90 Franklin is new, mint, flipping

[The original post:]

a bit more than 80 Warren, a bit more $$$
#2N at 90 Franklin Street is just above 80 Warren Street #34 in today’s new listings sheet, asking $2.575mm ($175k more) and $2,458/mo (condo; a lot more per month) for “1,900 sq ft” (probably 100 feet smaller) that is not only in “triple mint” condition, but boasts a Boffi kitchen (with appropriate appliance bling) and boast-able bath. In other words, there’s a lot more Manhattan loft here than there – with a higher price and monthlies, of course.

If you use the ballpark of $200/ft for a quality total renovation of 80 Warren St #34 (see December 10: need renovation stories / a reader writes for help), then the dollars between these two units ($2.4mm to buy + $400k to renovate + $1,400/mo in maintenance vs. $2.575mm to buy + $2,458/mo) tilt in favor of #2N at 90 Franklin, especially with the amenities of 90 Franklin Street. (See today’s 80 Warren is new, a project, aggressive about 80 Warren Street.)

about those mints
The “1,900 sq ft” footprint of #2N contains a fairly conventional “apartment” 2 bedroom + 2 bath layout, with all rooms fronting north and the large bedrooms typical of a nearly-square-windows-on-one-side footprint. (The second bedroom is 10 x 18 feet.) This floor plan reminds me of some units in the Chelsea Mercantile, in fact.

The finishes look terrific here. (See the listing description for details; if I paraphrase I will lose something.)

The layout has some quirks. The flow from the entry takes you to the dining room table (as arrayed) and there’s a (glass-fronted?) pantry apparently built in to the wall opposite the kitchen – in plain view of the main living space. Yes, it is nice that the laundry room is “discreetly situated” off the kitchen, but that raises the question of whether the “discreet 24-7 concierge” is hidden in the lobby or knows how to keep his/her mouth shut.

street life serenades
Of course, 80 Warren Street is on a formerly quiet stretch that will soon benefit (?) from proximity to Whole Foods “etc” at 101 Warren, while 90 Franklin sits at the spot where the uptown traffic splits from Church Street at the beginning of 6^th Avenue – hardly the most charming spot in Tribeca.

So there may well be reasons to prefer to live on that stretch of Warren Street rather than this intersection of Franklin, Church and 6^th Avenue. But dollars are probably not among those reasons.

I wonder how many people will be interested in looking at both of these. They seem like such different lofts to me that they probably appeal to very different people.

fascinating history, with a quick echo
90 Franklin Street was a condo conversion that sold originally in May 2000. #2N was probably bought then at the original asking price of $775k and has been sold twice since then. I can’t tell from the listing description when all the mints arrived in #2N (though it does say “new hardwood flooring”), but my guess is that it was in pretty good condition when it sold in October 2004 at $1.575mm, and probably still in pretty good condition when it sold in August 2007 for $2.075mm.

Had that August 2007 buyer made any significant renovation between buying for $2.075mmand putting it on the market at a 25% premium, I bet the listing description would say so. Since it does not, I assume the seller thinks The Market has improved quite a bit in a relatively short time.

Actually, the listing history shows that the flip was started soon after the August 2007 purchase at $2.075mm. The Real Estate Group listed #2N for $2.695mm in late November, before the price dropped to $2.5mm in December and the unit was taken off the market 6 weeks ago.

Open house Sunday February 24 [next Sunday] from 12 to 1:30 PM

[update 12.3.08: this has been off the market since June, at a last ask of $2.395mm]

© Sandy Mattingly 2008