Archives
June 2007
Jun. 29, 2007 - even titans get the blues / NY Times on blog risk at The Bear
Props to Landon Thomas, Jr. of the NY Times’ Business section for today’s Salvaging a Prudent Name, which profiles the chief of Bear Stearns and his troubles caused by The Bear’s trouble with two hedge funds. Yes, it is an insightful and interesting piece about a topic that can be … err … boring (‘titans of Wall Street!!’), but that does not earn my kudos.
Here’s how Thomas assesses “Jimmy” Cayne’s roster of problems:
No doubt, for the short term, things seem bad. Regulators are sniffing around, editorial writers are wagging a collective finger at him and, to top it all off, the head of his asset management unit has a blog.
Yep, times are hard, with those pesky regulators and editorial writers. But “to top it off” there’s that darn blog! Yikes – how much worse can it be??
Thanks Mr. Thomas.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 29, 2007 - bring MY architect – new & expandable & much appreciated at 8 E 12 St
loft comes with approved plans
The 5th floor at 8 East 12 Street is new today -- set up as 2 bedrooms + 2 baths in “2,300 sq ft”, it comes with architect’s plans to covert to a 3 + 3 already approved by the condo and the city. (I wonder what change in life plans caused them to sell rather than renovate….)
Offered through Corcoran’s Mark Schoenfeld for $2.85mm (and $2,400/mo in taxes and common charges), it is said to be “stunning”, with “amazing” light and views north, south and west. Lower Fifth Avenue does not have too many true loft buildings. (74 Fifth is around the corner from this one, with a recent contract discussed this week, with some commentary from an Anon who had seen 2 units there; then there a few loft buildings on Broadway.)
long, narrow, with raised plumbing
This loft is a classic Long-and-Narrow, with the plumbing risers in the middle (and crossing under a raised platform, it seems), but it has windows along one long side (to the west). Perhaps it is a case of pictures not doing justice, but I don’t get a sense of “amazing” light from the three interior photos on the web.
It is unfortunate that they did not post an alternative floor plan based on the approved architect’s plans. In looking at the current plan, I wonder how much of a sense of ‘space’ there is on entering in a narrow hallway with the master bedroom nearby on the right, and the raised must-be-passed-through kitchen immediately on your left, even with 11’ 6” ceilings.
rare sale in building
Difficult building to comp, as there are not many lofts nearby and because there are no recent sales. I see the 9th floor selling way back in 2003 for $1.7mm, the 2nd floor in September 2005 for the inexplicable price of $750,000, and this same 5th floor unit in July 2005 for $1.995mm. Looking at the list of building permits filed for this building, there is one from April this year that is probably the approved plans to make this unit a 3 + 3, but I don’t see any other building plans suggesting that these owners did much work after buying two years ago for $1.995mm.
The sales history reflected in our data base for that prior sale is interesting: it took more than a year to sell, starting at $2.495mm in March 2004, dropping to $2.2mm in June and then to $1.995mm in September. It took from September 2004 to February 2005 to get into contract at that asking price (with four weeks off market over Christmas and New Years). That is a fairly long time in a fairly hot market.
45% appreciation?
The owners-with-plans-to-move-and-(unfulfilled)-plans-to-renovate believe The Market may have improved by 45% in two years. We shall see.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 28, 2007 - bring architect +/or vision to open houses Sunday July 1
$1.625mm ($1,464/mo) for “1,800 sq ft” of “interior duplex” space
New to market this week
Interesting play of space vs. dollars here, with what looks like two 900 sq ft boxes on top of each other, with the lower level having some additional up-ing and down-ing (check the floor plan or – better yet – visit the space); some ceilings as high as 18 ft; needs updating (other than kitchen)
Open House Sunday 12 - 2
$1.795mm ($1,669/mo) for “2,000 sq ft” of move-in-OR-bring-architect space
On the market with Corcoran since January ($1.895mm), with Halstead the last 2 weeks
Empty space that can use a lot of work is always interesting (for how much work, just compare the present and not-so-radical alternative floor plans); ten windows, yes, but all on the long north wall
(N.B., #6N sold in February for $1.795mm, supposedly “beautifully renovated with an extraordinary attention to detail”)
Open House Sunday by appointment only – call 646.284.0873
$2.08mm~ ($1,393/mo) for 1,733 sq ft of ‘white box’ condo space
Same price since September (sponsor is stubborn or negotiable??)
