a telling trajectory? 47 Walker Street sells on 2d floor

what a difference two years make
The Manhattan loft one flight of stairs up at 47 Walker Street #2B has closed. They started in February, asking $1.695mm for "1,830 sq ft", dropped twice to get to $1.595mm by the end of June and found a contract 5 weeks later. (6 weeks is a pretty quick closing for a coop.)

The marketing was all about ‘soul’ and ‘volume’ (as yoiu will see in a bit, these guys corner the market on ‘soulful’ marketing) and the "Viking, Subzero, Miele Appliances" you could put in (I am not kidding), so this one sounds like a fairly primitive loft. (Check out the part of the web listing that still survives on StreetEasy, here; the building link is here.)

I saw this a month ago when it was updated in our system as closed, but the clearing price has not been public until more recently. The deed was filed September 18 and the price was $1.56mm. That’s $852/ft.

a bit of historical context
One more flight upstairs, #3A closed in October 2006 at $1.27mm — $75k over the asking price — for "1,350 sq ft". StreetEasy has the surviving part of that listing here; you will see an even more exuberant* listing description (ahh, the go-go days of that market …), the requisite "soul" clause, and no bragging about finishses (just about bones and character). So, that one sounds like it was in a simialrly primitive state as #2B, but one more flight up the stairs.

That was $941/ft for #3A two years ago.

While these two sales are not exactly comparable, they are awfully close. They would appeal to different Manhattan loft buyers because the second floor unit is said to be 500 sq ft larger, but in both cases most buyers would expect to put in money to update, if not fully renovate. In both cases, the lack of an elevator shrinks the buying pool (the third floor should have had more shrinkage here). Being in the same building, there should have been no difference in value for being in nearby-but-NOT-prime Tribeca (the block between Broadway and Church).

Time has not been kind to values in htis building.

agents having fun (nothing wrong with that)
*Exuberant? Here’s the full listing descrition for #3A from 2006 from the inter-frim data base (no boring broker-babble for these guys):

> Pure Loft Power Price To Sell! > You’re Exhausted By All The Crapola You’ve Seen Thats Overpriced And Overdone. > Everything Looks The Same In Condomania And The Real Estate Taxes Alone Are Giving You A Thrombo. > Relax -the Loft Doctor Is In. > Soulful Reverie Resides Here In Spades In This Beautiful Oasis Of High Ceilings, Great Layout, Huge Windows And Full On Functionality, All Priced To Move You At $885 Per SF With A Maintenance Of (please Sit Down) Only $695 A Month. > This Loft Is In Great Shape In An Well Established Elevator Coop Building With A Relaxed And Cool Board. > It Also Has The Good Sense Of Being In The Ps234 School District And Is Close To Everything That Makes Tribeca So Chill. > First Showing This Sunday At The Open House 2 To 3:30. > Have Brunch Then Pounce!.


 
© Sandy Mattingly 2008
 
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