Archives
July 2007
Jul. 30, 2007 - 372 Fifth little loft / NY Times On The Market
so small but so tall
Sunday’s On The Market feature in the Sunday real estate section of the NY Times included a Manhattan loft that is only “744 sq ft”, #3P at 372 Fifth Avenue. This former mercantile space (Best & Co., at one point) was converted to lofts about 25 years ago, many of which are rather small. But there are high ceilings, original structural elements (terra cotta vaulted ceilings, steel column), and an open layout.
Offered through Mara Flash Blum of Sotheby’s for $729k since early July (maintenance is $787/mo), #3P is one of those unusual small-but-true lofts.
The Pros vs. Cons analysis in the Times seems pretty fair:
PROS: This apartment in the former Best & Company department store has eye-catching details like vaulted terra cotta ceilings and a restored original steel column. The kitchen and bath were recently renovated with sleek finishes, including slate tile and black granite counters.
CONS: The apartment has only one window and has no view.
This building has a peculiar distribution of maintenance obligations, to say the least. #3P is $787/mo for what is said to be “744 sq ft”, while #10H is said to be “800 sq ft” (with a “300 sq ft” terrace) and is offered by Corcoran for $649k (with an offer accepted), with the notation that the asking price reflects the maintenance of $2,511/mo.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 29, 2007 - loft pioneering as late as 1998 / 62 Orchard St NY Times ‘Habitats’ feature
story + back story from the Lower East Side
Fascinating article in Sunday’s Habitats section of the NY Times real estate section about a California couple who found “exactly the vision of what we thought a New York City loft would be”, A Loft Built on Vision and Sweat.
As with so many happy loft stories, this couple had the guts to take a shot in a ‘fringe’ area, they got a bit lucky, they had a vision, and they invested a huge amount of sweat equity. One result provides the punch line (and last line) of the article: the friends who declined to join with them to buy a dilapidated and under-utilized seven-story Lower East Side building (only the ground floor was being used when they saw it): less than a year after they bought it
“They [the friends] stood and gaped,” Ms. Weinstock said. “They were like, ‘Why didn’t you tell us it could look like this?’ ”
A little research reveals that these folks live at 62 Orchard Street – between Hester and Grand, you can’t get much more Lower East Side than that. They formed a coop with the original building owner and four other pioneers, then set out to build the loft they envisioned (the ‘before’ picture is here; ‘after’ is here). Their 3rd floor 2,400 sq ft cost $275,000 to buy in 1998, gave the rest of their money ($35,000) to a contractor who then fled the country, and ended up doing the demolition and renovation themselves.
“Our existence was this: we’d come home from our jobs at 6 or 7 and work until midnight. Then we’d go down to the local bar and have a Scotch and a cigarette. I don’t even smoke! It was just our ritual, the one moment of the day we could look forward to.”
Not many people have the combination of courage, motivation and skills to pull off this kind of project, then or now. Kudos to them!
It almost seems tacky to assess the market value of what they have accomplished, so perhaps it is fortunate that there are no recent sales in the building to provide comps. The only sale I see was the 4th floor four years ago, which had an asking price of $1.25mm.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 27, 2007 - 1,000 ft rooftop tour / open houses at 240 E Houston + 29 W 15
(remember to check listings Sunday to make sure the open house is still on)
There are two similar Manhattan lofts holding open houses Sunday. Both are just over “1,000 sq ft”, both have private roof decks, both are nearly $1.5mm, both have difficult layouts for more people than one.
PH-B at 29 West 15 Street is said to be “1,020 sq ft” set up as 2 bedrooms + 1 bath, but the highlight will be the “900 sq ft” private roof terrace. On the market five weeks at $1.495mm and $794/mo in maintenance.
Open House Sunday 1 – 2:30
#5D at 240 East Houston Street is “1,087 sq ft”, set up as 1 bedroom + 2 bathrooms, while the highlight here is the (400 sq ft??) private roof desk. On the market since last November, it started at $1.82mm and suffered four price drops before changing firms in June at the new price of $1.499mm ($1,106/mo in taxes and charges). This interior is even more difficult than 29 W 15 St.