“private and quiet, but not bright” (with only 4 windows, but iron columns and tin ceilings)
Open House Sunday 11 – 1
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 28, 2007 - LA lofts hardly confidential
comment on ancient blog post suggests metaphysics
Not sure if it was a real person or some kind of bot that commented on one of my original blog posts late last night, but probably not a real person. But if it turns out to be of some interest is it spam??
This grasshopper is not sure about that bit of Zen, but the comment was made way back in March last year, Creeping loft-ism – nationally, which was only my 8th posting as Manhattan Loft Guy. You will see the comment from “Zachary” (not ‘his’ real name?) from last night, suggesting I check out some links for “unique industrial loft spaces in the Los Angeles area and well worth a look for the preservation work the developers applied”.
Since I have been meaning to post occasionally about lofts in ‘weird’ places (like Atlanta, Minneapolis, Miami; Los Angeles certainly qualifies in his category), I took the opportunity to see what “the developers” did in LA. It is interesting work. The buildings all look as though they were reclaimed as residential from prior industrial usage; the ceilings are high (enough), and they overtly channel a “Manhattan loft” vibe.
I don’t know LA geography any better than I know Moscow’s geography, so I have no idea where these buildings are. (The developer works in Hollywood, downtown LA [an oxymoron to a snooty New Yorker], and areas in between.) The sites I viewed do not provide pricing information, or much description in the way of amenities (no uber-lofts here, for sure). I can’t tell from my quick visits whether these are rentals or condos. That would be interesting comparative data.
any space in LA?
The floor plans I clicked were – by my parochial Manhattan loft standards – very un-loft-like. Many studios (as in 500 sq ft units, not as in “artist”), and some duplexed units with bedrooms up the circular stairs. I did not see dimensions, but the floor plans all looked small.
I wonder if that is a market choice (people who want that kind of space want or can only afford small spaces??).
is ‘Zachary’ this Zachary?
The thing that gives me hope that ‘Zachary’ is a person who found my blog – rather than bot that scraped me – is that the Chief Operating Officer of the developer is named Zachary, and his responsibilities include “responsibility for cultivating the company’s image, [and] his duties have grown to encompass marketing and brand management”.
I will invite my Zachary to comment further on the loft market that Creative Environments of Hollywood is involved in.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 28, 2007 - how The Market can change / NY Times reported sale at 684 Broadway
GREENWICH VILLAGE $3.1 million
684 Broadway (Great Jones Street)
3-bedroom, 2-bath, 3,100-sq.-ft. co-op in a renovated prewar loft building; keyed elevator; oversize windows, 11 ½-ft. ceilings; maintenance $1,758, 48% tax deductible; listed at $3.1 million, 49 weeks on market (broker: Corcoran Group)
If I did not know anything more about this loft, I would think it interesting that it was on the market for 49 weeks, yet sold for the asking price of $3.1mm. But I do know more, so this unit’s history suggests how The Market changes.
Did I mention that nothing is ever perfect? The change in altitude from 5th floor to 3rd eliminated the rooftop views, but not so much light; the original pivot windows on 5 were not available on 3 (but were replaced by quiet City Windows); sellers in #3E put in a sauna (who needs -- or wants to pay for -- a sauna?); the bedroom array was not quite as they would have built it in #5E; and there was some (not-very-usable) essentially dead space. But the owners had done a nice renovation, the kitchen was in the right place, their lawyer had already done the due diligence, and the buyers had already made a certain emotional connection with the building and neighborhood.
The 49 weeks “on the market” noted by the Times includes (according to our inter-firm database) five months when the loft was temporarily off the market, but – more interesting – 12 weeks when it was offered for sale at $2.995mm. Twelve weeks in which it did not find a buyer, leading to 5 months off the market.
When it came back to market in January this year, the new-and-improved price was $3.1mm. My buyers in this range (about whom I wrote about Jagger’s Law on March 15, above) hoped that this price history suggested there would be some negotiability from the $3.1mm asking price.
But The Market changed between August and three weeks after the unit was back on the market in January – there were at least three qualified bidders by February, resulting in the buyer signing a full price contract in mid-February.
