New York-based philanthropist Joshua Rechnitz gave his post-apocalyptic penthouse a $1 million haircut this month.
The enigmatic 60-year-old moved to part with his longtime West Village home in October, according to StreetEasy. That $5.9 million listing was pulled down by December, and reappeared this week at a more modest $4.9 million.
Douglas Elliman agent Ann Cutbill Lenane holds the eye-catching listing, complete with out-of-this-world marketing images, lab-grade bathroom fixtures equipment and a water tower-turned-hot tub.
“Every single thing in the apartment is just cooler than the next,” Cutbill Lenane told the Post.
Rechnitz — who could not be reached for comment on the listing — has a reputation for under-the-radar philanthropy, funded by a family fortune dating back to the Great Depression.
The amateur cyclist was behind an abandoned bid — and accompanying $40 million pledge — to construct a 200-meter bike-racing track, or velodrome, in Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2012.
Rechnitz paid $7 million in the same year to acquire Gowanus’ abandoned power station, then a hotspot for underground raves, the New York Times reported. After many millions more spent on environmental clean-ups and renovations, the site reopened in 2023 as a multipurpose arts facility, Powerhouse Arts.
Rechnitz is spending less time in the city, and in his 3,400-square-foot triplex, as he pursues philanthropic ventures in upstate agriculture, the Times reported.
His penthouse pad is one of just two residences in an otherwise commercial walk-up building on Hudson Street, assembled through two purchases in 2006 and 2009 collectively worth $5.4 million, according to city records. That would mean this sale stands to come at a loss at its current asking price.
The investment was undoubtedly compounded by its owner’s extensive renovations and bold decorative additions over the years.
“Every inch of that apartment has a story,” Cutbill Lenane said.
The home’s first level, located on the building’s third floor, includes two bedrooms and a media room.
A powder room addition on the third floor is curiously encompassed by a dome of colorful wine bottles. Its thick, valve-covered door looks like it was salvaged from a Cold War nuclear site.
Cutbill Lenane told The Post that at least one of the home’s many antique collector’s items had to be tested twice for radiation.
Electrodes line the interior wall and its laboratory water fixtures include an emergency eye-washing station.
A metallic staircase resembling dinosaur bones and backed by a two-story wall of plants connects to the home’s fourth floor.
A tree-like spiral staircase ascends to the roughly 1,600-square-foot rooftop. The impressive space is covered in overgrown vegetation and hosts a hot tub fashioned from the top of wooden water tower.
Regardless of the fossil-themed stairs, the home has good enough bones to attract even the most urbane buyer — 13-foot ceilings, four woodburning fireplaces, wood floors and an antique soaking tub, to name a few.
Cutbill Lenane acknowledge the home would be sold at a loss to her client, but called the home a “passion project.”
“Just on a per-square-foot basis, in that location, with four fireplaces and an outdoor space, it’s a fantastic price,” Cutbill Lenane said. “It’s such a rare find.”
