Anthony Weiner's New Very Expensive Life
The New York Post has been generally keeping us up to date on how to feel about Anthony Weiner. Recently there was the cover of the paper boasting "Operation Comeback," after Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, top aide to Hillary Clinton, posed pretty adorably with their baby Jordan in People magazine, promoting a wholesome message of Weiner's family-man-ness. It was speculated this could indicate that Weiner, who resigned more than a year ago after his Twitter sexting scandal, is mounting a comeback — possibly a run for the New York City mayorship in 2013? He said no, but there's also the matter of that $4.5 million in campaign money just sitting there; he's got to use that on something political...
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Next from the Post is today's exclusive on the family's home. Not any home, "a luxurious, $3.3 million Manhattan pad owned by a deep-pocketed Democratic donor, the Post has learned."
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Per the Post, it's a 12th-floor Park Avenue apartment with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths that measures 2,120 square feet: This one, a block away from Gramercy Park. The building, at 254 Park Ave. South at East 20th Street, is owned by Rosen Partners LLC, "which is headed by close Clinton pal Jack Rosen, records show." Rosen oversees the American Jewish Congress and had donated to Bill and Hillary's election campaigns as well as to Weiner's (and to Barack Obama's). All this furthers speculation, particularly given the market rent on the place: According to real estate sources cited by the Post, rent would run to $12,000 to $14,000 a month. (The smaller apartment mentioned in the Post that recently rented for a mere $10,000 appears to be this one.)
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But how can the couple afford this kind of rent? is the question that follows. Weiner "gave up his $174,000 salary when he resigned"; Abedin reportedly makes "around $155,000 annually." Previously their apartments had been far more humble: Weiner sold his 875-square foot apartment in Forest Hills for $430,000 in 2011, per the Post, prior to their move to Park Avenue. Then Abedin sold her DC condo for $620,000 and actually took a loss (she'd bought it for $649,000 in 2006). So, are they getting help from a donor or someone "connected"? According to the Post, Hillary Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says no and that they, a two-income family, are fully capable of paying the market rent. (While Weiner hasn't returned full-time to politics, he has been consulting, along with the Dad and home duties the family discussed in People.) And, in truth, we really don't know what they have socked away in a bank account. They're grown adults, after all, quite possibly with savings.
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But the dollar signs here seem guaranteed, at the very least, to cause further speculation. Signs of a comeback? The place also has a concierge, doorman, and 1,400 square-foot commons area featuring a bar and billiards table, so it's definitely a move somewhere.
