Equal Housing Opportunity at Superior Ink

I don't normally spend a lot of time reading the ads for "luxury homes and estates", but I was having a bit of insomnia, and the Sunday Times Magazine was sitting there, and one thing led to another, and...

Of course I was interested in a new clump of West Village Town Houses - 3,800 to 4,800 square feet - that are coming on the market for $12.95M.

After all, if I lived in New York City, the West Village would be one of my neighborhoods of choice.

And, although I know from experience that I'd never use it, of course I'd like a wood-burning fireplace. Not to mention a 24 hour garage valet. Plus a rooftop garden. And an anticipated Silver Rating for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design from The United States Green Building Council. (Okay, it's not a platinum rating, but we're I'm living now would probably rate as "tin.")

I suppose that it might push up the price a tad, but I'd like to check out the interior options from Yabu Pushelberg, who on name alone I'm quite sure would present me with some mighty fine interior options.

And these townhouses have the decided cool factor of being located on the site of the Superior Ink Factory.

If I can't quite afford the $12.95M (plus or minus the Yabu Pushelberg options) - which might be a little difficult given how chintzy lenders are getting about stretch mortgages these days - I might be able to swing one of the condos, which I understand start at $2.5M or so for a 2 bedroom. (What with what we'd get for our Boston Condo, plus my availability to work as a 24 hour garage valet, which would certainly yield beacoup d'tips around the holiday, and the flat out fact that there's so little to do in NYC that I'd never want to go out to eat I'd have all that restaurant savings...)

But what really caught my eye in the ad for Superior Ink was the quite prominent lettering that read "Equal Housing Opportunity."

Well, given that money is the great equalizer, I would think so.

Or is this a nod to the NYC peculiarity in which so many of the luxe buildings are co-ops, not condos, which means - I think - that you can get rejected as a purchaser without the co-op board having to be specific about why you're being rejected.

I don't think the co-op right to refuse is permission granted to discriminate along lines of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. I mean, people can sue boards if they suspect they're victims of discrimination. And I'm guessing that most of the not-our-kind-ness rejection attaches to financial considerations and, more subtly, applies to wealth origin more than national origin. "We" may not want Britney Spears because of her trashy celebrity. "We" may not want a Saudi prince because of security. "We" may not want Tony Soprano because....well, just because.

In any case, I was really struck by those three little words - "Equal Housing Opportunity" in an ad for a $12.95M townhouse. Which, yes, I've seen in other ads, now that I'm on the lookout, but in most ads it's in teensy, weensy, itsy,bitsy little type, not PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED.

Seemed a little odd, no?

But what do I know about NYC luxury housing? Not very much, I'm afraid.