The TV host is trading his 3,500-square-foot apartment, painstakingly assembled over nearly 21 years, for a penthouse in the same neighborhood.
Andy Cohen, the TV host, author and longtime producer, spent 21 years building his dream West Village home — a fantastical assemblage of four apartments that he turned into a single 3,500-square foot home where light floods nearly every room.
It’s a showstopper, the kind of eye-watering real estate you’d see on reality TV shows like “The Real Housewives” franchise, which he has produced for more than two decades.
“The first time I ever walked into Andy’s apartment, I said, ‘Whenever you are willing to part with this, even if I have to pull it from your grip, please let me know. Because it’s a one of one,’” said Ryan Serhant, owner of the eponymous luxury brokerage SERHANT and star of “Owning Manhattan” on Netflix.
Mr. Cohen is selling what Mr. Serhant calls the ultimate bespoke apartment, and Mr. Serhant is the listing agent. “It’s one of those treasures that you wait your whole career for to find something like this that you get to bring to market and sell,” Mr. Serhant said.
The asking price is $14 million.
Mr. Cohen and Mr. Serhant became friends more than a decade ago, when Mr. Serhant made his reality TV debut in 2012 on “Million Dollar Listing,” a program on Bravo, where Mr. Cohen has long served as a host and executive producer.
The pair met at a time of transition for Mr. Cohen. He was moving on from his role as an executive at Bravo to spend more time in front of the camera, and was just kicking off his renovations. Nine years earlier, in 2003, he had purchased a unit for $1.4 million that is now the ground floor of his duplex. He got to know the neighbors and the doorman in his prewar, Bing & Bing-designed building. A doorman tipped him off to the fact that the unit directly above his might be vacant soon.
Mr. Cohen bought that unit, then two additional adjacent studios, working with the architect Gordon Kahn to meticulously merge the apartments like life-size Lego pieces.
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When the pandemic shut down the city in 2020, Mr. Cohen had finished most of his renovations (a fourth unit was added in 2022). His home is now a custom two-story apartment with three bedrooms plus an office, den and nanny’s suite. A custom glass, walnut and steel staircase designed by Mr. Kahn unites the two floors. The apartment is bounded by windows on every side and features wood-burning fireplaces, a steam room, and the most elusive of New York City amenities — generous closets and three additional storage units.
If the walls could talk, they would have a lot of tea to spill: Mr. Cohen has thrown many holiday parties in his home, with guests including Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Mayer, Ralph Fiennes and Kelly Ripa.
But when the pandemic shut down the city in 2020, the parties were on pause. Mr. Cohen and Mr. Serhant realized they had two very important things in common: their children. Mr. Cohen’s son, Benjamin, was born just a few weeks before Mr. Serhant’s daughter, Zena.
With a pair of 1-year-olds, fatherhood fostered their friendship, and the pandemic made them a sort of pod. They began spending long hours in the apartment’s candy-colored rooms while their children played. In the living room, the sofa is a Paul Smith series of green, yellow, brown and baby blue Maharam stripes, like Crayola crayons standing at attention. Color continues with a denim love seat and burlap wallpaper by Ralph Lauren, and on the walls — in one bathroom, Mr. Cohen opted for Brooklyn-based Flavor Paper’s Cherry Forever wallpaper; in the kitchen and adjacent sitting room, he has a whimsical floral mural, Field of Daydreams, by the same company.
“Our relationship changed a few years ago when we both became dads,” Mr. Cohen said. Benjamin and Zena are now 5, and Mr. Cohen has since also welcomed his daughter, Lucy, 2.
During one of their play dates in the early months of the pandemic, Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Serhant how he would price the apartment if he were to sell. Mr. Serhant had been hoping for such a question.
“It’s like moving into a magazine,” Mr. Serhant said.
After spending two decades painstakingly building his dream home, Mr. Cohen hesitated about leaving. But no matter how many units he purchased and combined, there was one thing that eluded him — outdoor space.
His new home is a four-minute walk away, in another Bing & Bing-designed West Village building. This one, a penthouse that he bought for more than $18 million, has 3,000 square feet inside and a 2,000-square-foot terrace.
“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Cohen said of the penthouse coming on the market. “I had to take it.”
He doesn’t generally mix business with his personal life, he said, but he’s excited to work with his friend.
“It’ll be like being on one of Ryan’s shows,” he said.
Whether Mr. Cohen’s home sale will actually appear as a plotline in “Owning Manhattan” remains to be seen — when asked, Mr. Serhant said he preferred not to comment.
“Bravo and Netflix might have an issue with that,” he said. “But it would be like Deadpool and Wolverine, real estate style. That’s basically the two of us.”
