Rich Uptowners Ruin It for Everyone

Real estate in this city is, as you know, expensive. As we understand it, this is fundamentally a supply-and-demand issue: Lots of people want to live here, but there are only so many apartments. Which is why you should resent Robert and Suzanne Cochran, whom the Sun trots out today as the face of a new trend: uptowners buying second homes downtown. The Cochrans live on Park Avenue (and have a place in Wainscott, natch), but decided to pick up a pied-à-terre — a 5,200-square-foot pied-à-terre — in Tribeca.

“My son Robby said, ‘Look, if you have the money, why not put it into something you can see and use?’” explained Mrs. Cochran. (It should go without saying that young Robby is a high-school senior who was no doubt not looking forward to spending his college-internship summers uptown.) The Cochran’s daughter, just out of college, hopes to throw her 22nd-birthday party in the new place (as should go without saying as well), and the family also thinks it’ll be a great place for displaying contemporary art, which “until now they’ve held off purchasing because their residences weren’t suited to it.” But it won’t be all fun and LeWitts on Hudson Street. “I can see it being a confusion of where your stuff is and what are you doing,” Mrs. Cochran fretted. God, it’s so hard living in this city. —Lori Fradkin

Second Homes Within the City Sprout Uptown and Downtown [NYS]