Kudos to Julia Hoagland at Corcoran for realizing that the same unit that had not sold in the Summer could sell for more in the Winter.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 27, 2007 - 74 Fifth contract
I featured 74 Fifth Avenue #4Bin an open house review 7 weeks ago, which started a dialogue with LoftLover, who had gone to that open house and bid (unsuccessfully). As s/he said just last night, the “area and building [are] very good”, and many Manhattan loft buyers agree. That unit went into contract four weeks after coming to market in April.
Now the larger #10A is shown as in contract this morning, just three weeks after coming to market. #10A is said to be 2,400 sq ft and was offered through Richard Orenstein at Halstead for $2.995mm (and $2,237/mo) – rather a different price point than #4B (“1,900 sq ft” offered at $1.895mm). Huge difference in light in this high corner unit than the 4th floor unit (check out the kitchen pix).
This contract leaves #8A as the only unit available for sale in this 38 unit building. This unit has been offered for $2.85mm through the PruDE team of Steinberg, Senequier and Murphy since April 29. I can’t tell from the marketing if they mean t imply that it needs some work or if it only needs your personal decorating touch (“awaits your touch to transform it into a collector-quality residence of distinction”), but it will probably find its market price soon, with #4B and #10A recently in contract.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 26, 2007 - window shopping the loft aesthetic at 143 Reade + 421 W 54 St with NY Times
“harbingers of … a refreshing return to an aesthetic that celebrates the qualities of loft living”
Suzanne Slesin’s ‘Window Shopping’ feature in this past Sunday’s NY Times Real Estate section, Two Loft Conversions, Two Points of View, reviews her visits to two current loft conversions, which she found to be refreshing harbingers.
Both Artisan Lofts at 143 Reade St (now 157 Chambers) and The Hit Factory at 421 W 54 Street are uber-lofts with – as she put it – “a long list of expensive amenities in both buildings lets us know right away that we are in the “I can’t live without these luxuries” era” but she found enough classic loft elements “that recall the authenticity of what loft living represented not so long ago: soaring 11-foot ceilings, lots of stainless steel and rough-hewn planks in well-integrated, multifunctional spaces for cooking, dining and living”.
It is not clear from the article whether the finishes she saw at Artisan Lofts will be the same throughout the building, but she was intrigued by the kitchen (“masculine yet funky, fanciful yet brooding”, with “chunky walnut cabinets, walnut-clad appliances, woven butcher-block counters edged in iron hardware dotted with big screws”) and both intrigued and seduced by the Ann Sachs-designed “brave ad unusual” bathrooms.
what does a PR person do after this?
God bless journalism … she described the view at one Hit Factory loft offered just under $1,000/ft as “appalling”. She also described a master bedroom in another unit (measuring 17’5” x 11’9”) as “strange and narrow”. She generally described the north and west views in the building as “miserable”.
too many rooms, too little ‘space’?
Overall, she was a bit sad about these modern loft conversions.
Although the developers of both the Artisan Lofts and the Hit Factory base their marketing strategies on their buildings’ industrial provenance, the evocative sense of open space that made the loft lifestyle such a liberating alternative is somewhat compromised.
Perhaps this is a natural evolution. Rough, raw spaces are rare, and loft living does not belong exclusively to artists anymore. Since I wasn’t planning on becoming a painter, sculptor or even an indie filmmaker in the near future, that may be just as well.
how uber are these lofts?
Artisan Lofts will have 38 units, whose common charges will support (a) a rotating gallery exhibition In the lobby, (b) not just a gym but a “Wellness Center”, (c) a children’s “Imagination Center” with play space and theater stage, and (d) a roof garden. And a concierge, of course.
We show 12 units as having signed contracts or accepted offers, with another 12 currently for sale. The building website (not the quickest site to load) shows common charges ranging from $1,249/mo for the 1,500 sq ft unit 6B (asking $2.25mm, pix and floor plan on Corcoran here) up to $2,839/mo for the 2,935 sq ft unit Tower 17N (asking $7.25mm, pix and floor plan on Corcoran here). Taxes are – of course – additional: even with a J-51 abatement, monthly taxes range from $849 to $2,896.
evoking open space?
The #6B floor plan takes advantage of the big windows to provide a sense of ‘space’, since the rooms are arrayed in traditional fashion. Yes, you will see “classic” lofts with rooms and walls like these, but in most classic lofts the walls are not load bearing and the flooring runs under the walls. I don’t know how these new lofts are built, but I suspect that the walls are where the walls are, and more extensive work will be required to open them up than in a classic loft.
