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a mistake, perhaps, as 718 Broadway is for sale again (not bloody likely)

Sandy MattinglyPosted on Posted in loft neighborhoods noho — No Comments ↓

for real?
I am going to start out being as clinical as I can be about the new listing today of #2C at 718 Broadway, which is so new that the link does not yet work on PruDE’s site, but when it does it will be here. (update Nov 13: the listing detail is up, but with only one picture and no floor plan — sheesh) (update Nov 15: the pictures + floor plan are up; they’ve taken down the sheers and added red furniture)

(Prolixity warning: this one is very long. But rewarding, IMO.)

When it hits the web, you will see that the agent notes that #2C is an AIA award-winning loft and has been featured in Interior Design magazine, and Dutch and British Elle Décor.

You will see that it is said to be “1,600 sq ft” and that they are asking $2.125mm and $1,370/mo.

any of this sound familiar?
If you have been a faithful reader for a very long time (and have an excellent memory) you will remember that I love this loft. Here’s what I said about it a year ago, almost to the day:

Once you close the door in 2C you would never think you were in the same building with the other two lofts [2A and 3B were also for sale at that time].

Please, please, please look at the pictures, and then understand that – if anything — the photos do not do justice to this space. [Unfortunately, those pix are no longer on the web, but PruDE’s new pix should be up soon; they won’t do justice either.] This is a white-on-white museum quality minimalist renovation. While this unit looks over the same parking lot as 3B, I suspect that possible development has nothing to do with value or with the owner’s enjoyment of the space. Note the window shears – everything about this space relates inward, so what is outside the window will only detract from the space.
I am not saying I could live there (no way). I am not saying there are many people who can live there. I just hope that there are enough who can and that someone who can has the money and the opportunity to make a deal with these owners.

The care taken to eliminate detailing in closets, cabinets, and appliances is extreme. The walls ‘float’ off the floor the way museum walls do not touch the floor; the kitchen wall not only does that, but flares out at the bottom, while the upper surface of the cabinets also undulates.

I have no idea who could buy this amazing space
How unlivable is this space for conventional tastes? There are two sleeping areas in the upper mezzanine, separated (as I recall) by a few plastic containers (I am not doing them justice) but otherwise open to below. A low cough in one bed is heard distinctly in the other.

(That was on Nov 8, 2006: comparing lofts and lofts ain’t so easy / 718 Broadway as lab.)

My description sounds like the same description as the new listing, right? It can’t be that this museum-quality space has been renovated yet again and again been featured in magazines and won an AIA award, right?

Just checking here, because the loft that is now described as “1,600 sq ft” and offered at $2.125mm was being offered a year ago for $1.475mm (down from the original $1.6mm) and was described as “1,200 sq ft”.

I made a prediction last year that came true (“I can say that this one is ‘very’ unique [remember, in my business “unique” has many modifiers]. Unique properties have fewer potential buyers, so this may be on the market for a while regardless of price.“). It was on the market “for a while” longer and dropped the price twice before signing a contract in April and closing in May.

(Just the facts, ma’am…) The closing price on May 30, 2007 recorded in city records is … $1.325mm.

(Pause. Sink in. Review numbers. Proceed.)

WTF??
So now the people who bought it on May 30 want to sell it. The people who bought it on May 30 for $1.325mm want to sell it for $2.125mm. Actually, it may be more accurate to say that the people who bought it on May 30 for $1.325mm say they want to sell it now for $2.125mm.

Enough with just-the-facts … this freaks me out. This totally freaks me out.

$2,125,000
(1,325,000)
$ 800,000 = 60% of May 30 price
(OK, I will stop with that.)

if building history is a guide
I was so intrigued by the differences between #2C and the other two units then available (#2A and #3B) that I did an extended review of past sales data in this 40-unit coop the next day. Here is the highlight of that review:

The confirmed 2006 sales and their estimated sizes were:
8B
June 29
$1.2mm
1325′
10B
July 12
$1.505mm
1400′
10D
Sept 20
$1.21mm
1180′
6B
Oct 18
$1.156mm
1325′
First, all four of these substantially overlapped with the efforts to sell 3B and 2A over the last year, and the last two may have actively overlapped with 2C as well. That is a lot of inventory in a 40-unit building. And note that the agents for the three “B” line lofts could not agree on the size of that line.

(From Nov 9, 2006: more rich data and ‘comps’ / 718 Broadway sales history)

Since then, #2A has been taken off the market (said to be “1,500 sq ft”, it started at $1.595mm in September 2005 and ended 2 years later, unsold at $1.299mm); #3B found a buyer and signed a contract 2 weeks ago (ask was $1.24mm for “1,400 sq ft”, after being on the market since September 2006, through 2 different firms); and #10C seems to have been in contract since April without closing yet (offered in January at $1.25mm for “1,400 sq ft”; that deal may be in trouble).

If building history is a guide, there are only 2 units that have closed above $1,000/ft (3 if you count #2C’s sale at $1.325mm if the “1,200 sq ft” is right) and none that have closed anywhere near $1,300/ft, as offered for #3C now if “1,600 sq ft” is right , let alone nearly $1,800/ft if #2C is really only “1,200 sq ft”.

You still with me? Here’s the punch line…

they just might get it
The funny thing about (truly) unique apartments is that they set their own values. If a buyer with taste and bucks finds that this museum-quality-minimalism suits them and they have the bucks, they may pay whatever they have to get the seller to agree to sell it to them. ‘Comps’ be damned, as (truly) unique lofts have (essentially) no comps. Just whatever a willing buyer is willing to pay that the seller will agree to. (They won’t get a large mortgage, but that’s a different story.)

Now, I seriously doubt that there is a buyer for this loft at $2.125mm or environs. And it is very likely that any sale will take a long time, because there are so few potential buyers for this spectacular-but-unlivable-(for-many)-space at any price. (As the mother-daughter team Eunice and Stephanie Turso of Custom Brokers — who marketed this lovely loft for 9 months before getting a contract signed seven months ago — found out.)

8 million stories
I wonder – of course – why the May 30 buyer is a November seller. Change in family situation? Somebody coughing quietly in the other bed? Delusions? No idea, but very curious….

back to the beginning
This whole thing really freaks me out.

© Sandy Mattingly 2007

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