« Weekend Events In Bull Market, Wisconsin FSBOs Outdo Realtors »

June 8, 2007

Rumor Mill: Oprah Buying Penthouse at One Hanson?

This is pure rumor at this point, so take it with a grain of salt, but it's coming in through credible enough sources that we're gonna run with it. We're hearing that the Queen of All Media herself, Oprah, is buying the penthouse in the Williamsburg Bank building, aka One Hanson Place. Everyone associated with the project is saying "no comment" but we hear that the word's been buzzing around the brokerage community in recent weeks. Can any little birdies out there shed any light onto this one? Update: We just heard from the developer (who was unreachable yesterday) and he's saying this rumor is news to him, so it looks like The Big O is staying put on Lake Shore Drive for the time being.
A Tweak and a Trim at One Hanson Place [Brownstoner] GMAP
One Hanson Breaks 50 Percent Barrier [Brownstoner]

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/1332

Comments

Buying a condo and buying a condo to live in are very different things. She's most likely buying it for a girlfriend to live in or something. She wouldn't live there herself.

Posted by: Meryckawick at June 8, 2007 9:08 AM

I know for a fact that Oprah is indeed gonna live there, with her butch girlfriend and their two sharpeis. I also hear that Anna Nicole Smith is haunting the lobby.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 9:15 AM

Oprah, meet Emo...Emo, Oprah

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 9:23 AM

In my humble opinion, this is the type of item that should have been cast adrift along with the Brooklyn Record. "Entertainment news", even when it involves real estate, is so lowbrow...and believe me, I'm not putting on a tux and heading to the opera every night.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 9:24 AM

I don't think he meant that kind of girlfriend idiot. Oprah has lost of friends, some of whom aren't as rich as she is.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 9:26 AM

Rumors are fun because other people may have heard different versions of the rumor, and most often, some or all of the rumor is true.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 9:29 AM

9:24 -- gimme a frickin break.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 9:58 AM

9:58, why are you posting here? Don't you realize that Jerry Springer is on?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 9:59 AM

jer-REY, jer-REY.

Posted by: 9:58 at June 8, 2007 10:10 AM

considering that beyonce just bought a place in the new richard meier building at grand army plaza, this does not surprise me.

brooklyn is hotter than hot.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 10:19 AM

And Beyonce must be dumber than dumb.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 10:24 AM

yes, best selling female vocalist, hoards of grammy awards, an empire worth millions.

she must be really stupid.

how much you got in the bank????

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 10:31 AM

I know for a fact that 9:26 is one literal-minded, no-sense-of-humor dumbass. Chill, girlfriend, it was a joke. If you take THIS kinda crap so solemnly, you really should start reading the New york times once in a while. And take the pole out of your backside.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 10:31 AM

"Beyonce" is not so smart if that's the best thing she can find to spent that much money on. In fact, I'd say that makes her an abject fool.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 10:42 AM

Celebrities get discounts for buying apartments in which they will never visit, let alone reside. The developers seek out the business managers to give them a good deal to flip and they both get publicity. I bet Magic Johnson's people talked to her people.... and it may never have gone further than that.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 10:47 AM

so celebrities don't need places to live 10:47?

maggie gyllenhall doesn't actually live in park slope. that was her ghost i saw on 5th avenue last week?

i do realize that these are sometimes places that people will never reside, but that is the minority of cases. most celebrities do have places in new york where they actually stay when they are here. beyonce alreadly lives in tbe bloomberg building now. why is it so hard to believe she wanted a new home?

don't be such a downer on a good, fluffy piece of gossip.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 10:55 AM

What's hard to believe is that she or anyone else would spent that kind of money to live in that monstrosity of a building. Got it now?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 10:58 AM

i get that it's your opinion, but i happen to like the building.

apparently some other people do as well given that it's close to 50% sold with still 18 months left till move ins.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 11:07 AM

Lol...yes, there's one born every minute, and at that rate the building will fill up quickly.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 11:11 AM

Damn, I really hope Beyonce reads Brownstoner. It's very important for her to get real estate and investment advice from people she's never met in her life.

Posted by: jdhs 91 at June 8, 2007 11:17 AM

i'd rather take real estate advice from a homeless person than most of the people who post on here, to be perfectly honest.

