For more than two decades, Nelson Aspen brought Hollywood to Australian morning television. Now, the veteran entertainment reporter, author and performer is saying goodbye to a small piece of New York City that has been part of his own story for nearly as long.
Aspen, who spent 20 years as the entertainment reporter and editor for Australia’s Sunrise on Channel 7—and has sometimes been dubbed the “Ryan Seacrest of Australia”—has listed his longtime pied-à-terre at 140 West 69th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for $399,000.
The studio’s story begins in 2008, when Aspen came to New York from Los Angeles to cover the death of actor Heath Ledger. Already accustomed to life on the road and red carpets around the world, Aspen found himself captivated by New York’s energy and decided he wanted a permanent foothold in the city.
He found it just off Broadway at 140 West 69th Street.
“69th and Broadway is the best block in NYC,” Aspen says. “It’s also a star-studded neighborhood and not uncommon to bump into Seinfeld or Sting while picking up bagels at Zabar’s, or see Richard Kind or Tina Fey while munching a hot dog at Gray’s Papaya.”
Aspen eventually needed more space. In 2012, he purchased a larger penthouse in Harlem overlooking the Apollo Theater—but he couldn’t quite bring himself to part with his original Upper West Side home. Instead, he rented the studio to a colleague, who remained there for the next 14 years.
Now, nearly two decades after buying it, Aspen is finally ready to let it go.
A Surprisingly Attainable Piece of the Upper West Side
The apartment’s celebrity pedigree may be fun, but its price is perhaps the bigger surprise.
Listed for $399,000, the studio offers an increasingly unusual entry point into one of Manhattan’s most desirable neighborhoods. With 20 percent down and 80 percent financing, estimated monthly ownership costs are approximately $3,100—compared with neighborhood studio rents hovering around $3,500 per month.
In other words, for some buyers, owning this particular slice of the Upper West Side could cost less each month than renting nearby.
And Aspen remains unabashedly enthusiastic about the location.
“In true New York City fashion, everything is at your fingertips,” he says, pointing not only to neighborhood institutions like Zabar’s and Gray’s Papaya, but to the familiar faces who have long called the Upper West Side home.
Aspen’s own career has continued to evolve as well. Beyond television, he is a longtime cabaret performer and prolific author who recently completed his Dancing Between the Raindrops trilogy and published the historical fantasy novel Kindred Spirits: A Titanic Tale.
For him, selling the apartment closes a chapter that began unexpectedly on a reporting assignment in 2008 and ultimately helped turn New York into home.
He calls the studio his “happy hacienda” and says he hopes its next owner will love it as much as he did.
Leave a Reply