9 Murray Street loft sellers go ka-ching and move to non-loft loft at 4 West 21 Street

I should not take these things personally
Manhattan loft snob that I am, I tend to have an irrational sense of regret when loft owners sell a loft to move to an apartment. A ridiculous reaction, even if anyone cared. But at least the sellers of the Manhattan loft #11NE at 9 Murray Street downsized into a “loft-like” apartment when they sold their “2,302 sq ft” loft for $2.525mm on April 5 to move to a “1,100 sq ft” unit in the 2006 new development 4 West 21 Street for $1.395mm. (And they stayed on the 11th floor.)

Note the math: half the space for a bit more than half the price. That is how to downsize!

Note more math: they bought at 9 Murray when it was a 2003 new development, paying $1,349,214 for what I think was a white box. I wonder, of course, how much they put into the white box to build it out as the thesaurus-busting “sumptuous”, “gorgeous” and “delightfully renovated” loft it became.

Property Shark shows what look like two mortgages on #11NE, one for $927,500 put on when they bought in 2003, and a second for $500,000 put on in July 2005, probably long after the renovation / build-out. Thus, their equity by the time they sold 6 weeks ago was something north of $1.1mm. Perhaps they put a mortgage on the new unit at 4 West 21 Street when they bought on April 7 but, if so, it has not been recorded yet. So maybe they put all the gain on the trade into the new space, or maybe they mortgaged some and put some cash in the bank. Either way, that is how to downsize!

more about the trade
They went from 11th floor views from far east Tribeca (“north and west city, sky and Hudson River views”) to 11th floor views from far west Flatiron (per a prior listing, “bird’s eye views of the Empire State building”). They went from a host of proper proper names and materials to a “showcase designer home … [with] all museum quality craftmanship”. Changing your footprint without changing your lifestyle: that is how to downsize!

The Market changed, remember?
This will be old hat to long-time Manhattan Loft Guy readers: the #11NE sellers at 9 Murray Street tried to sell into the teeth of the nuclear winter, without success. When they came back 20 months later at (essentially) the exact price from early 2009, they found a contract at a 3%% discount within 9 weeks.

and vice the versa
As the #11NE sellers were downsizing, their buyers were upsizing. The buyers’ notice address is two blocks west on Murray Street, in a building that seems to have been a so-far-not-successful condo development. They must have been renting this “1,059 sq ft” loft that failed to sell as a new development from September 9, 2008 to January 9, 2010. (Note that front date again, and the bad timing that can doom a new development; when that loft was offered for sale, Lehman would file for bankruptcy in 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1… days. O. U. C. H.)

The buyers moved from what looks like an undistinguished and small loft with a terrace but no view worth bragging about, to a loft twice the size with drool-worthy finishes and city plus river views. That is how to upsize!

And the loft circle of life continues….

why a condop?
I can’t remember why 4 West 21 Street is a condop, instead of a condo. Did the Brodskys keep the land? Anybody out there know??

© Sandy Mattingly 2011