old school loft at 60 Grand Street, dressed up without walls, did not sell at $1,224/ft

a late conversion (2007)
I wish I knew the back story about this very late Soho condo conversion. Certainly not a lot was done to the interior space of the “2,150 sq ft” Manhattan loft #7 at 60 Grand Street that sold for $2.355mm on February 1 at the time it was converted; the elevator is still manual, ti is still (largely) open; the mechanicals and ceiling joists are exposed; the (slate?) kitchen floor looks like it was put on top of the existing floor. The loft does have 2 relatively nice bathrooms, a very long kitchen, and central air. From the decor (I hate to say decorating; no offense intended) the residents who just sold lived there long before 2007. All in all, a definitely old school vibe in an old school building (love that last listing photo!) in an old school prime Soho block, just off West Broadway.

mysterious roof rights
No, there’s no mystery about where the roof is (it is on top of the building, one flight up, silly), but the listing is coy about how much of the roof this top-floor unit has rights to, and the floor plans reveal nothing. We can estimate what that roof space was worth, but can’t see what it is. Darn. [UPDATE: I should add that I reached out to the listing agents with that question last week, without getting a response. Darn. And darn.].

My best guess is that the roof rights cover most of the roof and that they are worth (approximately) $550,000.

I say this because the 6th floor sold in roughly similar condition (perhaps the floors are better and the plumbing rooms are better on the 7th floor, where there is already central air) on December 16, 2010 (a broadly similar market as the current one) at $1.73mm. I’d add $25,000 (roughly) for the 7th floor higher ceilings and higher height, and $50,000 for the upgrade to central air, or (roughly) $1.805mm for the 7th floor interior, or $839/ft.

smiling while riffing
The balance of the $2.355mm clearing price values the roof at $550,000. If that is the whole roof, at “2,150 sq ft”, that comes to $256/ft (unadjusted), or 30% of the value of the interior. Those of you who are used to playing with numbers are smiling because you recognize that we just backed out a way to value outdoor space using The Miller’s rubric and that the result of 30% of the interior is well within his guidelines. Woop-de-dam-doo.

If the roof rights cover significantly less than the whole roof, then it appears that either the buyer overpaid for those rights or there is something about this roof particular roof that makes it unusually valuable. More likely, it is the whole roof, at a customary valuation, of course.

If you want to keep smiling (who wouldn’t?) look again at the last listing photo. Old school lives!

© Sandy Mattingly 2012