under $800/ft for brand new Lifesaver lofts at 120 Eleventh Avenue

it is all about the views
I am going to try to avoid the candy and swimming puns here (especially the drowning puns here, please), let’s see how this attempt to talk business about the last two sales of Manhattan new development lofts at 120 Eleventh Avenue goes ….

When loft #2A at 120 Eleventh Avenue (Lifesaver Lofts) closed on February 11, it was the fourth unit to close in this addition to the Oh So (newly) Chic area of Way West Chelsea, hard by the Chelsea Piers. The third to close was #3B ten days earlier, while the others were back in September. Let’s just say that the difference between the clearing prices for this latest pair and the first pair is dramatic.

In the case of the three “A” line sales, the difference seems to come down to what is in front of one word on the respective pdfs: the word is “ … views” and in the case of #2A the modifier is “treetop …”, while in the case of #3A and #4A the modifier is “Hudson River …”. That’s a very powerful modifier, with $200/ft worth of difference. In absolute terms, that third floor river view is worth more than $700,000. (Close readers of Manhattan Loft Guy will know that is barely a third of the highest premium for a view I have noted; in my post of March 20, 2010 I found a view of Madison Square that was worth $2mm.)

The modifiers are a little different in distinguishing the “B” line units from each other, but the result will likely be the same (only #3B has closed so far): unlike #2A, #3B has a river view (although I can’t tell if that is from the north or south windows), but the higher floor gets 3 east windows and a view of the Empire State Building (again, I can’t tell if that is from the north or east windows).

While it remains to be seen how The Market values the River + ESB differential in the “B” line, The Market has already spoken about  the Treetop vs. River smackdown looking west in the “A” line, and the leaves got routed. The scale is such to suggest that there can’t be much of a river view from #3B.

Curbed has various links to some prior history for the building, as well as what else you can see from here (hint: a form of gender-based municipal services).

© Sandy Mattingly 2011