How did Borough President Markowitz, whose city salary is $160,000, manage to buy a $1.45-million lovenest in Windsor Terrace? All it took was money from a “slip-and-fall” case that put a serious crimp in his sexual relations with his wife, Jamie.
Markowitz’s purchase of a swank home in Windsor Terrace has been the talk of the neighborhood since the Daily News broke the story last week — but few of his future neighbors know that he got a large portion of the cash to buy his new executive mansion from a 2003 settlement in a personal injury case.
It all started on an icy day in 2001, when Markowitz took a spill in an Econo Lodge parking lot in Albany. The vicious fall resulted in surgery involving “total left ankle reconstruction” and the insertion of a metal plate and screws that left Markowitz seriously disabled for roughly four weeks.
Two years later, Markowitz and his lawyer, Jonny Kool (seriously), sought a whopping $6 million in damages from the owners of the motel. Six million smackers? Before you guffaw, this was one serious injury, as the court papers show:
“Jamie Markowitz has been deprived of the value of the full services, society, support, assistance, companionship, consortium, duties, obligations and the affection of her husband,” the document states. “[The injuries] will result in her future loss of enjoyment of life and marital services.”
Markowitz ended up hobbling away with a settlement of $350,000, of which the Beep pocketed $255,000 — money that resurfaced last month when Markowitz and his wife put down roughly $1 million of the $1.45-million asking price for his Terrace Place crib.
The rest of the money for the big down payment came from the sale of a $750,000 Manhattan Beach home inherited by Jamie Markowitz.
Regardless of the backstory to the legendary renter Markowitz’s first gambit with homeownership, locals seemed happy about having a minor celebrity in the neighborhood.
“Now we have somebody to tell our problems to,” said Rocky Gallo, the owner of United Meat Market on Prospect Park West.
And the owner of Pierre’s Deli on the corner of 16th Street and 10th Avenue said he was so enthused by the borough president’s arrival that, pressed by The Brooklyn Paper, he unveiled “the Marty Markowitz” sandwich, a towering heap of grilled roast beef, caramelized onions, layers of fresh mozzarella and slathered with the sweet steak sauce from Peter Lugar. After a taste test, The Brooklyn Paper newsroom was divided.
Markowitz’s new digs stand as a major change in lifestyle for the longtime tenant advocate.
The million-dollar home also marks a new chapter in Markowitz’s Horatio Alger-esque rise from public housing in Sheepshead Bay to idyllic Windsor Terrace, with its quiet side streets and proximity to Prospect Park.
The previous owner of the house, Jeanneene Booher, was not starstruck while sealing the deal.
“I don’t know him from anyone, really,” said Booher, who was surprised by a call from The Brooklyn Paper. “When my grandchildren go to sing at the Brooklyn youth chorus, he’s always there. He and his wife seem like nice people.”
One neighbor on Markowitz’s block did foresee certain benefits of the borough president’s arrival. Just recently, the sewer drains were cleared out on the block, something the neighbor — who did want to give her name — saw as a direct result of Markowitz’s influence.
“He had five trucks out here cleaning the sewers. I’ve been waiting 15 years for my sewer drains to get cleaned,” the neighbor said. “At least now it’ll happen every six months, since it affects him.”
— with Barry Shifrin
