ka-ching! ka-ching! as uptown widow moves to 7 Hubert Street loft

change in lifestyle
I had to guess that "Time Warner conglomerator Steve Ross" lived uptown, although in the brief Page Six mention about his widow moving to Tribeca there’s nothing about where she moved from. For Manhattan Loft Guy purposes, this transaction is interesting because of the price history of the "[s]pectacular 2,758 sq. ft. loft with a beautifully planted 564 sq. ft. terrace" she bought at 7 Hubert Street:

• August (?) 2010 $7.3mm
• May 2007 $6.45mm
• August 2004 $3,137,228.

Local cultural anthropologists may have a different focus than MLG, but let’s talk about the loft first.

(By the way I have that "(?)" for the August 2010 sale because I don’t see it (yet) on Property Shark, StreetEasy or our data-base; but the Post report includes a price, an identified seller and an identified buyer. With that seller identified, the loft has to be #8A.)

There’s a pretty enthusiastic listing description captured on StreetEasy, not surprising for a Manhattan loft asking $2,800+/ft (and getting $2,600+/ft). But the loft is almost certainly in exactly the same condition that it was in when it sold three+ years ago. Back then, it was a "[r]ecently completed, totally spectacular renovation by world renowned architects Ferguson Shamamian", with the same materials bragged about in the 2010 listing.

Obviously, this loft commended a premium in 2010 over the pre-Peak prior sale in May 2007 (13% over that May 2007 price, to be precise). #8A did not last very long, either, as it came to market only on June 24. At 60 days from new listing to closed sale, that’s PDQ.

Not sure why #8A cleared above $2,600/ft, even apart from the prior sale above $2,300/ft. (Yes, I am ignoring the terrace of #8A in these calculations.) The last sale in The Hubert was not very long ago (March 18) and was a loft described nearly as enthusiastically as #8A. #7C was marketed as

While this "2,542  sq ft" light-filled loft features two terraces, they are (combined) much smaller than the #8A terrace. But not so much smaller as to account for the entire difference between #8A at $2,647/ft and #7C at ‘only’ $2,077/ft ($5.28mm). Those olive doors and cabinetry, and other embellishments by Ferguson Shamamian in #8A must trump the oak cabinetry and embellishments by Alan Wanzenberg in #7C. $600/ft is a long trump suit.

paging Billy Joel (and Christie Brinkley)
Enough (for today) about Manhattan lofts. Turns out that the descriptor "Time Warner conglomerator Steve Ross" tricked me into guessing that they had lived in Time Warner Center. Assuming that his widow is actually going to move into The Hubert, this is a bigger change in cultural and psychological location to Tribeca than a move from the uber condos in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle would even be.

Of course, if she actually moves to Tribeca she would have to severely cut down her stuff to fit into the "[s]pectacular 2,758 sq. ft. loft with a beautifully planted 564 sq. ft. terrace", since she currently owns a rather enormous duplex (at least 4 [four!] apartments, combined) at the oh-so-storied 740 Park Avenue. That might just be the most "uptown" of uptown addresses. Miles from Hubert Street.

way out of my league
If she puts that coop on sale, she will compete with another duplex at 740 Park Avenue, "6,700 sq ft" offered at $26mm. (Hers just might be twice as big.)

As long as I am here, I will point out that the maintenance for that duplex is rather modest, at $1.38/ft. ($9,274/mo, but the apartment is 6,700 sq ft.) How do they keep this full-full-full service building going at such a paltry maintenance? The flip tax has to help: 3% of the sale price, paid by seller. That is $780,000, if this duplex sold at the ask. That would pay for a lot of white gloves.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010