Open House Sunday “by appointment only” (PruDE’s Stephen Dartley, O: 212-350-2283 , M: 917-603-9150)
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 27, 2007 - 2d time is how grand at 96 and 184 Grand?
huge spaces + roof / bring architect + engineer + contractor +…. $$$
Two similar Manhattan loft listings hit the market yesterday and today, one in the true SoHo stretch of Grand Street, one a bit farther east into NoLita. Both are top (6th) floor, full floor lofts. Both are all about the space and the roof rights. Both will probably require a million dollar build-out. Both were on the market last year, without selling.
96 Grand St 6th fl is a real ‘opportunity’ (“penthouse potential”), with “3,600 sq ft” plus “1,200 sq ft” of roof rights. PruDE doesn’t (yet?) have pix or floor plan up on the web, but it is being marketed as “artist’s studio” that offers “a lot to work with”, so figure it is pretty primitive. Asking $3.85mm (maintenance is $2,000/mo), compared to the $3.995mm, $3.5mm and $3.75mm at which it was marketed by Halstead from last June through October.
184 Grand St 6th fl involves putting back together a space that was broken into two apartments. This one got an extended play on Curbed yesterday (On the Market: Soho Artist Loft, w/Giant Roof), including from me. Price was $3.85mm when it was offered from December 2006 through March, and $3.999mm when it was offered for only one month early in 2006. (Interesting that the maintenance here is close to $1/ft, at $3,452/mo, compared to just over half that per foot at 96 Grand.) It is said to be a bit bigger than 96 Grand, with "4,000 sq ft" plus "1,300 sq ft" of private roof rights.
How grand will The Market think these opportunities are?
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 27, 2007 - SoHo kvetching (yes, more)
Aside from people who are paying millions and millions to move to SoHo lofts (not that there is anything wrong with that), there is a nearly constant stream of people complaining about the loss of the Good Old Days in SoHo – which seems to be measured idiosyncratically as ‘the year I first moved here’.
In that vein, consider this quote from the NY Times:
On weekends, the narrow streets are filled with gallery-goers and those curious to see la vie de boheme being played out behind grimy cast-iron facades. … [S]tores and bookshops, boutiques, restaurants and bars have grown up around the tourist trade, and the cry among residents has become “Not another Eighth Street”, their symbol of Greenwich Village commercialism.
[there may be artists still there, yes …] But anyone who spends much time in SoHo will probably run into stockbrokers, lawyers and others who live there, simply because they want to .
Pretty standard rant, right?
Plus ca change ….
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 27, 2007 - loft contracts galore this week / eastern edition
As I said Wednesday, many Manhattan lofts came through the inter-firm data-base as In Contract this week; here are some from east of Fifth:
125 East 12 Street #1A is a triplex loft of “2,300 sq ft”, so there is a lot of up-ing and down-ing to be done here. It came out in April ($2.795mm and $2,300/mo in taxes and charges) and has had no price change since then. The master bedroom is a mezzanine, (partially) open to the living room below – but at least you can put other sleepers on the bottom level.
210 Lafayette Street #7B (Kenmare Square) raises the existential question: how small can a “loft” be? This “768 sq ft” “loft” came back to the market in May at $1.375mm after bouncing for most of last year from $1.45mm to $1.295mm, then falling off the market last October. Let’s accept – for argument’s sake – that this is a “sleek and modern re-interpretation of loft living”.
382 Lafayette 4th fl is quite the other end of Lafayette from Kenmare Square, figuratively if not geographically. It came out in February at $2.75mm and dropped to $2.495mm in April (only $975/mo in taxes and charges). This one is more a ‘classic’ loft and is quite big enough at “2,050 sq ft”. Note especially the artistic use of the fire escape out the bedroom window – brilliant!
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 26, 2007 - bidding war at 2 Prince / back story on NY Times loft Res Sales
a hot one has sold + closed
Today’s Residential Sales feature in the Home & Garden section of the NY Times features a NoLiTa loft that I talked about when it was new in March (two new at 1,200 sq ft / 10 Bleecker + 2 Prince), along with a 10 Bleecker Street loft that was also moving quickly.
Unit 4B at 2 Prince ended up closing for almost $200k above the asking price of $1.475mm. While the Times notes it was “on the market” 13 weeks, it took less than four weeks from the initial listing date to have the bidding war and reach a binding contract.
