Starlet/divorced mom Kate Hudson is still on her apartment hunt. But unlike last year, the actress is now searching on her own — without Alex Rodriguez.
She recently checked out the penthouse duplex at the Fairchild condo building at 55 Vestry St. in north TriBeCa. But she might have some competition for the $6.95 million, three-bedroom, 2,664-square-foot unit. Grammy Award-winning singer/divorced dad Usher also just came by for a look. The apartment has 3,000 square feet of outdoor space with two terraces.
Celebs with homes in the area include Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Timberlake and Meryl Streep.
Huff stuff
Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington might seem like a savvy, independent woman, but she’s still depending on someone else to do her house-hunting — her ex-husband, Michael Huffington (the former congressman/bisexual film producer who once spent $28 million in an unsuccessful run at a Senate seat in California). Sources say he’s been touring West Village townhouses in the $10 million range for his ex-wife. It sounds like he has to approve any home before Arianna makes a bid.
We hear . . .
THAT the 100 11th Ave. condo that decorator Nate Berkus recently showed off on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” doesn’t belong to him. He’s renting it from hotshot photographer Mario Testino . . . THAT couturier Norman Ambrose lowered the price of his Art Deco two-bedroom, 3,450-square duplex, with 18-foot ceilings, on West 14th Street from $5.99 million to $5.49 million.
Auction action
Not everyone can buy a multimillion-dollar home, but sometimes you can get a piece of one at an auction.
On Saturday, Stair Galleries of upstate Hudson will auction off the contents of TV producer Douglas Cramer’s home, Dogwood Farm, which he shared with Hugh Bush, in Roxbury, Conn.
Dogwood Farm, an 11,000- square-foot home on 130 acres that was sold to former NetJets Europe exec Mark Booth for $7.5 million this year, is filled with contemporary art the couple collected while Cramer produced shows like “Dynasty” and “The Love Boat.” They include prints by Ellsworth Kelly, Edward Ruscha and David Hockney and an Andy Warhol print from his famed Flower series, estimated to be worth $20,000 to $40,000. (Cramer once had Warhol guest-star on “The Love Boat.”)
Also up for auction are home furnishings curated by interior designers including David Anthony Easton and Nicky Haslam.
Fugee-daboudit!
Even hip-hop stars are singing the real-estate blues — and trying to get out of condo contracts. Pras of the Fugees tells us he bought a two-bedroom, $2.46 million unit at the Platinum building on 247 W. 46th St. (left), across from a recording studio he uses. He says he wants out of the deal because he got 9-foot ceilings after being promised 12-foot ceilings.
“Obviously, the value changes drastically,” says Pras, who had an inspector measure the height and showed The Post documents from the developer that mentioned 12-foot ceilings.
The musician, who admits he was thinking about flipping the unit when he bought it, is suing SJP Residential Properties in an attempt to get his $369,000 deposit back.
“The suit has no merit whatsoever,” says a spokesperson for the developer.