I’m so in love with Manhattan, and my wife is too,” the aforementioned Straus told the paper. “We wanted another Manhattan experience.”
Anyway, the moral of the story is that soon this town will be full of folks purchasing a different Manhattan apartment for each night of the week. ("Monday is Murray Hill night!" one apartment-hopping couple laughingly divulge in the Style story that will finally break me completely.) Good thing we keep building more luxury towers, huh?
