181 Hudson Street closes at strong price / why?

why is $996/ft ‘impressive’?
The March 15 deed for the sale of Manhattan loft #3A at 181 Hudson Street is late-breaking (filed yesterday!), but is it news? The "2,509 sq ft" "uniquely textured" (??) north Tribeca loft came and went pretty quickly, with a price history suggesting motivation: new to market on October 7 at $2.895mm, they dropped it to $2.695mm five weeks later, and had a contract by Christmas. The closing price of $2.5mm is a hefty 14% off from where they’d started, achieved in about ten weeks.

On the plus side of the ledger, there are vintage loft-y details, all that space, the "spirit of old Tribeca", and "ten over-sized windows". On the other side of the ledger, the loft probably requires some re-purposing (there’s a very large "guest bedroom suite" with it’s own entrance) and there’s not much to see out those over-sized windows on the third floor (4 face south across Vestry Street at the 7-story rental building, 177 Hudson St; 6 face west over an alley and the 7-story commercial building, 443 Greenwich St).

It is exactly that lack of view that I think makes this clearing price ‘impressive’.

sunny neighbors got (only) $1,027/ft in December
The loft upstairs is "1,800 sq ft", a little smaller than #3A, so it is not quite an apples-to-apples comparison. But the floor plan is functionally the same, with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths (no guest suite, or artist gallery). For this comparison, #7D is all about the views: "impressive architectural views topped by a sweep of endless sky", with an entire long wall facing east. I am not saying it is a $2mm view (that would be over Madison Square, as in my March 20, a $2 million view on Madison Square? comping at 15 East 26 Street), but the layout is terrific and focused east, where the angle of nearby Canal Street really opens up the view.

I’m surprised that the spread between these two lofts is not greater. I assume that #3A found just the right buyer to appreciate "a true ‘one-of-a- kind’ residence".

I wonder if they did this on purpose
These neighboring lofts never competed against each other, as #3A came to market a few weeks after #7D went into contract.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010