Facing financial fallout, Manhattan’s New School university has put its presidential residence — a historic townhouse in a prime corner of the West Village — on the market.
The five-story, 21 W. 11th St. property, located a short walk away from the 100-year-old institution’s campus hub and along the storied Gold Coast, is listed with Sotheby’s International Realty. It seeks $20 million.
If sold for ask, the 4,038-square-foot abode would only cover part of the college’s $52 million budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year, the New York Times reported.
Still, amid significant inflation- and enrollment-related money problems, the sale is a popular move that has been demanded by students and endorsed even by interim president Donna Shalala, who is currently living in the brick four-bedroom spread.
“It’s mainly symbolic,” New School chair of economics Sanjay Reddy told the Times of the home’s sale, “but I think it’s still very, very significant because every million counts. As they say, a million here, a million there, and soon you’re talking real money.”
At a recent faculty meeting, he recalled, the room broke out in applause when it was announced the 103-foot-deep Greek Revival Federal Style house would be listed.
The address also has a history of attendance from other important names.
“The home was frequented over the decades by an artistic circle of friends including W.H. Auden, Philip Roth, neighbor Stanley Kunitz, Jules Feiffer and Mark Rothko,” says the approximately 170-year-old residence’s listing, citing the website Daytonian in Manhattan. “Notable poets, politicians, artists and writers are among the many friends welcomed into this graceful indoor/outdoor lifestyle.”
The building is also almost directly across the street from 18 W. 11th Street, which members of the leftist militant group the Weather Underground accidentally detonated nearly 54 years ago, killing three.
The infamous townhouse’s current owner, Miguel McKelvey of WeWork, has struggled to sell the since-rebuilt address for several years. It last listed in 2022. As of October 2023, according to StreetEasy, he took it off the market, when it was available for $18 million.
Another home on the block listed for sale late last week for $6 million.
