142 West 26 Street loft epitomizes “loft”, also “bidding war”

(some) details matter

If you took a too-quick look at the New York Post’s Just Sold! feature last Thursday, you saw the (yes!) recently sold “1,700 sq ft” Manhattan loft #12B at 142 West 26 Street at kind of a funny number ($2.253mm). The possibly too-quick bit was the spread between the asking price ($1.899mm) and that funny closing price. But if you noticed that spread, you also saw “on market three weeks”. Funny number in three weeks (pretty much, regardless of the ask) = bidding war! Given the ask (and that spread) … a pretty major war, at that.

these details didn’t matter (much)

That’s $1,325/ft for a no-frills coop loft that is described as “turn-key” rather than, say, no-detail-spared, that features some lovely and brag-worthy plumbing rooms and 3 small-ish bedrooms (remember: “1,700 sq ft”) that are “quiet” for reasons you will appreciate if you’ve peeked behind the curtains (or can infer from listing photo #4). Oh, and for a loft that sold (before getting those brag-worthy plumbing rooms) only 3 quarters before The Peak in the overall Manhattan residential real estate market for $1.445mm, or $850/ft.

Chelsea is not Tribeca: this 12th floor unit claims no view and brags not at all about light. In fact, most of the light in the front room comes from the large skylight, rather than the front windows that face the taller buildings north, across West 26th Street.

Remember: “1,700 sq ft” and 3 bedrooms, so the floor plan is rather efficient, maximized for the benefit of whoever sleeps in the master bedroom and gets to use the (brag-worthy!) master bath; anyone sleeping in those other two rooms has to traipse across to the public bathroom that is as far as it could be without being in the neighbor’s loft. The array is not for those who prefer not to walk past the kitchen to get to the interior, and there’s a long walk before you get to the truly voluminous main space, with its 11+ foot ceilings, skylight, and width.

Intentionally or not, the broker babble about this loft being “an art collectors dream” captures the reality that the glory of this loft is in the interior, completely, as there is little outside to draw a visitor to the windows. Enjoy, instead, your art collection, with the gallery lighting and gallery walls, or enjoy the claw-footed soaking tub and heated floor in the master, or hang out in the (brag-worthy!) kitchen a long (long) way from those windows.

Did I mention that this no-frills coop sold for $1,325/ft?

a sub-niche in a niche market
The buyer I visited with was impressed with the plumbing rooms and the volume; he recognized right away that this loft would sell quickly, above ask. Although he had seen (and lost out on bidding wars for) similarly sized lofts at similar asking prices, he declined to bid here. He recognized that this loft, unlike many he had seen about the same size and asking price, would appeal to people who had to have (or really wanted) 3 bedrooms. He was indifferent to the 3rd bedroom, and needed only an extra office slash den slash guest room.

If the buyer was not someone with multiple children, that buyer competed against other bidders with multiple children fer sure, fer sure. Did I mention that there was a bloody bidding war? The $364,000 premium over the ask works out to 119% of the ask. Those buyers (and their competitors) were much more committed to the loft than my guy.

2007 was a long time ago
The recent sellers at $2.253mm were buyers at $1.445mm six years earlier. Obviously they upgraded, but there are not many lofts with 2007 and 2013 (or 2012) sales that enjoyed more than a 50% gain. Even without floor plan or photos in the 2007 listing on StreetEasy, it is obvious that the space has been significantly upgraded. It boasted then only of bones: the high ceilings, the skylight, the 11 windows, the corner location; there was only a single bath, and the “like new” appliances in the “open” kitchen set a new standard for damning with faint babble.

But: the space is only “1,700 sq ft”, and the floors in the loft as just sold are “original”. If they spent $400,000 for the upgrade, they got a healthy return. (Note: the ask was only $454,000 more than they paid.)

Nicely played, sellers and marketing team; nicely played.

© Sandy Mattingly 2013