TWENTY-FOUR years ago, the penthouse in the Singer Building in New York didn’t have a roof: plastic sheets channelled rainwater into tanks. The neighbours were artists who had made the area their home after the textile manufacturers left.

Such was the state of this 5,000 sq ft apartment when the architect John Fülöp bought the property for a “very low six-figure sum”. Today, 561 Broadway has one of the most expensive price tags in Manhattan – at least $7.5 million – in the eight square blocks of prime real estate known as SoHo (South of Houston Street). Leonardo DiCaprio lived in the adjacent apartment until a few years ago, and Jon Bon Jovi bought a penthouse down the road last year. The oak-floored, L-shape apartment now for sale is two flats pushed together; french windows give 360-degree views of Manhattan, and a roof terrace extends to 1,300 sq ft. The Singer Building was built in 1903 as a headquarters for the sewing machine maker. It has wrought-iron balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows. The apartment itself is “raw space”: a bare shell with cabling and plumbing but no fixtures such as baths or kitchen units, so that the owner can add his own designs to stand out from the readymade flats that are as alike as “cut-out cookies”.

Fülöp, who has used the property as offices for his firm, is selling up to work from home in Massachusetts.

He says: “It could be both a private residence and an office – it has licences for both.” The portered building houses a variety of residences and businesses, with Mango, the women’s clothing chain, moving into the ground floor. All new residents are subject to the approval of the cooperative board that controls the building and sets the maintenance fee ($4,300 a month).

Fülöp thinks that there is sufficient space for a three-bed home – handy for storing all those shopping bags from Saks Fifth Avenue.

Details: www.fulopassociates.com , and the agent, Suzanne Brose, at www.custombrokersrealestate.com

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