The Mets have made Johan Santana baseball’s highest-paid pitcher. But he isn’t going hog wild with his $137.5 million, six-year paycheck – at least not just yet.
According to well-placed sources, the talented southpaw has gone to contract for just over $3 million on a three-bedroom, 3½-bath apartment at 170 East End Ave., a new condo building nearing completion at 87th Street. The amount is a drop in the spittoon for a man who’s making around $23 million a year. The nearly 2,000-square-foot apartment with 10-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows and oak rift-cut and quarter-sawn flooring overlooks Carl Schurz Park and offers some skyline views.
The lower-floor apartment in the 19-story glass-and-stone building by architect Peter Marino (who also designed the units) includes a gourmet kitchen with a breakfast room and a formal dining room.
The building, coincidentally, was where Alex Rodriguez (baseball’s highest-paid player at roughly $28 million a year) was reportedly seen checking out a place last year.
Now we hear Santana may want to expand his horizons – and interior space – after perusing a $17.5 million penthouse several floors above with almost 5,000 square feet that includes views of Gracie Mansion and the river beyond.
Ben there
Ben Stiller has been townhouse shopping in the West Village.
Sources tells us that Stiller and his wife, “Brady Brunch” actress Christine Taylor, have been looking at townhouses more than 20 feet wide in both renovated and unrenovated condition – all in the $5.5 million to $7 million range.
We’ve been reporting a lot about celebrities buying in the area, including Brooke Shields and Cameron Diaz, Stiller’s co-star in “There’s Something About Mary.”
He’s riff-Raffaello
The check-bouncing real-estate developer boyfriend of Anne Hathaway has also been giving a local broker the runaround.
Raffaello Follieri, who began dating the “Devil Wears Prada” dish in 2004 – wooing her with expensive baubles and yachting excursions while burning business associates – kept one broker in limbo for almost six weeks while his actress girlfriend believed he was buying a $15.9 million West Village townhouse as their love nest.
Follieri, 29, who surrendered to police earlier this month after bouncing a $215,000 check (and who has been sued by Ron Burkle for a different incident) had a contract drawn up to buy a 9,200-square-foot Italianate townhouse at 47 W. Ninth St. Sources say that for more than a month, the Italian playboy and his agent, independent broker Patricia Burnham, assured Corcoran Group listing broker Tatiana Cames that the contract and $1.5 million deposit were on the way.
“There was an accepted offer and then he just kept dragging it on,” says one source, who noted that Follieri brought Hathaway to see the ornate structure on multiple occasions. “Then he just disappeared.”
Take note, Anne.
Neither broker could be reached for comment.