Make New York Post a Preferred Source Gallerist and photographer Paolo Nicola Rossini has put his Nolita loft at the famed Police Building back on the market for $6 million — down from its $7.7 million ask in 2023.
The sprawling two- to three-bedroom aerie is a combo of two separate units joined together by its former owner, the fashion designer Calvin Klein, Gimme Shelter has learned.
It features massive walls to display art, 16-foot ceilings and multiple tall windows.
Born in Milan and based in Monaco, Rossini co-founded Space Gallery St Barth with his mother, veteran gallerist Maria Angela Ventura and Natalie Clifford in 2011.
By 2018, they also launched Space Gallery’s Soho outpost on Broome Street.
Rossini bought the apartment, 3DE, in 2007 for $2.9 million from Klein, said listing broker Kelly Bensimon, the reality TV star of the new show “The Golden Life” on E!.
She’s also a Douglas Elliman broker who lives in the building and shares the listing with Elliman’s Zachery Clark from her team.
Klein bought the building’s iconic dome penthouse in 1995 and 3DE in the late 90s, she added.
“Calvin gave the penthouse to his daughter Marci when she was pregnant,” Bensimon said. “No one knows that side of Calvin, but he was really a family man,” she said, adding that the third-floor loft became one of many homes in Klein’s collection.
The penthouse was later owned by banker turned restaurateur Ahmass Fakahany and Alsun Keogh in the mid-aughts.
Built in 1909 and designed by Hoppin & Koen, the six-story Beaux-Arts building at 240 Centre St. served as the NYPD’s headquarters until 1973. Landmarked in 1978, it converted into luxury co-ops in 1988 and became a draw for the supermodel set — Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista — along with tennis legend Steffi Graf and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.
Rossini’s purchase of Klein’s third-floor unit was somewhat accidental.
“It all started in 2007, when my mother was visiting friends in New York. They had an apartment in the Police Building, and she was struck by it,” Rossini told Gimme Shelter. “She found it truly special and unique. Her friends put her in touch with a real estate agent who had done a lot of work in the building, and a few weeks later the agent came back with an apartment that was available.
“Everything happened very quickly,” Rossini added. “I had been in the city a few times, always staying in hotels. I never thought to buy an apartment there. Then we simply fell in love with the place — the apartment, the building, the neighborhood. Even though it was a quick decision, it was one I felt completely sure about.”
Next came a major renovation “that turned it completely upside down and finally made it one truly unique space,” Rossini said. “I have a strong preference for minimalism, and our architect, who had spent many years at Foster + Partners in London, interpreted that style perfectly.”
The sunlit residence opens to a large foyer that leads to a living room, open dining area and chef’s galley kitchen.
Rossini said he is selling the apartment because he no longer spends as much time in the city.
“I loved everything about it — the apartment, the building, the people, the area,” Rossini said. “Before I bought the apartment, I used to spend more time in Midtown when I came to New York. But after getting the apartment, I loved the area so much that I hardly moved from there. Still, at some point I realized I was coming less and less often, and my mother even less. So we felt it was time for a change. Now I see myself more in the countryside or in a small town. I still like the city, but it is no longer where my head is. Moving on simply feels like the natural step.”
