These New Yorkers have the best perk of all - free homes

While most of us are thrilled if we get a dental plan in our employment package, there are those who get a bit more - a lot more, even by New York standards.

 

In addition to salaries, cost-free living and other snazzy perks, top city officials, the head of the world's governing body and the ultimate universal beauty find themselves with premier city addresses they get for free. From a Colonial designed home on beautiful Morningside Drive to a neo-Gothic limestone residence complete with its own private chapel, many high-ranking professionals live the high life many would envy.

 

We decided to take a look at the estimated values of these extraordinary homes and price them according to the Manhattan real estate market today.

 

Home of Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe

3-bedroom/3-bath luxury full-service midtown high-rise

 

If being America's reigning beauty queen or anointed the most beautiful woman in the universe isn't enough, Miss USA Crystle Stewart, Miss Teen USA Stevi Perry and Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza (the Venezuelan stunner), all enjoy freebies like custom-made tiaras, two-year scholarships to the New York Film Academy, along with wardrobes, makeup and free pampering services. This is on top of an all-expenses paid tenure, yearly salaries and rent-free living in a luxury apartment in midtown Manhattan. 

 

Lisa Margulis of Corcoran estimates the rental costs for the 3-bedroom/3-bath high-rise the ladies share during their time with the title may be around $12,000-$13,000 per month. Margulies said that in June 2008, a 1,800-square-foot, 3-bedroom/3-bathroom, triple-exposure, high-floor, unfurnished apartment rented for $9,750 at the full-service building located in the West midtown neighborhood. "A fully furnished apartment of this caliber would rent furnished for $12,000-$13,000 a month," she says.

 

But who has the biggest bedroom? That would be Miss Universe, who even has a pillow on her bed showing her crowning moment. 

 

Official residence of the United Nations Secretary General

3 Sutton Place

 

How about a five-story, 14,000-square-foot town home in the tony Sutton Place area as a part of your employment package? That's exactly what Korean-born Ban Ki-moon, the current United Nations secretary general, received when he accepted the post. Pauline Evans of the Evans team at Sotheby's International Realty estimates the home could easily be priced between $49 million and $52 million.

 

The official residence recently underwent a near $5 million renovation that included an overhaul of the central air and heating system along with a $200,000 kitchen upgrade. Unfortunately, the work took almost nine months to complete, so the secretary general spent the first part of his tenure in a hotel. Luckily, the 10-year term affords him plenty of time to get comfortable in his updated abode that overlooks the East River. Built in 1921 for Anne Morgan, the daughter of banker J.P. Morgan, the official residence was gifted to the United Nations in 1971. Kurt Waldheim was the first UN secretary general to live at the address.

 

Gracie Mansion Official residence of the mayor of New York City

 

For a measly $1 a year salary, Mayor Bloomberg sure does have some fine digs to call "homes." To start, the mayor owns a townhouse on E. 79th St. between Madison and Fifth Aves. that serves as his primary personal residence. Then there's the Beaux Arts building on E. 78th St. he laid down $45 million for and plans to use for his philanthropic foundation. Yet neither of these holds a candle to the historic home he received compliments of New York City: Gracie Mansion.

 

According to townhouse expert Nikki Field of Sotheby's International Realty, "Gracie Mansion [above] could be the ultimate Manhattan trophy home." The 203-year-old mansion near E. 89th St. and East End Ave., built in 1799 as a private residence for Archibald Gracie and dedicated to mayoral residential use in the 1940s, is surrounded by the 15-acre Carl Schurz Park and overlooks the East River.

 

Field says if the home became available for purchase, it would top all the best value parameters used in pricing for the most desirable of private residences (one-of-a-kind location, views, historical pedigree and architecture with a private security gatehouse and garage). "Particularly attractive are the tax advantages if the check is to be made out to the City of New York," she says.

 

If it were to sell, Field says "the value of this property is beyond comparable data." Yet if she was representing the city, she would suggest a sealed bidding auction with vetted participants with a minimum opening bid of $250 million. "The appetite for securing the most significant piece of this island could lead to offers significantly over this," she says.

 

Columbia University president's house

 

President Lee C. Bollinger of Columbia University impresses guests during gatherings and dinners in his university-provided extra-wide, three-story brick and limestone residence with expansive private outdoor area. Originally designed in 1921 as an eight-bedroom, six-bath home, today it's used for Columbia events and the home of the current head of the school.

 

The president's house boasts elegant landscaping with professional lighting, and brick and flagstone paving.  Extensive interior and exterior building renovations were completed in 2004.

 

According to Shelley Rankin, an associate broker with Warburg Realty's Harlem office, "It faces beautiful Morningside Park at W. 116th St., where there is light vehicular traffic, wide-open city views and a unique serenity." She estimates the home is worth $19.8 million. "The most expensive single-family residences on Central Park West and Riverside Drive sold for $15.5 million and $15.75 million, respectively," she says. "The president's house at Columbia University would certainly set an area record."

 

Edward Cardinal Egan's residence

452 Madison Ave., at 52nd St.

 

If it's good enough for Pope John Paul II to stay the night, then the neo-Gothic limestone abode designed by James Renwick Jr. in 1880 shared by Edward Cardinal Egan and four other priests surely must be a nice place to live.

 

"It's like the White House," says St. Patrick's Cathedral employee Kimberly McBride about the church-provided residence   at 452 Madison Ave., at 50th St. 

 

In addition to full-time maid service, a security staff and chauffeur, there are four bedrooms with en-suite baths and three guest rooms. The four-story home includes a formal dining area and two sitting rooms on the first floor, with bedrooms and various offices upstairs. The kitchen is in the basement. "The house is very functional," says Archdiocese of New York communications director Joseph Zwilling.

 

"At approximately 48,550 square feet, this mansion could be worth in present market conditions in the range of $140 million to $150 million, without taking into account the extraordinary fact that is has intact air rights of approximately 1.2 million square feet that could also be developed or sold," says senior vice president Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens.

 

With a salary to boot on top of this incredible home, that's surely plenty to give thanks for.