The Hit Factory (building website here) doesn’t have the same bling as Artisan Lofts (they certainly are not bragging in the same way), with most prices just over $1,000/ft (the neighborhood discount is a big factor at 54th Street west of 9th Avenue). Common charges and taxes are radically different than at Artisan Lofts in Tribeca: Unit 3G is said to be 1,237 sq ft, asking $1.325mm with $739/mo in common charges and $1,318/mo in taxes. They layout is much more “apartment” than “loft” (see the #3G floor plan on Stribling here). The “C” line layouts are similarly non-loft-y (here). Unit 4D is 2,378 sq ft but costs a lot more to carry each month: $1,422 in common charges and $2,583 in taxes. At least this one has a rather large living / dining area (floor plan is here).
Looking at these floor plans it is easy to see why Suzanne Slesin was somewhat wistful about these new “loft” spaces:
the evocative sense of open space that made the loft lifestyle such a liberating alternative is somewhat compromised.
That is why she said that Artisan Lofts and The Hit Factory only “recall the authenticity of what loft living represented…”.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 25, 2007 - in contract at 284 Lafayette – ton o’ space, but light?
#2D at 284 Lafayette is said to be an “authentic 2900 sq ft true loft”, is said to be “in the heart of Soho” and is shown this morning as in contract off an asking price of $2.995mm ($1,965/mo).
a pioneering coop
This 20 unit coop above Prince is one of the early coop conversions in Soho – dating from 1975. Six units have changed hands in the last three years, including #4D in what looks like fairly primitive condition, for $2.29mm in April 2006, and #3D in what must have been a pretty tricked-out renovation, for $2.911mm in March 2005 – over the asking price of $2.75mm.
Lida Drummond of PruDE waxes without waning about the renovation of #2D: “[s]implicity rules”, “be amazed by the volume”, “…complete the genuine sensory perception while well-thought out fixtures …”, “and much more are evidence of attention to detail that was poured into the renovation”, but let’s not quibble. She got her sellers a contract within four weeks of bringing it to market.
how much light is Crosby light?
The footprint is nearly square, with all ten windows overlooking Crosby (N.B., from the second floor), so there is an unusual amount of layout flexibility for a space with windows on only one side. Better to be overlooking Crosby than Lafayette, undoubtedly, but there’s not going to be much light coming in very deep from those ten windows on Crosby St, as the buildings across Crosby are 12 stories high. I suspect that the (relative lack of) light and the busy stretch of Lafayette account for there not being much of a Soho premium for this space.
Jersey Street is trivial
Raise your hand if you know that there is a Jersey Street between Prince and Houston. (This building is at the corner of the only-two-blocks-long Jersey St.)
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 22, 2007 - new contracts at 29 W 15, 129 W 22, 718 Broadway + 808 Broadway
Lofts that were changed to “In Contract” in the inter-firm data base as of today
$2.25mm and $1,889/mo for “2,250 sq ft”
Time to contract from first offering: 3 months
$1.995mm and $2,000/mo for “2,525 sq ft”
Time to contract from first offering: 3 months, with two price drops from $2.295mm
$1.2mm and $1,400/mo for “1,280 sq ft”
Time to contract from first offering: 2 weeks (!)
$725k and $1,265/mo for “800 sq ft”
Time to contract from first offering is a bit complicated: offered for $679k last September, there was a contract signed in January, but it came back to market [board turn down???] on May 11 at $725k
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 20, 2007 - 51 Walker zooms, or not? agent/owner reaches for …
how do you spell A-P-P-R-E-C-I-A-T-I-O-N?
51 Walker Street is a new condominium “loft” building that was finished just last year. Most of the 15 units originally closed between November and February, but two closed this month – but that is not my story focus here.
Unit 6A is said to be 1,550 sq ft and is being offered for resale by its owner, an agent at PruDE, for $2.75mm ($1,242/mo, abated). Don’t know if he ever lived there, but he likes the building well enough to offer it for sale at a 50% premium over his DECEMBER 2006 purchase price.
patience pays
The seller signed a contract in September 2005, well before the building would be ready. The asking price at that time was $1.99mm but he paid “only” $1.86mm when he closed in December 2006.
