quick work at 139 Reade Street / 11 weeks from list to artistic close

taking advantage of the Fall market

How’s this for a quick sale? The Manhattan loft #3B at 139 Reade Street came to market on September 28 at $2.875mm and found a contract within six weeks, then closed in another 4 weeks. In any market it could be considered quick work to bank your cash 11 weeks after coming to market. In the brave new world of The (current) Market, that is awfully good.

2 very different buildings, one condo

This building is the 5-story component of an unusual 2007 Manhattan loft condo conversion, Artisan Lofts, along with the neighboring 17-story 143 Reade Street. The shorter building shares the amenities next door, but appears form the title histories to have been a separate condo formed in 1994. In 2007, it looks like it became a legal part of the new condo including 143 Reade Street (looks as though 143 Reade had an old address and entrance on Chambers Street; did they incorporate the lobby of 139 Reade as the lobby of the new condo??). The result would be 5-stories of ‘classic’ Tribeca lofts (with all thevariety of finishes and layouts in such a building) attached to 17 stories of brand new "loft" spaces.

Unit 3B is "2,175 sq ft" set up as 3 bedrooms plus media room in a relatively stumpy Long-and-Narrow footprint (roughly 35 x 70, so not so long or so narrow), but with the classic windows at either end and all plumbing in the middle (on both sides), including the proverbial gourmet kitchen. As part of a new development, amenities include concierge, gym, roof deck and "Children’s Imagination Center" (which undoubtedly includes more than a box with old clothes in it). These sellers had been here at least 14 years, but I can’t tell when they renovated.

no premium here; curious…

The deed was dated December 12 for $2.5mm so the seller quickly took a 13% discount to get the price available in The Market ($1,149/ft, in this case). Props to them for getting out quickly (11 weeks!) and for being nimble enough to drop 13% to make a deal.

You’d think the values in this 5-story building would reflect access to the amenities in the 17-story uber loft next door at 143 Reade Street, wouldn’t you? Looks as though you’d be wrong. The last sale I see at 139 Reade was #4A, which is said to be "1,900 sq ft" but I don’t have any information about its condition, or the marketing that resulted in its sale in June 2006 (7 months before the deal with the Artisan Lofts developers and the amenities upgrade) at $2.2mm — $1,157/ft. Or, if there is a premium for having access to The Amenities (as you’d expect), you can’t see it anymore because of shifts in The Market from June 2006 to December 2008.

© Sandy Mattingly 2008