Saturday diversion / is Chelsea Mercantile contract newsworthy?

tomorrow must be a slow news day
(Not for Manhattan Loft Guy; for the NY Times.) If it is "news" to Liz Harris of the NY Times (is she the new Josh Barbanel??), I guess it qualifies for at least a Saturday diversion here …. Some former Boy Band boy (man) just signed a contract to buy #10J at 252 Seventh Avenue, which rates a Big Deal in tomorrow’s NY Times even without a closing price. Does the Wall Street Journal’s new NYC section report contracts-without-closing-prices, or is the Real Estate Industrial Media overly concerned with getting scooped?

whatever
The deal is probably close to ask, as the "1,313, sq ft" loft in this long-time Manhattan Loft Guy fave had been on the market only a month when a contract got sync’d on April 27. As noted in the Times, the asking price was $1.495mm.

The buyer "loves" the low monthlies at The Merc: here $1,482/mo, truly a relative bargain in a high-amenities building. The "J" line may have "great eastern light" from the five windows, but this is one of those layouts that The Merc is ‘famous’ for, essentially a Long-and-Narrow with windows only on one narrow side, leaving a pretty good-sized ‘home office’ (with closet) at the dark end of the loft.

comping
It will be interesting to see if this Boy Band guy paid more for this "1,313, sq ft" loft with a crappy floor plan than Some Other guy paid in August for #11E. That one cleared at $1.485mm, with "1,365 sq ft", "wonderful northern light", a much more practical layout than #10J (2 real BRs), and (somehow) monthlies lower than #10J ($1,432/mo; perhaps they went up with the new year).

That one took a long time to sell: started in the immediate post-Lehman freeze of October 2008; contract in June 2009.

If Boy Band guy did pay more than #11E’s trading price, then #10J might truly be a Big Deal. [Note to self: watch out for a deed on #10J.]

© Sandy Mattingly 2010