Tuesday Catch Up: Rafael Marquez

SELLER: Rafael Márquez
LOCATION: New York, NY
PRICE: $10,950,000
SIZE: 4,042 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: As was first reported ages ago by the property peeps at The Real Deal, internationally known professional soccer player Rafael Márquez has his sprawling Manhattan combo-condo on the market for $10,950,000. Property records show the Mexican-born soccer star purchased the two-until combination apartment in the last days of 2010 for $6,395,000.

Presumably the decision to list has everything to do with the Mexican-born footballer being released a few months early from his $4.5 million dollar annual contract with the New York Red Bulls. The release, so the stories go, may have had something to do with injuries and suspensions that kept the ball kicker off the field more than 50% of the time during his tenure with the Red Bulls. Mister Márquez went—or soon will go if he hasn't already—back to his native Mexico where he was immediately picked up by the Léon team.

Numerous reports say the W. 17th Street apartment has six bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms but a quick study of the floor plan included with current listing details shows the 4,042 square foot 7th floor spread has four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and 20 windows on three exposures. The corner living/dining space stretches 35-feet and the adjacent kitchen is eat-in with a enviable walk-in pantry.

The northwest wing, easily and conveniently closed off from the rest of the apartment, contains two roomy guest/family bedrooms plus a family room and a shared compartmentalized bathroom. An unusually large guest suite, perfectly situated for over night guest privacy in the opposite southeast corner of the apartment, has a small sitting room/office, a separate bedroom, a windowless five piece facility and a fitted dressing room that's quite a bit roomier, perhaps, than any number of $3,000 per month studio apartments in the West Village.

The master suite, off the foyer, just past the over-sized laundry room, encompasses a long entry vestibule lined with closets (or maybe they're shelves or some other thing entirely), a surprisingly compact bedroom, a pair of separate but interconnected and gloriously windowed dressing rooms, and an only partially private bathroom with twin sinks, separate tub and shower and—thankfully—and enclosed cubicle for the crapper.

The apartment also has generous 10.5 foot ceilings, a central sound system, a multi-zone air condition system and steam heating. Monthly taxes and common charges come to $7,469, as per listing details.

exterior photo: Nicholas Strini for Property Shark
floor plan: Douglas Elliman