LITTLE ITALY $1.67 million
2 Prince Street (Elizabeth Street)
2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,200-sq.-ft. condo in renovated prewar loft building; elevator; dining area, kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel appliances, study, exposed-brick walls, central air-conditioning, washer-dryer, 3 exposures; common roof deck in building; common charge $336; taxes $4,416; listed at $1.475 million (multiple bids), 13 weeks on market (broker: Corcoran Group)
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 26, 2007 - loft contracts galore this week / Tribeca bonus edition
As I said yesterday, many Manhattan lofts came through the inter-firm data-base as In Contract this week; here is one more from Tribeca, hot off today’s presses:
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 26, 2007 - loft contracts galore this week / west side edition
many Manhattan lofts came through the inter-firm data-base as In Contract in the last four days; here are some from the west side, all of which have been mentioned here before:
241 West 36 Street #6R took nearly a year to find a contract, first with Olshan then with Stribling’s Peter Browne, who took over in February. Asking $1.3mm (originally $1.399mm last July) for “1,700 sq ft”, I must not have been the only one who thought it had layout issues (nearly square, there are windows on only one side, with a corner balcony).
36 West 15 Street 2nd floor was featured a few weeks ago because of the three early price drops from the December asking price of $1.75mm and its persistence on the market at $1.295mm since February. (market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing) Another with layout issues, as the “1,480 sq ft” array has only 1 bathroom. (This hit the inter-firm database as In Contract this week, but reader Jess noted the contract last week.)
448 West 37 Street #6F did not linger: it came out on July 2 at $1.149mm (people who live in Glass Farmhouse … 6F is new). Described as “1,418 sq ft”, the listing includes this fascinating footnote (kudos to PruDE’s Anthony Gentile for being explicit) “1418 sf is listed in offering plan and probably includes a percentage of common elements”. The size and layout issues (another near square with one wall of windows) did not pose a problem here, which is probably an example of Price Solving A Problem.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 25, 2007 - loft contracts galore this week / Tribeca edition
many Manhattan lofts came through the inter-firm data-base as In Contract in the last three days; here are some from Tribeca:
$3.35mm and $2,580/mo (abated) for “3,484 sq ft”
Juilliard House was converted to condos in 2000
#1D is a ground floor (and below) duplex with terrace, garden and private entrance
Came to market in October 2006 at $3.495mm; price has been $3.35mm since March
$3.075mm and $1,764/mo maintenance for “2,400 sq ft” (plus some roof rights)
Came to market in May 2006 at $3.475mm and has had one deal fall through and two periods off the market; price has been $3.075mm since February
$1.75mm and $1,508/mo maintenance for “2,200 sq ft”
$2.775mm and $1,500/mo maintenance for “2,500 sq ft” up four flights of stairs
Came to market in March at $3.3mm, dropped to $2.995mm in April and to $2.775mm in May
$2.975mm and $2,001/mo for “2,045 sq ft” in the Atalanta
Came to market last September at $2.995mm, with three extended periods off the market, and one month at $3.175mm before dropping to $2.975mm in June. Blogged about this one in an open house review earlier this month.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 24, 2007 - price drop for raw Alpha-Land space at 430 E 10 St (bring caution)
no C of O, no elevator, much space, fewer dollars
The 4th floor at 430 East 10 Street is “3,600 sq ft” that is not only an “absolute rarity”, “unique”, and “an exceptional opportunity”, but it is “spectacularly large spaciousness”. But they are having a bit of trouble finding out what it is worth, in its raw, walking-up-stairs, pre-Certificate of Occupancy state.
This loft space came to market in January for $2,570,500 (huh?), dropped to $2.195mm in March, and then again this week to $1.975mm. How do you value something like this?? How do you get your lawyer to figure it out?
Corcoran says it is a coop (maintenance is only $1,100/mo, but that may not be a good thing), but it is hard to see how it can be a formal cooperative housing corporation if there is no Certificate of Occupancy. (The Attorney General would know.)
Property Shark shows no activity filed with the city in 17 years for this address. A corporation called something like “428-430 East 10th Street Corp” apparently owns the building (and has since 1985), and it looks from the 1990 building permits that there is some relationship among the neighboring buildings at 432-434 East 10 St and 735 East 9 St, as the 1990 building permits have to do with converting “dry” pipe sprinkler system in the two 10th St buildings to a “wet” pipe system, with the water supply coming from the 9th St building. (I’ve come across 735 E 9 St before; I will have to find the blog reference).
pioneering is hard, lonely, and expensive
Many buildings this size were converted into coops by pioneers in SoHo more than 30 years ago. Presumably, this building has been a (legal?) rental, but there is much pioneering to be done – including by the lawyers. (N.B., lawyers tend to charge a premium for pioneering.)
