rare small, low-ceiling Tribeca loft sells near $2,000/ft at 355 Greenwich Street

is there a scarcity premium for small lofts in Tribeca?

There are not many true lofts in Tribeca around 1,000 sq ft. There are not many true lofts (in Tribeca or elsewhere) with ceilings just over 8 feet ‘tall’. There are more than a few Tribeca lofts in buildings that lack elevators. And there are a great many Tribeca condo lofts that sell near $2,000/ft, though probably not too many in no-frills buildings, and none that I am aware of with the combination of small size, low ceilings, and walk-up status of the “1,002 sq ft” Manhattan loft #2B at 355 Greenwich Street, which sold for $1.988mm at the end of June. (I don’t know why StreetEasy cannot tell that the listing is for the same unit as the deed record, but this sort of thing is happening a lot lately …. arghhh.)

This doesn’t look very loft-y:

8’2″ ceilings, per the listing description, no loft character evident other than hardwood flooring

But this does:

this simple facade just blows me away … elegant! beautiful!! loft-y!!! (Note To Self … find out what it was built for in 1891)

Yes, that’s a nice little kitchen, and a lovely bath, and the timber beam and column are classic loft elements to die for (see the listing pix), but this is a small loft with two small bedrooms squeezed into a footprint that is either “1,002 sq ft” (as StreetEasy has it for the condo deed) or “1,075 sq ft” (as our listing system has it).

not such an unusual loft floor plan, though it would look better if everything were a lot larger

Yet, this happened: to market on May 8 at $1.775mm, in contract by June 3, and closed on June 26 at $1.988mm. That’s seven weeks from start to money-in-the-bank, 12% over ask. At $1,984/ft in a no-frills, 4-unit condo without an elevator. (I use “1,002 sq ft” in my Master List of downtown Manhattan loft sales because my default for size is what StreetEasy has, which matches what Property Shark has, which gives me confidence that is what the City’s ACRIS system has.)

can anyone start in Tribeca any more?

There used to be ‘starter’ lofts in Tribeca. Not at $2 million.

(Here’s another smallish Tribeca loft that should make ‘starter’ buyers look elsewhere: the “1,200 sq ft” #12B at 261 Broadway sold a week after #2B at 355 Greenwich Street for $2.005mm; that one’s a coop, not quite as nice a Tribeca location, but with an amazing view; net: $1,671/ft.)

A simple scroll down the Master List finds these Tribeca loft sales below $1,984/ft:

None is ‘comparable’ to loft #2B at 355 Greenwich Street because each is larger, and many have both nicer finishes and more amenities, but that’s my point: this modest (dare I say ‘cramped’?) no-frills no-elevator loft traded at a higher price-per-foot than of lofts generally viewed as vastly superior. And this table is just June sales.

does that facade remind you of anything?

About that Note To Self in the building photo caption above … 355 Greenwich Street is just one block north and one block west of 67 Hudson Street, which I am pretty sure was built as a medical dispensary. I don’t think the similarity in the two buildings is a coincidence, so maybe 355 Greenwich Street had a similar or related usage:

similar brick work, similar verticals, two blocks apart