477 Broome Street loft takes what the market gives, moves on (to the bank)

a form of humility, yes?
This one is hot off the presses (deed filed today): the Manhattan loft #31 at 477 Broome Street sold on January 25 for $1.515mm, a discount of 10.6%% off the $1.695mm ask. What is interesting about it is that it took 90 days to get to contract (offered September 7, contract by December 7) yet the seller (a) held firm by not reducing the ask, but (b) was flexible enough to take the deal that did present itself. I wonder where that negotiation started, to end up 10.6% off the ask…

the renovation is recent, the floor plan is … interesting
Loft #31 is said to “ha[ve] just undergone an extensive renovation”, but Property Shark does not link to a DoB permit for any work in this loft, going back to 2005. Maybe the Shark missed it; maybe the renovation work was older than what a normal person would think of as having “just undergone”. Whenever it was done, the current configuration takes advantage of 14 foot ceilings to deal with the challenge of a nearly square space with windows on only one side.

There’s plumbing all across the back wall, and the elevator takes up one other corner, so there is no room for a traditional (windowed) “bedroom”. The solution was to loft the sleep area, with closets and dressing area below, so that the sleep area is not visible from the rest of the space. An interesting solution, but one that works perfectly with only one person in the loft when it is time for sleep, as there are no barriers to sound or light anywhere other than in that closet. (If the loft were bigger than “1,376 sq ft” it might qualify as a One Bed Wonder, but #31 doesn’t quite have the scale of classic One Bed Wonders.)

I am having trouble ‘reading’ the floor plan and the pics; the floor plan shows the shower opening opposite the (closed) WC, while the pics show the shower and the toilet in the same shot. And the floor plan lacks a door to the shower and sink area. Unless … unless the floor plan error is leaving out the toilet in that “bathroom” with the shower. The babble says 2 bathrooms, which works only if the toilet in that picture is missing from the floor plan (and then the “second” bathroom is only a half). Indeed, the seller seems to have used the area in front of those bathrooms as a sleeping area (that is a bed in that 3rd pic, isn’t it?), so maybe there were two places to sleep in the loft, neither offering much sound privacy….

There are terrific and classic loft elements here, in addition to the high ceilings: cast-iron columns, exposed brick walls, those 3 huge windows, tin ceilings, exposed sprinkler and utilities, and that long radiator. I assume the “stairs” to the lofted area stay, though they do look rather … challenging. The furniture, obviously, goes, but what an interesting set of pieces! Note especially the dining room chairs. This just looks like a Single Guy Loft, doesn’t it??

stretching the local comps
Back to that pricing and clearing price….

The clearing price for #31 last week of $1,102/ft looks pretty good in relation to the two lofts in the building that sold in 2009 (the only two other sales here since 2006). Our data-base shows that the penthouse unit that sold for $2.375mm on July 28, 2009 (after a long slog, and dripping prices) has “1,800 sq ft” of interior space with the 2 terraces having another “1,000 sq ft”. I will get to an adjusted $/ft in a second, but I hit that one when it came out pretty much at The Peak, in my Feb. 2, 2008 review of 3 Soho new listings, sweeping the new at 477 Broome + 458 Broome + 354 Broome Street. Using a high value for the terrace space compared to the interior (50%, per The Miller’s analysis), #61 would have an adjusted value of only $1,033/ft; using the lower range (25%), the adjusted value rises to (still, only) $1,158/ft. In this case, I wold tend to use the lower value, as the terraces are true penthouse (accessible), they have great utility (bbq, dining area, irrigation, awnings), and seem to have better views than are otherwise available in the loft (“breathtaking views of Manhattan and beyond in every direction”), so I think that $1,033/ft is closer to the true adjusted value.

Loft #33 also braved the nuclear winter, to close on April 29, 2009 at $965,000. Our data-base has that one at “1,000 sq ft”, making the math delightfully simple: $965/ft. I hit that sale on May 27, 2009, 4 years = $15,000 at 477 Broome Street, which has a title that pretty much sums up the price history for that loft. Although “sleek and stylish”, #33 is in the part of the building that is not served by the elevator (a curious set-up, but that is what can happen in a big building in which the elevator was added in the pre-residential days at one edge of the building; rather than shrink units by adding an elevator vestibule and hallway when the building was adapted for residential use [probably first as a rental], some units have to walk the stairs while others get key-locked elevator access). The two flights up don’t account for the 14.6% premium of #31 last week compared to #33 in April 2009, but that and the different market conditions from that chilly market to 2011 probably do.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011