We wonder if Usher said “OMG” when he recently scoped out two condos at 20 Pine St. in the Financial District.
The first unit the musician checked out was an 1,832-square-foot loft penthouse listed for $2.75 million, which is now in contract with Jonathan Reed, the CEO of Spec Entertainment (this is actually Reed’s second unit in the building; he was the first person to close at 20 Pine). The second pad Usher saw is a 1,829-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse that is not yet officially on the market but is quietly being shopped around for $3.1 million.
The luxury condo building, designed by Armani/Casa, has been on the market for around five years. A spokesperson for the development says it is now over 90 percent sold, with 32 units remaining. Building amenities include four lounges, a Turkish spa, a 60-foot-long pool, two reflecting pools and a golf-simulation room.
Oh, Blige
Here’s the 411 on Mary J. Blige: She’s looking for a new apartment.
Spies report that the R&B diva has been out and about — looking at some of the latest properties to hit the market. She recently checked out a $25,000-a-month, three-bedroom rental at 55 Thompson St. — the same unit that we reported Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner looking at last week. The 1,900-square-foot space has 10-foot ceilings and a curved wall of glass with SoHo views.
Trump and Kushner, meanwhile, have since been spotted looking at an eight-bedroom Upper East Side spread on Park Avenue that’s priced around $5 million.
Prestissimo!
David Garrett, the world’s fastest violinist, is hoping for speed when it comes to the sale of his one-bedroom, two-bathroom condo at 254 Park Ave. South. He’s put the apartment, which is 1,250 square feet and has 12-foot ceilings, on the market for $1.35 million.
Corcoran Group brokers Joseph Foley and Jared Schwadron have the listing.
Garrett, who is now looking for a bigger home, was a child prodigy classically trained in Europe. He made it into the Guinness Book of World Records after playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” in just 66 seconds — 13 notes per second. He is now blending classical and rock music: “Rock Symphonies,” his latest album with his band, includes covers of Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin.
As seen on TV
Internet entrepreneur Sam Hamadeh is putting his Gramercy loft, at 225 E. 24th St., on the market for $5.5 million with Fredrik Eklund — the new Prudential Douglas Elliman broker who is shooting New York’s first season of “Million Dollar Listing” for Bravo — and John Gomes. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom loft is 3,715 square feet, with keyed elevator access, 11-foot ceilings and a soaking tub for two. The loft has has been on “Gossip Girl” and “Law & Order.”
Hamadeh was co-founder of Vault.com, and is a landlord with high-end lofts. One of them, at 31 W. 21st St., made news when tenant Joseph Mirakhor (nicknamed “Dr. Love” by neighbors) was evicted after wild parties. Meanwhile, Hamadeh and Eklund, neither of whom returned calls, have been spotted checking out TriBeCa townhouses.
We hear . . .
That Gayle King, who’s moved out of the penthouse at 207 E. 57th St., recently checked out half- and full-floor apartments at 535 West End Ave. in the $9 million to $19 million range . . . That Hamptons developer Joe Farrell is looking for a pied-a-terre in the city for his family and wants to trade one of the homes he’s building on the East End, in the $3 million to $6 million range, for a Manhattan apartment . . . That recording artist Ivan Wilzig, also known as Sir Ivan, looked at Miami’s new $60 million 3 Indian Creek mansion with co-owner Shlomi Alexander and his son, Oren Alexander, a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker . . . That Kathy Sloane of Brown Harris Stevens was honored by the New York Women’s Agenda at their annual STAR breakfast.