Perhaps the members of the co-op board at Manhattan’s 345 West 88th Street are die-hard New York Yankees fans.
Maybe they hate Louisiana State University or find influencers downright annoying.
It doesn’t matter. Olivia ‘Livvy’ Dunne, a former LSU gymnast who dates Pittsburgh Pirates superstar pitcher Paul Skenes and has 5.4million Instagram followers, will never know why she was rejected from buying the Upper West Side apartment once owned by baseball legend Babe Ruth.
Notoriously snobby New York co-op boards – with histories of turning down anyone who doesn’t quite fit – do not legally have to disclose why the reject applicants.
Dunne, 22, took the bad news in her stride, sharing her experience in a TikTok video with a dose of humor.
‘I’m so upset. It was Babe Ruth’s apartment. So naturally, I’m telling everybody, I’m excited,’ she told her followers.
Dunne said she had planned to buy the apartment with an all-cash offer, and that she had toured the place withher 23-year-old boyfriend Skenes.
‘The realtor was so confident. Paul and I went – I got an interior designer because I didn’t want to bring my college furniture to Babe Ruth’s apartment,’ she said.
Livvy Dunne (pictured), a former LSU gymnast, will never know why she was rejected from buying the Upper West Side apartment once owned by Babe Ruth
Notoriously snobby New York co-op boards, with histories of turning down anyone who doesn’t fit, don’t legally have to disclose why they rejected someone
Peter Zaitzeff, sales director at Serhant in New York (pictured)
‘The week that I’m supposed to get my keys to my brand new apartment, I get a call. The co-op board denied me. For all I know, they could have been Alabama fans and I went to LSU. I have no clue.’
Dunne’s dream apartment, a $1.59million, three-bedroom spread, hit the market in April.
The late Ruth, a legendary New York Yankee, lived there from 1920 to 1940.
After the rejection, Dunne offered simple advice to other potential buyers.
‘Long story short, don’t try to live in a co-op,’ she warned. ‘You might get denied and you won’t get Babe Ruth’s apartment.’
Buying a co-op – or cooperative apartment – is different from buying a regular apartment or condo in that the buyer’s bid must be approved by the building’s board of directors.
During the approval process, potential buyers are rigorously screened.
‘In terms of co-ops they want to remain private,’ Peter Zaitzeff, sales director at Serhant real estate company in New York, told the Daily Mail.
‘They are persnickety and they don’t want the flash. They’d rather be quietly rich and have their privacy.’
Here are the other famous faces who have had trouble with co-ops over the years.
Madonna
Madonna made headlines in 1985 when her bid for a $1.2million co-op in a posh Central Park building was rejected.
The co-op board at the San Remo, which was home to Dustin Hoffman and Diane Keaton at the time, refused to give a reason for the rejection, but the building’s tenants are known for wanting privacy. At the time, Madonna was hounded by paparazzi daily.
Madonna (pictured) eventually grew sick of co-ops and combined three Georgian townhouses to create her own 13-bedroom mega-mansion on the Upper East Side
Madonna made news when her bid for a $1.2-million co-op in the San Remo, seen here, was rejected
In 2007, she sued the board that ran her luxury co-op building on West 64th St overlooking Central Park, complaining they wouldn’t let her buy a neighbor’s apartment. In 2008, a judge cleared the way for her to buy it.
In 2018, Madonna lost another battle with her Upper West Side co-op board when a Manhattan Supreme Court justice tossed her complaint.
She had sued the board again after it made a rule barring her children and staff from being at the $7.3million apartment when she wasn’t there.
Madonna eventually grew sick of co-ops and combined three Georgian townhouses to create her own 13-bedroom mega-mansion on the Upper East Side.
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey famously bid on Barbra Streisand’s triplex penthouse at The Ardsley on Central Park West in 1999, but was rejected.
Even after putting in an all-cash $8million bid, the songstress was booted.
Mariah Carey (pictured) eventually moved to a triplex penthouse downtown
She eventually moved to a triplex penthouse downtown that is a condo she owns on her own.
‘Even celebrities and high net worth clients don’t always necessarily want to deal with the headache of being in a co-op building in the end,’ Zaitzeff told the Daily Mail.
Barbra Streisand
In 1969, Barbra Streisand was the subject of a splashy New York Times article detailing her rejection by a New York co-op board.
Streisand (pictured) had put in a bid to buy a $240,000 Park Avenue apartment but was turned down
Streisand had put in a bid to buy a $240,000 Park Avenue apartment but was turned down because the board objected to having ‘flamboyant Hollywood types,’ according to the report.
At the time, the president of the board said, ‘She was turned down, but that’s all I can say.’
Melanie Griffith
The Dakota, where John Lennon lived and was killed in the archway in 1980 (and where Yoko Ono still lives) is notorious for high profile rejections.
Melanie Griffith (pictured), married to Antonio Banderas at the time, was rejected by a board in 2011
While Lennon and Ono made the cut, Melanie Griffith, who was married to Antonio Banderas at the time, was rejected by the board in 2011.
Also on the iconic building’s ‘no’ list are Cher, Billy Joel and Judd Apatow.
Jay-Z
Jay-Z bought an 8,000-square-foot penthouse at 195 Hudson Street after building management allegedly tried to block the sale in 2002.
Jay-Z (pictured) faced terrible residents in a building who tried to keep him from moving in
At the time, the advertising executive seller filed a lawsuit in New York claiming that residents were sabotaging the $6.85million deal by ‘posting notes in the lobby warning tenants of Jay-Z’s “criminal record and lifestyle of knives, guns and violence.”‘
He and his wife Beyoncé won in court, and Jay-Z moved in.
Richard Nixon
In 1979, following his presidency, Richard Nixon withdrew an application on a nine‐room penthouse apartment at 19 East 72nd Street after residents complained.
Richard Nixon (pictured) withdrew an application on a nine‐room penthouse apartment at 19 East 72d Street after residents complained
At the time, the seven-member board had pre-approved Nixon, but after they received a letter signed by 14 residents saying he wasn’t welcome, they informed the former president, who then withdrew his bid.
Calvin Klein
The San Remo on Central Park West rejects again.
The same building Madonna had problems with rejected famed fashion designer Calvin Klein in the 1980s at the height of his fame.
The same building Madonna had problems with rejected famed fashion designer Calvin Klein (pictured) in the 1980s at the height of his fame
The reasoning is unclear as the co-op did accept fellow designer Donna Karan with open arms.
Rush Limbaugh
The late conservative political commentator and host of The Rush Limbaugh Show was turned down by a co-op board at the height of his fame.
Radio personality Rush Limbaugh (center) and wife Kathryn (left) attend the State of the Union address with first lady Melania Trump (right) in 2020
Limbaugh applied to buy an apartment at 322 East 57th Street owned by Kathie Lee Gifford, but was rejected and offered no explanation as to why.
Diane Sawyer
In 1999, Diane Sawyer and her late husband, Mike Nichols, tried twice to buy Calvin Klein’s penthouse at 55 Central Park West.
Broadcast legend Diane Sawyer (pictured) was rejected by a co-op in 1999
They lost out on the $8.5million deal after the building’s co-op board approved a still wealthy, but more private buyer instead.
Overall, co-ops in New York often make celebrities jump through hoops in order to purchase.
‘Nobody wants to deal with co-ops,’ says Zaitzeff. ‘Let alone a celebrity.’
