Katie Holmes is on the prowl for a Manhattan rental.
The actress/wife-bot of Tom Cruise, who will co-star in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” this fall, recently checked out a few well furnished Upper East Side places with monthly price tags exceeding $60,000.
Sources say that one residence she perused was a multi-level apartment in the East 80s with six bedrooms and six bathrooms that features terraces, fireplaces, high ceilings and some cushy couches for Cruise to bounce upon.
Holmes had been holed up at the Carlyle hotel with her husband (who was there only briefly) and baby Suri during her search. “She had two SUVs idling in front of the hotel, ready to go at a moment’s notice,” noted a staffer.
The family last stayed at the swanky inn when Holmes was running in the New York City Marathon last November.
The former “Dawson’s Creek” star, who most recently appeared in the ironically titled Broadway stinker “Mad Money,” will try to improve her luck with an “All My Sons” cast that includes John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest.
Schindler’s listing
High-powered entertainment lawyer Paul Schindler has sold his historic four-story co-op apartment on the Upper East Side for $16.5 million.
The 14-room unit is the largest of three apartments located in a large townhouse in the East 80s that five-and-dime magnate F.W. Woolworth had built for one of his lucky daughters, Edna, in the early 1900s. He also built two other houses in the area for his other two daughters, one of whom was socialite Barbara Hutton – once considered the richest woman in the world.
Speaking of lucky daughters, the buyers are Australians Alex Waislitz and his wife, Heloise Pratt Waislitz, the daughter of Down Under billionaire Richard Pratt.
Schindler first put the 6,800-square-foot abode with five bedrooms on the market with Prudential Douglas Elliman last September for $16.5 million. He then bumped up the price to $17.5 million in March.
Schindler and his wife, Jane, have since closed on a $13.4 million apartment at the Plaza.
In 2002, Schindler, a former business partner of Allen Grubman, and his then model girlfriend were married in a celebrity-heavy Central Park wedding with Denise Rich serving as a bridesmaid, while Jessica Simpson wowed the wedding party with a few songs.
Chopping Koppel
TED Koppel could be the king of all price-slashers.
The former “Nightline” host has chopped the price of his suburban Washington, DC-area home by more than half since he first put it on the market in 2005 for $4.1 million.
He’s now asking $1.94 million for the nearly 9,000-square-foot spread in Potomac, Md., after lowering it to $2.3 million last August. The six-bedroom Contemporary on 2.5 landscaped acres includes an indoor pool, a gym with a sauna, maid’s quarters and a horse barn.
Koppel and his wife, Grace, have since moved to a larger place on the Potomac River a few miles away.
The price is right?
The Park Avenue apartment of the late socialite and philanthropist Frances Todman has sold for $22 million – $2 million shy of its asking price. The 12-room duplex at 775 Park comes with two large bedroom suites, maid’s quarters on another floor, two other staff rooms, a paneled library, a living room with a wet bar and a fireplace, and 50 feet of Park Avenue frontage
The buyer is Thomas Edelman, a director of Noble Energy and the chairman of Biofuel Energy. Todman was the widow of Bill Todman, who co-produced game shows including “Match Game” and “The Price is Right” with Mark Goodson.
John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens had the listing.