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After three years on the market and one infamous tenant, a Russian buyer has scooped up the Tribeca townhouse Dominique Strauss Khan rented for $60,000 a month while under house arrest for a cool $10.5 million, which was around $600,000 more than its most recent asking price. "Robert Dvorin, a broker at Town Residential, who held on to the listing even as he changed brokerage companies, said Mr. Strauss-Kahn's stay and the 'world-wide attention and exposure to the property' had helped make the sale happen," reports the Wall Street Journal's Josh Barbanel. Huh? This house was much maligned and was notorious for changing the way we think about house arrest. Four bedrooms, four and a half baths, steam shower, movie theater, radiant floors, and a gym (photo tour here) didn't and still doesn't really sound like any kind of punishment for someone who was awaiting trial for a rape.

Add to that the funky notion that whoever is buying it has to know that DSK may have very well splashed around in the same Duravit jet tub they'll be using (with his ankle bracelet resting on the Italian limestone that flanks it of course). DSK himself even said it was a bit overpriced in an interview with The Daily Beast last year, but it was his only option. "So we found this house. I didn’t like this house. It was expensive. But it was that or return to Rikers Island."

The house first came on the market in 2009 for a hair under $15 million. While it languished on the market, it was turned into a rental for events, such as the launch party for Dan Abrams' Mogulite in May 2011, just a couple weeks before DSK took up residence. It was reduced to $9.95 million this past May, before being sold last week for some where in the ballpark of $10.5 million. 

"Mr. Dvorin said that one Russian would-be buyer was aware of the house because of news stories on Mr. Strauss-Kahn," reports Barbanel, though that isn't the reason the buyer and their listing agent is sticking to. "Joanna Cutler, a broker who represented the winning buyer, declined to identify her client, who she said was attracted to the property because 'of the quality of the finishes, the craftsmanship and the materials,' not because of its brief brush with history," Barbanel adds. 

 

 

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