Swift & Lawrence find the real deal with Sharon Baum
Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift’s new bestie is 75 and thinks social media is when Si Newhouse throws a private cocktail party. Meet Sharon Baum, the no-nonsense Park Ave. real estate broker ker who has become the unlikely agent for Tay-Tay and her r “Hunger Games” pal.
Baum is an industry stalwart better known for her old-school approach to selling stuffy Upper East Side co-ops to white-haired former hedge-funders, rather than for selling trendy Tribeca lofts to showbiz kids. Baum is no Fredrik Eklund hawking multimillion-dollar apartments while he doubles as a reality TV star on Bravo. She’s not on Instagam. She’s not tweeting her house-hunting adventures. Indeed, it’s not an adventure. It’s an avocation. “Good for them for picking someone who’s very professional rather than making this into some kind of entertainment experience,” said luxury broker Donna Olshan, who has known Baum for years. “Most people presume that a rock star or celebrity will use a younger, sexier, flashier broker, but that doesn’t always mean a better broker.”
She may be more pan than flash, but Baum certainly gets the job done.
The Missouri-born grande dame, who wears her hair in a platinum bob and is more
commonly seen in a granny cardigan than a designer dress, was in the first class of eight women to graduate from Harvard Business School. She was the first female vice president at Chemical Bank and once dated billionaire Mike Bloomberg. She’s a throwback to an old guard of Manhattan brokers, who kept their exclusives on little cards rather than throwing them online.
Baum represented Swift when she snagged a $20 million Franklin St. penthouse formerly owned by “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson last year — and clearly impressed the young songstress with her no-frills approach to wheeling and dealing New York City apartments.
“She treats celebrities like they’re people and not deities,” said Halstead Property broker Brian Lewis, who showed Swift and Baum a townhouse on Charlton St. while they were still searching for the right apartment for the “Shake It Off” singer.
“Celebrities don’t want sycophantic people around them, and they don’t want the broker to be the center of attention,” said Lewis. “Sharon just sat there and smiled. She took a back seat and let Taylor do her thing. She let her get a feel for the place on her own.”
Lawrence has long admired Swift’s business sense — she called her a “badass bitch” when she persuaded Apple to pay artists during the trial period of Apple Music last month — so it’s not surprising that she’s taking her real estate advice. J.Law checks out an apartment with Baum.
In recent weeks, Baum has been seen teetering behind Lawrence as she’s been eying Tribeca pads. The duo checked out a $15.25 million, three-bedroom, 3½-bathroom pad at 443 Greenwich St. and a five-bedroom pad at 71 Laight St.
The actress is looking for an apartment with three bedrooms or more so she can accommodate love interest and “Coldplay” singer Chris Martin’s son, Moses, and daughter, Apple, sources said.
Baum may have a stuffier reputation than other celebrity brokers, but she’s certainly not boring.
She was formerly knownk as the “Rolls-Royce Realtor” for chauffeuring clients around in a blackb Rolls — which bore thet license plate SOLD 1.1 She traded in the car ini 2009 for a chic yellow Vespa to avoid looking extravagant in the depths of thet recession.
“She single-handedly walked the high-end market into my business,” said “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran, who recruited Baum to her firm before selling it in 2001. “She was that powerful. She’s one of the most well-connected, well-wired brokers in Manhattan. I adore her.”
In addition to the name stars, Baum has rep- presented billionaire art patron n Lily Safra, one of the richest women in thee world, and once sold the famed Duke-Semans mansion sion on Fifth Ave. to the late te billionaire fertilizer mogul Tamir Sapir for $40 million. on.
“She’s so focused ocused on knowledge andnd intelligence rather than pizzazz,” said downtown power ower broker Leonard Steinberg. “She has substance.”
That’s probably what caught Bloomberg’s eye at Harvard, even n though the future mayor was a year behind her.
The two dated ated briefly, but Bloomberg didn’t carry a torch (he’s alll business, too).
“On the day I got married in March 1969,9, he sent a dozen red roses,” es,” Baum told real estate trade magazine The Real Deal al a decade ago. “That’s the kind nd of stand-up guy he is.”
But Baum knew then what Taylor Swift knew decades later: : They were never ever ever er getting back together. r.
“The card said, ‘I wish you a lifetime of happiness,’” Baum revealed.
She treats celebrities like they’re people and not deities.