Mar. 31, 2006 - And a new private school may open in Tribeca next year

In the planning stages – and without a site yet -- the new school would be a “Waldorf” school and could grow to 150 students from K-5.

Private school looks to open in Tribeca next year

Waldorf schools teach students based on a philosophy that children learn with all five of their senses and need a nurturing environment to grow. There are 800 Waldorf schools globally, but all are run independently from one another.

The Rudolf Steiner School on the Upper East Side is the only current Waldorf school in Manhattan.

There will be a forum about the Waldorf educational philosophy at 7 p.m. for parents on the 25th floor of 7 World Trade Center.

Mar. 31, 2006 - Tribeca public school development stalled?

Some Tribeca residents thought they had a deal with the City about the development of the last large empty lot in the neighborhood (the “Site 5B” just south of PS 234), that the lot would be developed and PS 234 would get an annex and a new K-8 school would be built on Beekman Street. But the mayor’s office is not so sure that was a deal, so the locals are not happy….

At a March 21 community board meeting held at the P.S./I.S. 89 auditorium, [Deputy Mayor Dennis] Walcott reiterated the city’s position that construction of a P.S. 234 annex and a new kindergarten through 8th grade school on Beekman Street are on hold unless the city gets more money from the state. He also said the administration is optimistic that when the state budget passes, the funds for school construction will be coming.

The Tribeca Trib has the news in its March 2006 on-line edition. Click first on the article < Parents Keep Pressure on City Hall for Local Schools Funding  >, then track to part of the back story < kept up the pressure>

Mar. 31, 2006 - Creeping loft-ism – nationally

You know “lofts” have moved way beyond trendy when The National Association of Realtors magazine talks about loft developments around the country, in cities and in suburbs.  The Loft Goes Upscale and Suburban 

Authentic lofts — with their high ceilings, open spaces, and expansive windows — are fetching prime prices in former warehouse districts, while developers churn out new variations of the popular style in cities and suburbs across the country.

Part of this may simply be the rest of the country catching on to a Manhattan trend, part of this may be the widespread revitalization of many core urban areas around the country, and part of this may be Hollywood’s influence:

[SoHo architect Henry] Smith-Miller attributes the loft’s increased popularity in part to a spate of blockbuster movies set in lofts, including the gritty and dangerous “Fatal Attraction” (1987) in which Glen Close and Michael Douglas take a fateful elevator ride or the art-filled loft in “Unfaithful” (2002) where Diane Lane and her French lover Olivier Martinez rendezvoused.

These films and others, such as “Diva” (1981) and “Ghost” (1990), “transformed interiors all over the world,” says Smith-Miller, who still lives and works with his artist/architect wife Laurie Hawkinson in a SoHo loft.

That article talks about loft developments in Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, and in the suburbs nationwide, most of which are new construction. Recognizing that not many of these new developments closely mirror “classic lofts”, one real estate agent said they should be called “clofts”, for condos with high ceilings.

Imagine “lofts” in a Las Vegas gated community….

Mar. 30, 2006 - 114 Mercer St, 2d floor

114 Mercer St, 2d floor  $1.779mm

featured in "Living In" SoHo article NYTimes 3.26.06

A typical SoHo side street loft, long and narrow, with windows only at one narrow end. 12 ft barrel ceilings and new cherry floors. 2250 sq ft with the relatively low maintenance of $1350/mo (no doorman).

On the market since October 2005 (originally $1.85mm).

As of today[March 30], "temporarily off the market", so the  link <http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=827145> will not work unless (until) it comes back on.

march 31: that was quick! back on the market (same price) with a different firm: http://www.carolelevy.com/114%20Mercer_2.htm 

Mar. 30, 2006 - SoHo as a NY Times featured neighborhood profile - "Living In"

As always, this feature describes the neighborhood in broad terms, and has sections for "what you'll find", "what you'll pay", "what to do", "the schools", history" and a few properties for sale.

I think reporter Jeff Vandam has it pretty much exactly backwards with his comment:

But while SoHo may strike some first-time visitors as a really, really good-looking shopping mall, both longtime residents and recent arrivals know there is more to the area than handbags and designer iPod cases.

Actually, I think many long-time residents are not happy that SoHo has become that "really, really good-looking shopping mall". Even some of the newer residents are less than thrilled with the pedestrian traffic and increasingly (dare I say it?) pedestrian shopping.

Mar. 28, 2006 - SoHo pushes down to its southern border / the Arnold Constable building conversion (NY Times 3.26.06)

The clear lower boundary of SoHo is Canal Street, but almost nothing about Canal Street feels like SoHo – except possibly during those scattered minutes in any day when Canal is deserted by people and cars, and the electronics and plumbing suppliers and the “designer” stalls close up. As crowded as West Broadway gets with foot traffic, there is no comparison with the shoppers and pedestrians across Canal’s wide sidewalk, and the 24/7 vehicle traffic going east to the Manhattan Bridge or west to the Holland Tunnel make Canal one of the grittiest, sootiest, busiest streets in a busy, sooty, gritty city.