Posted by: beyonce at June 8, 2007 11:22 AM

Oprah in the penthouse and Trader Joe's in the commercial space. Hmmm... I wonder who starts these rumors? Who could it possibly benefit?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 11:26 AM

Homeless people would probably give her better advice than she's currently getting. That's for sure.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 11:26 AM

Beyonce @ 11:22...you go, girl!!!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 11:41 AM

Everybody just chill. it's a gorgeous landmark building that is going to be truly beautiful. Other celebs live all over NYC; why not Brooklyn. And PS, she'll probably be there 1-2 times per year on the way back from Africa, Hawaii or Chicago or from a $5000 brow-waxing joint. Yes, I do know way too much about Oprah in a freakish way.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 11:43 AM

I hear that Bono is buying the condos on the corner of Dekalb and Washington. Keep it down over there, fella.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 11:47 AM

i love how anonymous posters on brownstoner seem to think they know better than two of the most successful women in the world.

as you sit around typing nonsense in your underwear...

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 11:48 AM

10:24, you give 'em heck, baby. You're beautiful...don't ever change!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 12:09 PM

She's probably using it to store her colllection of shoes and handbags.

Posted by: AA at June 8, 2007 12:29 PM

She's probably using it to store her colllection of shoes and handbags. 11:48, I'm actually typing this in my underwear.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 12:30 PM

"11:48, I'm actually typing this in my underwear."

can i come over??

you into guys?

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 12:36 PM

Just don't be a little prick tease like that Shahn Anderson. That pisser never did email me.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 1:03 PM

I think he was getting his $5000 brow waxing that week 1:03, or I'm sure he would have.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 1:23 PM

The picture makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Posted by: Jeremy at June 8, 2007 1:33 PM

If Big Ed had banged him, he'd still be walking with a limp!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 1:39 PM

If Oprah is buying, I would guess there is some Magic connection- although I can't figure out why she would buy it- maybe she's opening a school. There is no way that she would live in BK- she's just not down like that.

Posted by: anonymous at June 8, 2007 2:59 PM

There's one person w/enough money to pay for the assessments that are down the road for this coop. She could pay for the re-gilding of the dome and clock from petty cash.
Alas I think it highly unlikely that Ms. Oprah would live on Hanson Pl. The location is not convenient to the rounds she needs to make when she's in town. I think a nice duplex at the Plaza facing Central Park would be more convenient and more her style.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 3:37 PM

I also heard that Bob Keeshan is looking at multiple units at the Forte to combine.

Posted by: Mr. Green Jeans at June 8, 2007 4:02 PM

Maggie Gyllenhall is NOT a legit celebrity. Somehow, because of her bother's success, one day she wakes up and she's a "celebrity" for no reason.

Give me a break. . .

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 4:05 PM

For the record, Beyonce is not buying a unit in the Meier building, regardless of what the blogs say. It is a rumor.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 4:10 PM

a confirmed rumor.

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 4:12 PM

Thanks 4:10. I'd like to think that Beyonce (and her handlers) wouldn't be stupid enough to buy there.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 4:14 PM

so 4:14...when she does move in (as i know the person who worked on the project and was told she did indeed buy a place) you will feel like an idiot for being such a negative nancy? or will you admit you were wrong?

Posted by: anon at June 8, 2007 4:31 PM

"Somehow, because of her bother's success, one day she wakes up and she's a "celebrity" for no reason."

Or is it because she stars in movies such as the Batman sequel (The Dark Knight), Adaptation, World Trade Center, Donnie Darko, Riding In Cars With Boys, and Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, to name a few?

And who's her "bother" anyway?

Posted by: Anon at June 8, 2007 4:34 PM

maggie was well known before jake, though he's gotten more press since brokeback than she does. she's critically acclaimed, not a fluff celebrity type like brittany spears...

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 4:43 PM

Is this the blog for "Star Magazine" or Brownstoner?? Next thing you know, Paris will be screaming and crying all the way from jail to Hanson.

Posted by: NK at June 8, 2007 5:03 PM

Oprah lives on Michigan Avenue, not Lake Shore Drive

Posted by: RS at June 8, 2007 5:11 PM

4:31, all I said is that I'd like to think that she isn't stupid enough to make such a foolish mistake. If it turns out that she is stupid enough to make such a foolish mistake, I fail to see why *I* should apologize. At most I would simply feel bad for this woman for squandering a chunk of her considerable fortune.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 5:57 PM

1:39, I think it's really rude to make fun of Shahn's disability by saying that he would REALLY walk with a limp if Ed had a shot at him. Make fun of him because he's a real estate developer or because you don't like him, not because he's disabled.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 8, 2007 6:16 PM

Silly goose 6:16! I would never shoot that quivering slab of sweaty beefcake!!!! I wanted to get in his pants, not shoot him!

Posted by: Ed at June 8, 2007 6:32 PM

I heard Magic Johnson owns 1 Hanson

Posted by: guest at August 23, 2007 11:39 AM

omg

Posted by: guest at June 9, 2008 4:41 PM