718 Broadway in the news again / #10C is back, beefier

not new, exactly, though more
718 Broadway #10C showed up as a new listing yesterday, asking $1.295mm and $1,486 for “1,400 sq ft” of “real NoHo loft with sunlight, dramatic city views, and 12 foot ceilings”.

This unit and this building both have some history. In fact, I have hit this building three times before, having been fascinated by some sales history, some problems with rulers, and one magnificent minimal loft that I could not live in but that is for sale for the second time in a year.

There’s only one picture and a floor plan for #10C up on PruDE’s site now, which is a bit peculiar because I remember there being more photos when this same agent was selling this same unit from January to April 2007 (ask was $1.25mm then); the inter-firm history shows a contract having been signed in April 2007 but no other activity until coming back as “new” yesterday (obviously, that didn’t close).

challenging footprint
The Long-and-Narrow layout provides some atypical Long-and-Narrow challenges. Both very large windows are at the front (providing “22 feet” of eastern exposure), so most conventional configurations would put sleeping areas away from the windows (as here, with the present single bedroom). The plumbing Is on the opposite narrow wall, where the kitchen and the (single) bath are squeezed between the front door and the wall; adding a second bath (if it can be done at all) may be a challenge and would probably require erasing the bedroom and starting over.

history
#11C was marketed for five months a year ago at $1.575mm without selling. That listing description was modest about the finishes and did not mention any renovations except prospectively (“these [2 bed]rooms can easily be reconfigured or removed …”).

#3B had a bit of an odyssey, completed with a closed sale 3 weeks ago at $1.2mm, for “1,400 sq ft” with nothing interior to brag much about. How’s this for an odyssey? It was on the market for all but 7 months from November 2004 to December 2006, with 3 firms and 7 price changes between $1.35mm to $1.175mm; the last offering price was $1.24mm, from April 2007 until the contract in October.

This same agent offered #6C for sale last summer at $1.2mm with some bragging (about marble, tile, counters, concrete floor, and a Viking range). That shows as sold in our system as of October, but I don’t see that transaction in city records.

#2C is that magnificent minimal loft, and it traded at $1.325mm in May to buyers who changed their minds: it has been for sale again for 10 weeks.

a fave for MLG
It is that loft the piqued my interest in the building, as I saw it and two other very different neighboring lofts that were on the market at the same time, leading to my post on November 8, 2006: comparing lofts and lofts ain’t so easy / 718 Broadway as lab, which compared #2C, #2A and #3B.

In turn, that post caused me to look at the building sales history to try to make some sense of it all on November 9, 2006:more rich data and ‘comps’ / 718 Broadway sales history (it didn’t work).

With that prior interest in this building and in #2C in particular, I was floored when #2C came back to the market so soon after selling in May 2007 for $1.325m. The resulting post (November 9, 2007: a mistake, perhaps, as 718 Broadway is for sale again (not bloody likely)) reflects that I was totally freaked out that the May buyers became November wanna-sellers at $2.125mm (the price has since been dropped to $1.95mm, which – at this scale – Is no less freaky to me). Note especially that #2C seems to have grown with the new price in November.

visiting with other neighbors
Faithful readers will realize that I have spent a fair amount of time on this long block of Broadway already in 2008. I hit 716 Broadway on January 11 (716 Broadway has another birthday loft) and 710 Broadway on January 9 (710 Broadway is slimmer after holiday break). Both of those posts dealt with very mature listings and show that even a price under $1,000/ft may not be attractive enough to seal a deal on this busy busy busy block.

back to #10C
If you visit #10C, before to ask about any plans to develop the parking lot to the east. I don’t know if that is a factor in this loft not selling last year when offered at $1.25mm, or if it was the amount of work people anticipate having to do after buying it.

© Sandy Mattingly 2008