Is 190 Bowery the Best Real Estate Deal Ever?

After 11 Spring Street got buffed and converted to condos, the seemingly abandoned six-story building 190 Bowery (at Spring) became the block's new favorite graffiti-covered curiosity. Except, it's not abandoned. It's a "72-room Bohemian dream house," inhabited for the past 42 years by photographer Jay Maisel and his family. New York magazine is out with another edition of its Vu. real estate special, and in quite the coup, got Maisel to throw open the doors of his hulking relic for a photo shoot and story. His desire to rent out the ground floor may have had something to do with it. Maisel bought the old bank building for $102,000 in 1966, and handled most of the renovations himself. The artist's-mansion-meets office-space vibe is truly something to behold. That's the master bathroom above, but do check out the original copper elevator and the old vault, where Maisel stores his work. Various brokers now estimate the building to be worth between $30 and $70 million. Kinda beats whatever you were doing back in '66, no?
· The 72-Room Bohemian Dream House [NYM]