If the 4th floor is the only “coop apartment” so far (or the only non-sponsor apartment), that shareholder (who are the others?) can be outvoted on everything. Chances are that the building will need a capital budget (how to fund?) and that there isn’t much of one yet. If there are two units each on the 2nd and 3rd floors (and ground floor commercial?), that is a pretty intimate coop.
The ‘small coop’ risk seems much greater here than in a more established building.
If you go, bring a pen and lots of paper. Ask lots of questions.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 24, 2007 - Gilsey House ancient history (circa 1980)
I have talked a bit about the lofts at The Gilsey House, 1200 Broadway, the beautiful Baroque former hotel at the corner of 29th Street, here, here and here.
I recently stumbled across an ancient-in–loft-years reference to this building in a January 22, 1980 NY Times article about non-traditional apartments. (The article is hidden behind the Times Select pay-for-search wall.)
$38,000 in 1979 dollars is …?
The article describes the Gilsey House lofts as having been sold as raw space by the sponsor in 1979 for prices ranging from $28k to $85k. One photographer bought 2,000 sq ft of raw space which he renovated himself for $38k (not clear from the article if that included purchase price). As it happened, that photographer is still a resident of the Gilsey House (at least I found him at the address in WhitePages.com; I won’t ‘out’ him here by name).
That is a long time in one building!
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 23, 2007 - back story to NY Post Just Sold at 256 W 10 St
fast and furious sale
256 West 10 Street, sold for $1.9mm off an asking price of $1.75mm after 21 weeks on the market. (No pix or floor plan on PruDE’s website, but they must have been there when it was a live listing.) Said to be “1,400 sq ft”, with maintenance of $1,800/mo.
The Post described it as:
Prewar three-bedroom, two-bathroom loft co-op, 1,400 square feet, with terrace, wood-burning fireplace, exposed brick, beamed 13-foot ceilings, entrance foyer, dishwasher, dining area, new oversized windows and S/W exposures
But it was actually a lot faster than the Post feature indicates.
is that really a loft?
There are not many true loft buildings in the far west village, but this appears to be one of them. It has been many years since I have been inside, but this was clearly something other than residences when it was built in 1911 (warehouse?). 13 foot ceilings establish that.
Unit 3D came to market at Christmas (the inter-firm data base shows the original price at $2.05mm, then dropping to $1.75mm in four days, so I suspect the real asking price started at $1.75mm.) The Market liked that price, as there was an accepted offer by January 14, which took three weeks to get into contract (lawyer squabbles??) and another three months to close (coops!). So the actual time it was available to a buyer was quite short.
how else to tell The Market liked it?
The other way to tell that The Market liked this listing (apart from the quick acceptance of an offer) is that the sales price is $150k over ask (more than $1,300/sq ft for a coop). Happy seller, I am sure.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 22, 2007 - betwixt and between / new at 116 W 14 St
calm in the center of it all?
#7N at 116 West 14 Street is new this weekend, with the first showing next Sunday, July 29. With low monthly charges and taxes ($1,517/mo) for “2,000 sq ft” asking $2.3mm, the price seems a reasonable place to start a negotiation – for the buyer looking for such a convenient location who does not mind the (busy-busy-busy) location.
Iris Racant and Lonni Levy at Fenwick Keats Goodstein describe the kitchen as “professional”, the columns as original, and the 11 foot ceilings as “soaring”. The building was converted to condos only ten years ago, but the floors have the look (to me) of fairly loft-primitive (maybe it is just the photos, or my eyes).
great floor plan, OK windows
This corner unit has a terrific footprint, with five windows on the long south wall (7 stories above 14 Street) and three along the east wall, with the plumbing all along the south side. While there should be a lot of light even at only the 7th floor, the window-to-wall ratio is hardly exceptional. Three easy bedrooms and two widely separated baths.
But the big ‘issue’ here is location, location, location. 14th and 6th, 14th and 6th, 14th and 6th. Love it or leave it.
No recent sales in the building that I see. Property Shark shows this one as the last to change hands – just about two years ago, for $1.6mm (with the ‘official’ size as “1,763 sq ft”). It appears that half the original units are still owned by original condo owners (of 1997).
