![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/9393098b35c05d9de95599e2d57ef2828e-111-e-81st-st.rsquare.w330.jpg\")
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The four-story mansion at 111 East 81st sits on a tree-lined block just off Park Avenue and a quick walk from the Met. The last time the limestone townhouse sold was in March 2022, for $13.2 million, to\u00a0the founder of several DTC mattress brands,\u00a0Craig Schmeizer. But, neighbors have said, the house has been quiet since Schmeizer\u2019s death late last year. Apparently there weren\u2019t even footprints at the door after a recent snowfall. But according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday, there\u2019s definitely someone still living there.<\/p>\n
Schmeizer\u2019s estranged wife, Sarah Shalev, says the house has been occupied by a woman who moved in with Schmeizer at some point after the couple separated. Shalev, who is the executor of Schmeizer\u2019s will, claimed in court filings that Hilarie Page has refused her entrance to the home, where, in addition to preparing it for sale, Shalev says she\u2019d like to get inside to retrieve family heirlooms and photos. She also wants, per the suit, to check in on\u00a0the \u201clarge amount of valuable wine\u201d in the cellar, which needs to be inventoried, and on artwork that requires \u201cproper care.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to an affidavit, not long after Schmeizer died in November 2025, Shalev called Page. Their conversation apparently didn\u2019t go well. (\u201cShe was extremely hostile, told me she was not going to leave the house because Craig was dead and it was clear that I would not be allowed into the Building,\u201d Shalev said in the affidavit.) Letters from Shalev\u2019s lawyers asking Page to hand over the keys to the house and let their client in, meanwhile, received no response. (Shalev and her attorney didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment; Page couldn\u2019t be reached for comment.)<\/p>\n
So Shalev showed up to the building in person with an attorney on February 5, according to the lawsuit and police records. \u201cWe rang the doorbell many times. [sic] pounded on the door and even threw snowballs at windows to get the attention of anybody who might be inside,\u201d Shalev said in her affidavit. No one answered, so she called a locksmith to get inside. It turns out Page was indeed there and ran to the door to deny them entry. Page and Shalev\u2019s attorney both called the police, who, per the affidavit, called Page a \u201csquatter\u201d but nevertheless told Shalev and her lawyer that they needed to leave.<\/p>\n
Estate disputes aren\u2019t all that surprising in a city where some of the world\u2019s richest people live, split up and, well, die. Still, the specifics of the case involving No. 111 stumped several brokers who regularly deal with the ultrawealthy. \u201cThis is a pretty 0.1-percent-type thing,\u201d Serhant\u2019s Peter Zaitzeff says. \u201cHow often do you have a couple not divorce, but have someone die, and then a person is living there, squatting?\u201d<\/p>\n
Shalev seems to be a realist about her predicament. Despite giving Page a notice to vacate by February 20, the complaint suggested Page likely will not leave by then, and an eviction proceeding to get back possession of the townhouse almost certainly will drag on for a while. For ongoing use of the home since Schmeizer\u2019s death, Shalev thinks Page owes her some rent \u2014 at\u00a0the market rate of $49,000 a month.<\/p>\n
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