despite failed contract, 133 West 28 Street small loft sells above ask in a refreshingly efficient market

smiling in the flower district (or is that Flower District?)
It is not every day that you see a Manhattan loft sell at full price after a failed contract, even less often do you see a loft sell above the ask after a failed contract. Well, today is today (not every day) and the loft in question is the Manhattan loft #6B at 133 West 28 Street, on a block that may soon use Initial Caps the way the hip kids do in the Meatpacking District (the Flower District, meaning the area that used to be called the flower district because there were many many wholesale flower distributors there).

Of course I wonder if the seller was smiling more broadly after the first contract or the second:

a Small-and-Short?
The loft in question is really a mini-loft, at “900 sq ft”, and it also earns a mini for having “gorgeous tin ceilings over 9 feet in height” (not for the tin, gorgeous as it undoubtedly is, but for the single digit ceiling height, unusual in a true loft). There are a number of true loft buildings nearby that have similarly low ceilings … I have often wondered what was going on in this neighborhood before the flower folk moved in; windows are big, so let in a lot of light; some buildings are not very deep, so light does nto have to travel very far; but low ceilings are inefficient for bringing light into a space ….

The loft in question has 3 very large (arched!) windows that extend nearly knee to (low!) ceiling, and a “tranquil bedroom” that is tranquil, no doubt, because it is far away from those windows. (One might call it “interior”, or even “dark”.)

That first contract took 4 ½ months, so it is not like this loft zoomed across The Market. The second contract took only 5 weeks, so maybe there was a flurry in March that the seller could (did) re-energize when the occasion called for it in April.

Despite the lack of zoom, the premium pricing shows there was a certain market oomph. (If it had been mine, and the initial contract was at or above the ask, I might have brought it back at a higher new price; so my best guess is that the first contract was lower than the second. If so … sweet!)

this just in…
From the Breaking News Desk … the broker babble for #6B notes that it can be combined with the loft next door. That would be #6A at 131 West 28 Street (note the different street address, but The Shark notes this is one coop with one tax lot number and two addresses), which is also said to be “900 sq ft” but has a front-facing “L” footprint that supports a windowed den/office/bedroom in addition to the interior “master bedroom”. Hard to say from the respective babble whether the condition of the two lofts is equivalent, but The Market definitely thinks so.

You won’t find it on StreetEasy yet, but our data-base has the completed transaction information for #6A. Adding that datum to the StreetEasy listing history yields this close parallel to the #6B sale above:

Essentially the same price for the two lofts (difference is 0.073%), with #6B selling at a premium to ask and #6A at a discount, with contracts signed 3 weeks apart. I had not seen that when I started this post, but tacked on the “refreshingly efficient market” part of the headline as a result. Refreshing and efficient. Rather: refreshing because so efficient.

Refreshingly sweet!

meanwhile, back in 2006 …
The last time #6A sold was August 14, 2006. That poetic bit of babble (“a beautiful blossom in the heart of the flower district”) claimed the loft had been “recently renovated” so consider it highly likely that it was then in the same condition as when it just sold. Five years ago The Market valued loft #6A at $787,000, so there has been a 5.5% appreciation (apparently, fives are wild).

Nothing to brag about, other than getting a contract in 10 weeks and closing within 5 months.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011