7-figure discount gets 15 Union Square West loft sold after 3 years

reading the writing on the (glass) walls
I checked via The Google: although the duplexed “2,282 sq ft” Manhattan loft #3D at 15 Union Square West is the 7th loft in this oh-so-luxe 36-unit condo conversion to close below my $5mm ceiling for tracking loft sales in my Master List of Manhattan Lofts Sold Since November 2008, it is the first loft in the building to generate a blog post here. That surprises me, as it is a fascinating building with a fascinating history. More on that below, but the recent news is the #3D sale at $3,531,937 on March 1, ending a marketing campaign that began March 26, 2009 at $4.68mm. I will help you with the math: that is a sale after at least 153 weeks nearly $1.15mm below the first ask, or at a 25% discount.

The linked StreetEasy listing history is pretty spare, but there is a more complete one here; this history is an amalgamation:

Counting days on market in new developments can be a merely theoretical exercise, as individual units may go on and off an “Available Listings” list arbitrarily. Generally, if anything in a new building is being actively marketed, the sponsor would entertain an offer for anything else. In this building it does seem that many units were pulled from the market after a short time in 2008 (at short different times, if you click around the full building history), so I am going with March 26, 2009 in the Master List .

(some) sponsors have deep pockets
Look at that period after the last price drop: this sponsor sat at $3.75mm for almost a year before striking a deal (the winter hiatus omitted), then waited another 5 months before the buyer had to pay for the loft. As patient as that year-to-contract was, that 5-months-to-close is radically patient.

ghostly cast-iron skeleton
I still don’t know whether I like how they incorporated old into new in this building, but it is very intriguing, and admirable. As the broker babble for #3D has it:

dramatic original cast-iron arched windows are now set behind a new facade of black zinc and glass

In this case, those living room windows on the lower floor are floor-to-ceiling and the ceilings on this level are 16 feet. That is a lot of glass in this loft, and even more from the outside.

The developer took what was an ugly white brick box, stripped it down to the bones (its past grandeur having been lost more than 50 years earlier), and left that skeleton exposed through the dark glass facade. Sometimes you see it better, sometimes worse (depending on the light), but rarely do you see it well … at least in my experience of walking by here a lot. Look at the building photo on the StreetEasy main page: you have to look closely, and know what you are looking for, to see the shapes of the old arched windows from the outside.

As I say, I still don’t know if I like it, but they deserve A+ for effort.

down memory lane
Although I have never hit this condo conversion before, I did post about the building, about a milion years ago in WWW time.

In my July 7, 2006, dynamic city / time runs out on a stripped Tiffany’s, I pivoted off a then-recent New York Times article about the former white brick facade and its history (a "palace of jewels"!), before making a prediction that turned out not to be true:

Who knew that this spare white building began life in 1870 as the flagship of Tiffany & Company, jewelers and was a “monster [cast] iron building”?

The Times [in 1870] called the new building a "palace of jewels," with black-walnut counters and ebony cases holding watches, fans, opera glasses and other articles in wood, leather, silver, cloisonné, enamel, bronze and rosewood. The Times observed that one ornamental statue, " ‘Zingerilla,’ by the Spanish sculptor Klessinger, appears almost ready to speak to her admirers."

Tiffany’s stayed for only 35 years before moving uptown (to 37th [57th?] Street and Fifth Avenue) and the building became a home for garment companies. By 1925 the building was owned by Amalgamated Bank, which had been formed by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, one of many trade unions located (coincidentally?) around Union Square (the square was named for the federal union – The United States).

I was wrong about this:

The next act for the boring white brick bank building that used to be an elaborate cast-iron jewelry firm is clear, at least for this structure. Given the zoning and the general market, when the bank sells the building (as it has begun to do) it is likely to be torn down to be replaced by a condominium tower.

From luxury jewelry to ladies underwear to a union bank to the inevitable condo, in four acts spanning about 140 years. Maybe that is not so dynamic a series of changes, after all….

I was right about The Condos Are Coming! but wrong that the structure would be replaced. (Read the post to learn why all that ornamentation was stripped off nearly 60 years ago.)

That blog post was paired the same day (!) with this one about another building on 15th Street, this one way west. In my July 7, 2006, dynamic city / champagne in a cookie building, I …

The business section [of the New York Times] ran an article about the new HQ of Moet Hennessy, on the second floor of a 1914 building that used to house the National Biscuit Company (better known as Nabisco) between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues (address is 85 Tenth Av, from 15th to 16th Streets). Anyone who has driven down West Street in this area has probably noticed the “National Biscuit Company” sign on the west side of the building. I don’t know the history, but given the proximity to the Hudson River piers and access to that Holland and Lincoln Tunnels to New Jersey, it was probably a warehouse or distribution facility.

No condos for Nabisco, only Tiffany’s. Nothing stays the same….

© Sandy Mattingly 2012