Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn out on bail

French international diplomat Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released to house arrest at a temporary apartment near Ground Zero on Friday evening after an outcry by tenants scotched a plan to release the accused sex offender to a pricey uptown location.

Strauss-Kahn was freed from Rikers Island after he posted $1-million cash bail and a $5-million bond, and State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus in Manhattan set aside prosecutors' last-minute concerns about the media onslaught at the new location.

"To thrust a large media mixture into that part of town is really potentially crippling to that part of Manhattan," said Assistant District Attorney Artie McConnell, who asked for review by the mayor and the NYPD before the release.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, head of the International Monetary Fund until he resigned Wednesday, was pulled off a plane last Saturday and charged with sexual assault and attempted rape of a housekeeper at Manhattan's Sofitel hotel. The woman has alleged that he attacked her when she came to clean his room.

Obus on Thursday ordered Strauss-Kahn released, subject to 24-hour monitoring by both video cameras and armed guards from the security firm Stroz Friedberg at an apartment rented by Anne Sinclair, Strauss-Kahn's wife.

But that plan fell apart early Friday when the location -- the Bristol Plaza, an upper East Side address where two-bedroom suites rent for $14,200 a month -- leaked, and an international media horde descended on the building entrance, prompting complaints from residents.

The Bristol Plaza did not return a call, but Strauss-Kahn's lawyer said his client decided not to push it.

"The tenants would not accept him living there," said the lawyer, William Taylor. "We just decided not to do it out of consideration."

That prompted a last-minute scramble to find a house-arrest location for the one-time French presidential prospect.

The new address was not disclosed in court papers, but Obus said it was "identified by" the security firm and would be used only until another location can be found next week.

McConnell said it was inside Lower Manhattan's "Ring of Steel" security zone, and near a transportation hub.

Strauss-Kahn will not be allowed to leave the temporary apartment except for a medical emergency.

After a longer-term location is found, Obus ordered that Strauss-Kahn would only be able to leave for religious, legal or medical purposes with six hours of notice to prosecutors.

He will wear an ankle bracelet, and be watched by video monitors and at least one armed guard 24/7. All visitors will be searched, and he'll only be allowed four at a time in addition to family.

Taylor begged the media for privacy.

With William Murphy, Anthony M. DeStefano

and Emily Ngo