I am back from Las Vegas after the most spectacular four day real estate event of my (young?) life to date – the Mike Ferry Superstars Retreat. I will try to catch up on comments and get back to regular posting schedule post haste.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 18, 2007 - more than 100,000 served
big round number for this blog
Some time after midnight, the cumulative number of visitors to this blog since it launched in March 2006 clicked the odometer over at 100,000. Indulge me for a moment….
I am perfectly willing to believe that the big real estate blogs have much more traffic than this (800 to 1,000 hits a day of late), but One Hundred Thousand is such a nice round number that I wanted to comment. And to admire the string of zeros.
When I was a kid, the local McDonalds had a sign between the arches “more than xxx million served”, which changed periodically (I was a kid a long time ago). I can only hope….
slow blogging ahead?
As it happens, I may not post much the next few days, as I am in sunny Las Vegas (!) for a Mike Ferry Superstars retreat. With a pretty full schedule of sessions and the inevitable networking opportunities in the evening, blog time may be limited until I get home late Friday night.
tip for tourists
Next time you want a good meal in Vegas off the strip, check out Lotus of Siam at 953 East Sahara, in a little commercial center (702.735.3033). Truly terrific Thai food. THX to Henderson NV Realtors® Lisa and Bob Lundt (and their lovely daughter whose name I cannot spell) for taking me out there last night for dinner.
To all who find this blog: THX for stopping by!
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 17, 2007 - end of uber-lofts? (uh … no)
scaling down amenities + dollars
Funny how journalism works, when two items can make a trend.
The Real Deal ran a short piece last week about who some developers are scaling back some services or amenities to reach a lower price point or a lower monthly expenses.
In re-reading Fewer amenities, more sales just now, I was a little surprised to see that there are only two examples given, and an equal number of (soft) marketing quotes. (To be fair, bloggers need fewer than two examples, sometimes no examples at all.)
For example, in September Citi Habitats will be marketing Carriage House Chelsea, a 24-unit, high-end condominium at 159 West 24th Street, with only a few perks [??]. There will be a part-time doorman, 24-hour monitoring system and eight automated, fee-based private parking spaces that are likely to cost an additional $175,000 to $250,000 per year. The units are expected to start at $700,000 for a 600-square foot open loft space, $100 to $200 less per square foot than condos with considerably more bells and whistles, said Cliff Finn, managing director of Citi Habitats Marketing Group. The monthly maintenance will be 20 to 30 percent less than the more amenity packed buildings, he added.
high-end?
I am not sure what they mean by a “high end” condominium with “only a few perks” – especially with 600 square foot units. In a small building you may well not have a doorman, gym, cold room off the lobby, or other “high-end” amenities, but you need a pretty high level of interior finishes to be “high-end”. No idea if this Carriage House Chelsea will have those finishes. But with 600 square foot units, this will appeal to a different market segment than buildings with larger units, including the Chelsea Stratus at the other end of this block (with media lounge, billiards, fitness center, basketball court, dining area with catering Kitchen, landscaped rooftop terrace with a dog run).
I don’t think this approach will work in Tribeca, for two reasons. Acquisition costs are probably too high to do anything other than a new uber-loft, with bells and whistles to drown out an orchestra. Second, the TriBeCa loft buyer who wants “new” probably wants the bells and whistles. Carriage House Chelsea looks as though it may attract more first-time loft buyers (who else is buying a studio?).
The other example cited in the Real Deal article is way uptown, at 257 W 117 Street, where changing the amenities package permitted them to drop the common charges from $1.10 a foot to $0.75 a foot. I suspect that this is what you need to attract downtown buyers to uptown properties.
Why do the same thing downtown if there is a strong market for the amenities (as there is)?
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 16, 2007 - new at 67 Hudson – making 2d floor lemonade
charming alley + pin drop quiet
Yet another second floor loft hit me in the eye today, with the clever marketing of “1,144 sq ft” at 67 Hudson Street #2B. New this weekend through Karine Spritzer of PruDE for $1.15mm ($990/mo in taxes and CCs), there are several unabashed positives: 11 foot ceilings, ‘prime’ Tribeca location, large windows, PS 234, (relatively) low monthly expenses.
