Monday, May 19, 2008

American Girl Founder Puts Houses on Sale

Pleasant Rowland, the founder of doll company American Girl who spent six years and millions of dollars restoring much of Aurora, N.Y., has put both of her houses there on the market.

American Girl Founder Puts Houses on SaleFormer Bear Stearns executive Alvin H. Einbender has listed his Manhattan apartment for $30 million

From 2001 to 2006, Ms. Rowland renovated town buildings owned by Wells College, her alma mater. Some townspeople criticized the renovations as too extensive. "I just simply saved a town that was crumbling," Ms. Rowland says now. "My work there is completed." She says the dispute isn't her reason for leaving town.

One of the houses in Aurora, which is 46 miles southwest of Syracuse, is a 10,000-square-foot Queen Anne lakefront mansion built about 1902 with six bedrooms. It could use some interior renovation, Ms. Rowland says, and comes with 200 feet of frontage on Cayuga Lake, a dock and a boathouse. The two-acre property is listed for $2.2 million. The other house, an 1830 Federal-style home of 4,000 square feet with three bedrooms, is restored, Ms. Rowland says. The four-acre property is listed for $2 million.

American Girl Founder Puts Houses on Sale

In 1985, Ms. Rowland founded American Girl, which Mattel bought for $700 million in 1998. These homes represent the last of Ms. Rowland's recent ties to Aurora. Last week, she sold Aurora-based MacKenzie-Childs, a decorative-tableware and home-furnishings company. She's based in Madison, Wis. Paddington Zwigard of Brown Harris Stevens has both home listings.

Wall Streeter Offers Police-Building Condo

Former Bear Stearns executive Alvin H. Einbender has listed his apartment, converted from a gym in the former New York City Police Headquarters, for $30 million.

The 6,600-square-foot apartment in the 1906 Beaux-Arts-style building in downtown Manhattan (pictured above) features an 80-by-40-foot great room with a 25-foot-ceiling supported by bridge trusses and punctured by three giant skylights. The cooperative apartment has four bedrooms and a library suspended over the 1,500-square-foot master suite. That suite has two dressing rooms, two baths, a sauna and an office.

Mr. Einbender, 79 years old, was Bear Stearns managing partner and later, from 1985 to 1992, chief operating officer. He and his wife, Joan, paid $2.2 million for the space in 1997, hired New York architect Charles Gwathmey, whose recent work includes the Astor Place tower in Manhattan's East Village, and spent more than $13 million renovating the apartment.

The couple wants to downsize to a smaller apartment, says Mr. Einbender, and spend more time at their Pound Ridge, N.Y., country home. Stephen Kotler of Prudential Douglas Elliman has the listing.

Frankie Muniz Relists

Actor Frankie Muniz has relisted his Los Angeles home, after taking it off the market for two months, and trimmed the price to $3.7 million from $3.88 million. The 4,200-square-foot house in the Hollywood Hills has five bedrooms and a pool. The exterior is traditional, with Balinese detailing.

Mr. Muniz starred in the television series "Malcolm in the Middle" and several movies, including "Agent Cody Banks." In 2005, the actor, who is now 22, bought and sold five houses in the same neighborhood as the listed house, for which he paid $3.49 million in January 2006. It had been remodeled the year before. Max Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency has the listing.

Write to Sara Lin at sara.lin@wsj.com



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