Sep. 23, 2007 - 130 W 17 9S is new + really going for it
$1,600/ft coop loft, but
why?
Unit
9S at 130 West 17 Street is a top floor "2,000 sq ft" loft with
a skylight and the possibility of purchasing roof rights, asking a
new-construction-like Manhattan loft price of $3.2mm and
$2,062/mo.
Unlike the listing for the 9th floor
at 105 East 29 Street addressed earlier (105
E 29 9th fl is new this weekend + going for
it), this listing description presents a
premium justification (persuasive or not is a different story),
dropping "exquisitely finished", 4 exposures, "beautifully
appointed", "sky-lit cook's kitchen" and "superb bathroom
renovations". The listing pix are consistent with this prose, but
where's the floor plan?
$1,600 per foot is a very aggressive price for a
coop loft, even one with potential roof rights in central
Chelsea. Maybe there's some building history that makes
the argument for the primo premium easy.
Maybe not.
$1,000/ft coop loft
The
last sale in the building was the much smaller #6S ("1,300 sq ft"
which is charming, but not very bright, and in serious need of
updating, even though designed by an award-winning architect (I
have seen it; funky rather than spacious). It sold fairly quickly
in May for $1.25mm (above the $1.195mm asking price). That's under
$1,000/ft for the mathematically challenged.
$1,100/ft coop loft?
The
last sale before that one was #9N, which sold in February 2006 (and
went to contract in two weeks). City records don't show that closed
price, but the ask was $1.85mm for "1,700 sq ft" described
(modestly?) as having "brilliant light and towering city views" and
"intelligent room coordination, design and fine fixtures". Not a
premium description like that for its neighbor on the
9th floor, but one could do a lot of renovation in 9N's
1,700 sq ft before getting close to $1,600/ft all-in (depending on
the final sale price for 9N, of course).
The
entire 6th floor was offered for sale for two months
early this year on a to-be-combined basis, "4,000 sq ft" and a lot
of renovation work for $3.695mm, but had no takers before being
taken off the market in March when the contract for just #6S was
signed.
premium value for the plus
factor
For
buyers to pay the primo premium asked for 9S, there's gotta be
something special about it. The other sales in the building
indicate that location is not the plus
factor here. The views could be a plus factor, but they appear not
to have helped 9N much. The "possible" roof deck should not be a
plus, since (a) you'd still have to pay for it, and (b) it is
merely possible at this point. (Out door space --
especially private roof space -- can be a significant
plus factor, I just don't think this possibility qualifies.)
Perhaps it is the finishes and fixtures.
For
finishes and fixtures to be the plus factor driving an atypically
high price, they have to overcome the buyer's mental math how
much would it cost me to build out my dream loft?
and it has to match the buyer's tastes. So the
market of really interested buyers shrinks as the finishes and
fixtures become more (personally) stylish. The seller wants a buyer
whose taste exactly matches theirs, or else the buyer won't be
willing to pay a premium.
Time
will, of course, tell.
a true condop
A
picky aside. Nearly every time an agent describes a building as a
"condop" they mean "a coop with condo rules" (such as free
subletting, or no board interviews, or some such 'easy' thing). But
the legal meaning of "condop" is very different, and 130 West 17
Street is such a "condop". The building is a condo, even though the
apartments are sold as coops. The condo has two units: the
commercial first floor is owned by the RubinMuseum.
Floors 2 - 9 are owned by a residential cooperative
association called 17th Street Artists Corp, the
shareholders of which own shares and hold proprietary leases
entitling them to live in their coop apartments.
End
of (that) lecture.
|
RSS Blog Feed