Here are two more ‘positives’: “faces a charming cobble stone alley and is pin-drop quiet”. Well, yes, for some folks those are positives. More importantly, this signals clearly to prospective buyers – without being defensive – that the unit has (1) no view and (2) (probably) very little light (although the sun is evident from the western pictures). Kudos to Karine Spritzer for making lemonade. I just hope the alley doesn’t get much reverb….
Not many true lofts at this price point in Tribeca. I am having trouble envisioning the room array from the layout (evidently a duplex??), but it looks to be an efficient if not spacious use of space. Clearly, there are not many spaces with three potential sleeping rooms near this price.
Open House tonight 5 – 7 PM
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 16, 2007 - 28 W 38 St broker/owner in contract
top price, terrific loft
Jim Grica at BHS just got a signed contract on his loft at 28 W 38 St, Unit 3W, which had been on the market since April at $1.795mm ($1,943/mo maintenance) for “2,00 sq ft” that Is not only “the ultimate in authentic loft living”, but “sexy [and] beyond triple mint”. (I assume he gets similarly excited for other people’s lofts.)
This Long-and-Narrow has three front and three rear windows and two west windows, and is 23 feet wide. Plumbing runs along the middle wall of the two-units-per-floor building, with neither bathroom being en suite. It does look like very high quality work throughout, and priced accordingly.
#8E (also “2,000 sq ft”) sold in January (can’t find a sold price, but it was last offered for $1.395mm) in a condition with a lot of “potential”. It had been on the market since March 2006 (starting at $1.695mm), and took two firms and four prices to sell.
#2E sold in May (curiously, “1,980 sq ft”) for $1.355mm in a pretty refined condition, but with a layout that was somewhat limiting (one bedroom, one bath, lofted den). That had been offered only since January (at $1.365mm).
location, location, location
Interesting location, kind of betwixt and between. Near lots of things, but of no neighborhood. Gritty commercial block, to say the least.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jul. 15, 2007 - 2d floor sale while pain continues on 3d floor at Ruggles House 112 E 19 St
“overlooking tree-lined street” – from tree level
Yet another second floor loft caught my eye, with the news that #2F at 112 E 19 Street went into contract as of yesterday.
This unit had been on the market since January, starting at $2.15mm (and $1,447/mo), took some time off in April and May, then came back at the new price of $1.995mm, from which it found a buyer this week.
Ruggles House is one of the very early Manhattan coop loft conversions (1973), with layouts that are almost square for the two-units-per-floor foot prints. I don’t know what it is about the construction, but many units in the building have some raised platforms – not just for plumbing but elsewhere in the units. #2F fits this pattern, with step-ups for the bedrooms in one corner and for the kitchen, diagonally opposite.
challenging layouts
Marcy Grau at Stribling is coy about the size, but other “F” units have been marketed as “1,800 sq ft”. With windows only along the street, the challenge is to keep the space open while having multiple bedrooms. In this case, note the many diagonal walls, the unusually shaped bedrooms, and the use of (otherwise) dead space for walk-in storage. Also note that the plumbing is all in the middle of the building, somewhat removed from the bedrooms.
The very large windows bring a lot of light for a second story space. The suggestion that the space is “serene” either accurately describes this stretch of 19th Street as not-so-noisy or is mere marketing.
3d floor history
#3F is still for sale through Taylor Hargrave and Doug Russell at BHS. That one started at $2.35mm in April and has been without a buyer yet at $2.25mm since May (maintenance goes up to $1,536/mo from eh second floor to the third floor). In this case it appears that #3F’s price helped sell #2F – particularly is that for many buyers the #3F layout is not very workable as a ‘real’ two bedroom.
I blogged about this unit when the price dropped in May (price drop at Ruggles House, getting to the point of pain?) and listed it in an open house review early in May (3 Sunday loft open houses $2.3 - $2.5 (each with history), both times when #2F was not on the market. There remains the mystery (to me) of why the owners are selling after having bought it only in January (8 million stories in the naked city, this one probably involves some financial pain), and the open question of whether the calendar has added any value to the unit over the $2.1mm clearing price in January.
The past sales I reviewed in May at Ruggles House suggest that The Market has viewed these units as worth “around 2” (depending). With #2F now unavailable, there may be more interest in #3F.
Time, of course, will tell.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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on matters of interest to Manhattan coop or condo loft apartment dwellers, buyers, sellers, and others, especially about New York City real estate
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