How far has the market in this northeast corner of TriBeCa advanced since September 2005? By 50%????
At least at this early point (the listing is new today), there are no pictures or floor plan on the PruDE site, just a building rendering.
The last original unit to close was #3B, four weeks ago. It is not yet in ACRIS, but the asking price for this 2,056 sq ft unit was $2.7mm (and $1,263/mo, abated).
developer discounts
Other units were sold at discounts from their asking prices (the 4th floor most dramatically; to insiders??), as reflected in the inter-firm data:
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Record price
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Ask
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Sq ft
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2A
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$2.2mm
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$2.35mm
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1,839
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3A
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$1.051mm
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$1.45mm
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1,146
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4A
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$1.09mm
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$1.925mm
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??
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4B
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$1.168mm
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$2.15mm
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1,642
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5A
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$1.55mm
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$1.899mm
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1,600
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5B
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$1.82mm
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$1.95mm
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1,642
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6B
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$2.025mm
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$2.11mm
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1,642
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7B
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$2.1mm
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$2.135mm
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1,642
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8A
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$1.73mm
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$1.95mm
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1,556
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8B
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$1.833mm
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$2.1mm
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1,642
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(I wonder if the buyers of unit 7A know that they appear to be the only people who paid ‘full price’ for their unit: $1.995 in their case.)
This history shows that when this building was marketed (pre-construction) in 2005 the developer was (a) optimistic about prices and (b) realistic about what the market would bear.
if anyone knows this market…
Not much doubt that the agent/owner selling #6A – and asking for a 50% premium over his December 2006 price – is intimately familiar with the market for this building: he was the listing agent for the original sales. He did not get an insider price: his $1.86mm for 6A is higher than buyers paid for 5A and 8A, but lower than the full-price purchase for 7A.
Which leads back to my original question: has the market for this building increase by 50% in 18 months? Stay tuned….
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 20, 2007 - in contract: 95 Vandam finds its Peace & Quiet buyer
drop, drop, dropping worked
Whether it was that last price drop, the weather or the owner’s acceptance of The Market’s realities, #5R at 95 Vandam Street is in contract as of this morning’s update on the inter-firm system.
My main comment three weeks ago was:
how SoHo is this edge of SoHo?
I suspect the “issue” is the location on Vandam off Hudson (just down the block from the 1000 foot long UPS building on Greenwich St), which they try to deal with by emphasizing that the loft is both “quiet” and “private”. The layout is pretty terrific, nearly square with windows on two sides of a corner. Light looks decent (no better) and the buildings to the west and north seem to be built nearly to their lot lines, higher than this fifth floor. Ceilings look high enough for a loft. Plus it has the columns and beamed ceilings that some loft lovers fawn over. And a “gourmet” kitchen.
The buyer must be more into ‘the space’ than light-and-views. Looks like terrific space. Congratulations to the (long-suffering?) Owner and to Cyrus Greenspon at Sothebys, who may yet close on this sale before the listing has its anniversary around Labor Day.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 18, 2007 - minimally FLAUNTED loft at 233 W 26 in contract, quickly
#4W offered under $1,000/ft
It took a month for #4W at 233 W 26 St to go into contract today – not a long period in this market, I think. Jeff Shannon and Lisa Vaamonde of BHS (late of CBHK, sadly) and the seller asked $1.995mm for 2,100 sq ft (and $2,308/mo). It is Long-and-Narrow with only a corner bedroom side window (and a side bathroom window), but I probably can’t do justice to its minimalist glory – check out the broker prose and the pix (“dyed Anigre panels” are new to me).
#5W and #7W sold last year (March and January) for $1.427mm and $1.545mm, respectively, so the FLAUNT-worthy minimalism of #4W definitely commands a premium.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 17, 2007 - back, if not on-line
do your own recycling; my week of recycling is over
This one is timed to coincide with touchdown at Newark from Charles deGaulle. So I am back.
Won’t it be ironic if it now takes me a few days to start posting again, as I dig out from a weeks’ vacation?
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 16, 2007 - recycling week / your faithful correspondent gets chewed up
(I am still in France; you are still in Manhattan Loft Guy’s week of recycling.)
I will close Recycling Week with the post about my personal experience with an Angry Agent who was upset that I had the gall to comment about his/her listing (giving full attribution to his/her firm and website).