But the NY Times reports that one of the Canal Street venerable emporia may be developed soon, possibly for “residential, hotel or office use”. Check the link for details on the Arnold, Constable building, built in 1857 when Canal was a far more grand commercial center than for the last fifty years.

The disheveled smaller buildings on Canal Street appear generally unchanged since the days of the old SoHo…. Amid the raffish decay, the Arnold, Constable building [at Mercer St] stands out, in part for its size, and in part for its unbroken marble façade.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/realestate/26scapes.html

Reporter Christopher Gay nails the tension between Canal and SoHo:

By the 1960's, SoHo had devolved into a raw industrial neighborhood — it was as still as a forest at night, with old packing crates and cable spools left out on the Belgian block streets.

But Canal Street remained hopping, with tumbledown stores of old machine parts, new plastic supplies, food stands and similar enterprises drawing customers from neighboring Chinatown and around the city. That rambunctious vitality has kept much of the more recent real estate advances in SoHo away from the ramparts of Canal Street, with its constant bombardment of traffic.

It is difficult to imagine that Arnold, Constable building would be successfully developed as a hotel or residence without masquerading its prominent Canal Street frontage, but maybe the frontage is long enough to have a significant ‘no tacky’ zone. Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

Mar. 23, 2006 - What did SoHo smell like back in the day?

Mar. 22, 2006 - Lofts waxed as fashionable; will they wane? (NY Times article 3.19.06)

The March 19, 2006 NY Times wondered on the front page of the real estate section about Manhattan apartment fashion Is Prewar Losing Its Status to Glass? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/realestate/19cov.html

In contrasting classic prewar styling with "glass-wrapped [new condo] towers", the Times claims the newbies have created "an entirely new category of Manhattan real estate". The thrust of the article is that this New Style will -- or maybe won't -- trump (no pun intended) the grand prewar classics as the places to be. (Hint: the great prewars will always be great for the people who like that sort of thing.)

But the Times makes an interesting point about trendy real estate development, and whether the 'trendy' will last. In many ways the success of early loft conversions in the 1980s and 1990s were the trendsetters of their day, leading directly to the Nouveau Condominiums profiled by the Times.

Loft living then (and still) was a significantly different way to use space than "apartment" living (prewar, postwar or no-war), and so attracted many of the Art-erati, which popularized lofts for the next generation of buyers. Loft living became fashionable, and fashions do change.

However...

I think the great take-away from the Times piece is the recognition that the things that make classic prewars "classic" will remain (the wonderful 'flow' of rooms, boulevard locations, the proportions, and the relatively high ceilings) so that there is likely to be a market segment willing to pay for these elements into the future.

Not so -- necessarily -- the slapdash construction from the 1960s through 1980s in buildings that were built as rentals and converted to coops or condos. The buildings from this era that will suffer in the market personify "cookie cutter", with low ceilings (often 'popcorn') and no sense of proportion.

But many loft buildings contain units that are "classic" (vast, flexible space, 'character', high ceilings, much light), so they are likely to attract a market segment "always".

That's my story, at least, and I am sticking to it.

Mar. 20, 2006 - Manhattan Loft Prices / lofts kept pace with market, per Corcoran year over year report

Average sales prices for lofts were up 24% at year-end 2005 compared to year-end 2004, according to The Corcoran Report / Year End 2005, while the average price per square foot for lofts was up 22%. According to this report, the average price in the Manhattan coop market overall was up 23%, while the condominium market was up 25%, and 21% and 22% respectively on a per square foot basis..

In other words, loft sale prices were in synch with the overall market for 2005.

(As I will address in a future entry, this flat performance is in sharp contrast to the prior year, when the same data sources reported that lofts significantly out-performed the general market.)

The Corcoran report is based on a large but unknown number of transactions, as it uses sales data reported by Corcoran and by one of the major appraisal firms in Manhattan, Mitchell, Maxwell & Jackson. Unlike the reports issued by Miller Samuel -- which should be released soon -- Corcoran and MMJ do not break out their raw data in any way. But given the size of the Corcoran firm and the access to data that MMJ enjoys as a top appraiser, the raw data should certainly accurately represent the market.

But it is frustrating not to have further breakdowns. From the Corcoran / MMJ data we cannot tell:

• how many loft transactions there were compared to the overall market
• how many loft transactions were in condominiums (which overall slightly out-performed coops)
• the relative performance of different neighborhood loft markets (they aggregate all loft data in the "loft market [which they say is] centered in the prime Downtown enclaves of SoHo, TriBeCa, Greenwich Village and Chelsea")

There will be a lot more to chew on when the Miller Samuel report hits.

Access the report at http://www.corcoran.com/guides/pdf/Year%20End%2005%20Report.pdf

Mar. 19, 2006 - Zillow - what it is and what it says about how it does Manhattan