Posted on 06/26/2006 7:04:22 AM PDT by presidio9
Disgraced former Garden State Gov. Jim McGreevey's new home is just down the road from his estranged wife's place - but in terms of amenities, it's a world away. The famously gay pol is slated to close this week on his three-story, 1914 Georgian estate in Plainfield - 10 miles down Route 22 from Dina Matos McGreevey's single-story, 1954 ranch in Springfield.
McGreevey and his wealthy investment-adviser boyfriend, Mark O'Donnell, paid about $1.3 million for the ivy-covered home in Plainfield's historic district, sources told The Post.
Meanwhile, Dina McGreevey paid $430,000 for her red-brick tract house in 2005, shortly after Jim McGreevey's "I am a gay American" resignation speech.
As the price tags suggest, the difference between the two homes is staggering.
Jim's 17-room crib was built for a founder of the New York Commodities Exchange during an era when Plainfield, dubbed the "Queen City," boasted more millionaires than any town in the country.
Dina's seven-room place, which she shares with daughter Jacqueline, 4, was built by tract developers for middle-class suburbanites seeking an easy commute to Manhattan.
Jim's house sits on nearly two sprawling acres in a neighborhood filled with CEOs, doctors, lawyers, fashion models and publishing execs. Dina's is on less than a quarter acre in a close-knit neighborhood of other similarly nondescript houses.
Jim's impeccably maintained manse boasts eight bedrooms, 41/2 baths, cedar walk-in closets, a large solarium and a cherry-paneled study.
Dina's home is a cookie-cutter ranch.
"It's not fancy-schmancy, just all the basic rooms you need," said a neighbor. "There's no 'historic detail' or 'designer this-and-that.' It's a regular house."
Jim's also features a professional chef's kitchen replete with heated, tumbled-marble floors, handmade cabinets, a 9-foot granite island, a Traulsen commercial refrigerator, Viking cooktop and Thermador dual ovens.
The differences in the homes are evident
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
yeah a mansion with two backdoors...
Doogle
Dina's house is infinitely more valuable because it does not have Jim McGreevey in it.
$430,000! for that? and only a single car garage?
..obviously not a Jerseyite
There are suburbs of NYC where that house would go for well over $1mm.
....it will be decorated in the style that gays call "pi$$-elegant"
In Houston, $430K would get you 5000+ square feet, a three-car garage, an in-ground pool with hot tub, and then some.
Funny how that title really applies to McGreevey!
It comes with granite counter tops, a fancy Sub-Zero refridgerator and three glory holes.
The problem with McGREEVY's is that it is always a backdoor entry.
With Dina, you have the front door option too.
McGreevey's "use" of his homosexuality to hide other issues has been nothing short of masterful. The issue was his hiring an UNQUALIFIED foreign national to head the state homeland security department. The fact that this unqualified person was apparently his gay lover provides fodder for the tabloids, but was not the main issue.
There were also allegations of payoffs and corruption, involving the code word "Machiavellian" and other similar tales, that seemed to disappear once the "I'm quitting because I'm gay" sympathy story was floated. Allegations are NOT proof, but again these things just got swept into the closet once McGreevey came out of it. Any criticism of him is now seen as anti-gay by some.
I think even a gay rights advocate would be upset by McGreevey's cynical use of this issue as cover. And writing a book about it too! Where did he get the money for these new digs?
That's a $130,000 house where I live. Unfrigging believable that the same house in NJ is nearly half a million dollars.
Did McGreevey and his special friend remember to get Homoaner's Insurance?
Wife and daughter kicked to the curb. Nice.
Real estate, and the cost of living, are unbelievable in the NYC metropolitan area.
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