Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist and acclaimed author Anna Quindlen has sold her longtime Upper West Side home after almost three decades, records show.
Quindlen — whose novels include 1991’s Object Lessons, her first, and 2023’s After Annie, her latest — parted ways with the 5-story property on West 71st Street for $4.8 million, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Wednesday.
The seven-bedroom, four-bathroom townhouse features a welcoming gallery crowned with beamed ceilings and wood paneling, a gas fireplace and a private yard. It also seemed to offer inspiration. Quindlen’s 2018 book “Alternate Side,” a tale about tensions in a tight-knit neighborhood, takes place on a quaint Upper West block similar to the one where she lived, which is also close to the Hudson River Greenway.
The literary leading light, who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1992 for a series of works in The New York Times, signed the deed herself, based on the register. David Katzman, an attorney at the White Plains-based law firm Kurzman Eisenberg Corbin & Lever, who was involved in the transaction, did not respond to a request for comment.
The buyer of the Renaissance Revival-style townhouse from 1901 is a trust controlled by husband-and-wife couple Danielle and Ephraim Luft, entrepreneurs who co-founded their tech company Togetherhood, which is based on the Upper West Side.
Michelle Tepper, an attorney at her own Midtown-based law firm, which represented the buyers, declined to comment. And Kelly Cole, a Compass agent who marketed the home, had no comment.
Quindlen has been trying to sell the home on and off for years. She first listed the property in 2021 for $6.3 million and dropped the price three times along the way, according to StreetEasy. It sold for about 23% less than the initial asking price.
In 1978 Quindlen married attorney Gerald Krovatin, known for suing political powerhouses such as the former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. They divorced in 2021, according to news reports. Krovatin and Quindlen had originally purchased the two-family home in 1999 for an undisclosed amount, according to the register. He transferred it to Quindlen in 2008 for unclear reasons, records show.
Whether Quindlen is merely downsizing or saying goodbye to the neighborhood for good is unknown. Attempts to reach her were unsuccessful by press time.