That was on January 16, with please don’t bite the blogger. I suppose I should be grateful that it has not happened since. Or I should be upset that I don’t have more readers who might be upset with me talking about their listings.
Whatever.
Hope you enjoyed recycling with me this week.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 15, 2007 - recycling week / buyers running the emotional mine field with little external help
(I am still in France; you are still in Manhattan Loft Guy’s week of recycling.)
I addressed the mental gymnastics that buyers can go through in the March 31
buyer’s tango for one: buy it, but without overpaying. That post addresses the buyer conundrum that the only way to know The Market value for a loft is to let someone else buy it. Buyers tend not to think that their notion of worth is as valued as the opinions of another (“objective”) bidder, so they worry about setting a price that is too high.
As I said, it is hard being a buyer.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 14, 2007 - recycling week / tragedy of the half-assed REBNY public web portal
quarter-assed portal??
I think this thing is a big deal (I blogged about it five times already, since it was announced in October).
I think this is a colossal failure by the REBNY leadership.
I am shocked (really shocked; not Claude Rains shocked) that REBNY started down this road (a worthwhile project) without assurances that all the Big Girls (and boys) would play.
I am mystified about the business judgments of PruDE and Corcoran (the biggest girls in the playground) to try to kill this thing by not participating (with their dominant positions of exclusive sales listings).
Manhattan residential real estate practices are still in the 20th century compared to America. The REBNY public portal could have drawn web eyeballs to a single place controlled by REBNY members (instead of by NY Times, or other “interlopers”). Without participation from Corcoran and PruDE, this thing simply cannot have the market relevance it needs.
Bah, humbug. A plague on both their houses.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 13, 2007 - recycling week / rerun of a rehash (look back at MLG 2006)
(I am still in France; you are still in Manhattan Loft Guy’s week of recycling.)
blogging about blogging about blogging
Still like them. Still need to edit. Still trying to get the hang of it, as I said then:
At this point [January 31, 2007] – and perhaps for a long time to come [January 31, 2008??] – my blog is a way for me to think out loud and to draw connections between things I see in the media or in the market. Because it is a blog, I don’t edit as much as I should, so most posts are looong. I am sure that I have still not gotten the hang of it…
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 12, 2007 - recycling week / my favorite post to date on Jagger, MICs and imperfect lofts
(I am still in France; you are still in Manhattan Loft Guy’s week of recycling.)
One of these days I may edit my March 15 post Jagger’s Law of Imperfect Lofts / life is compromise (sigh) because it is my (current) favorite posting. Not so much for the writing, as for the concept: there are no “perfect” lofts at any price. And I sued the (overly long?) real-life examples of lofts considered by one lovely pair of buyers who had a (relatively) lot of money to spend ($3mm).
Working with them over the course of some months and being in and out of many, many lofts with them generated Jagger’s Law, which is as valid at $1mm as at $3mm, and probably as valid for “apartments” as for Manhattan lofts.
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
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Jun. 11, 2007 - recycling week / that pesky 80/20 rule for coops
(I am still in France; you are still in Manhattan Loft
Guy's week of recycling.)
I find myself frequently referring
to this one from January 16 (IRS
rules for coops / beware the 80/20 rule), as I keep running into coop loft
listings in buildings that either (a) had very smart lawyers when
they started as coops, or (b) are skirting the IRS rules and
flirting with fiscal danger.
While careful lawyers and savvy
accountants have to know about this stuff, all prospective coop
buyers should understand the issues. And recognize the red
flags.
I will say it is more than a little
disappointing that agent listing descriptions are not more explicit
about these things. But that's for another post, I
guess....
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Jun. 10, 2007 - recycling is good, right?
off to France for a week
This post is timed to hit the web when I am supposed to land in Paris. Our youngest has a job in Paris for two months starting Monday (how bad is that??), so we are taking the opportunity to get her settled.
And to have a vacation. (not bad at all) We’ll spend most of the week with former loft neighbors who cashed out their loft (five?) years ago and bought a 16th century house in Saintes, in the west, 300 miles from Paris. (not bad at all)
Back in New York June 17, with only sporadic internet access (or interest) before then.
But I will tee up some postings for this week that will recycle Long Ago Time (at least in the life of Manhattan Loft Guy). Long time faithful readers (if any) will recognize them, without being bored, I hope.
I will be having a great week. Hope you do too.
© 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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