NYT: Gary Shteyngart’s Apartment is a "Good Deal"

From The New York Times:

A seventh-floor 800-square-foot co-op apartment at 575 Grand Street on the Lower East Side is listed by LoHo Realty for $425,000. The apartment has a small balcony and good light. There is a laundry in the building as well as access to a gym, and the maintenance charges are low, $623 a month, with a $35 monthly fuel surcharge. Although there is a bus stop outside, the subway is a hike.

This being New York City, the owner of this one-bedroom happens to be Gary Shteyngart, the Russian-born author of “The Russian Debutante’s Handbook” (Riverhead, 2002), the winner of both Stephen Crane and Jewish Book Council awards for fiction. He bought the apartment in 2004, and it’s where he wrote much of “Absurdistan” (Random House, 2006). Now, he wants to upgrade to a bigger place in the neighborhood.

“I wanted to price it in a way that seemed reasonable, so the sale wouldn’t take too long,” he said. “I also want to sell it at a point so I don’t lose money over what I paid for it after all the fees and taxes. Maybe it’s the immigrant in me. I just want to come out even.”

The apartment’s living room is pictured in this slideshow (#3).