renovated 395 Broadway loft is jealous of primitive top floor + of 505 Greenwich Street loft

envy is bad for the soul
When the Manhattan loft #5E at 395 Broadway sold on January 28 at $1.15mm ($945/ft), it was said to be “completely” renovated (unlike #15A, the gut job with glorious light, which sold on December 23 for $1,033/ft that I hit on January 26, gut job loft at 395 Broadway provokes war, gets $1,000/ft). #5E last sold in April 2005, not long after the loft I hit yesterday at 505 Greenwich Street (505 Greenwich Street loft wonders “what slump?” after closing up 61% since 2004) but, unlike that loft that appreciated 61%, #5E ‘gained’ only 2.7% in the 5+ years since selling at $1.12mm.

cue the Manhattan Loft Guy chorus
(You know the lines …) Life is not fair. Neither is The Market.

busy corner of non-prime Tribeca vs. quiet corner of non-prime “Soho”
Of course the prewar early conversion (1983) with no amenities other than a roof deck at 395 Broadway is a very different building than the 2004 new construction with many amenities (pet spa!) at 505 Greenwich Street, but both condos are at an edge of their prime loft neighborhoods. But you will exit 395 Broadway making no mistake about being in the (busy) middle of commerce, as opposed to stepping onto the sidewalk at 505 Greenwich being unsure which way to go to find … anything.

The finishes in 505 Greenwich were state of the art for the mid-lux category development in 2004, with listing descriptions here dropping proper proper names and materials promiscuously; in contrast, that “recent renovation” of #5E at 395 Broadway did not disturb the floor plan (other than now describing a former “sleep loft” as “storage space above”) and generated a listing description with only one (very mild) proper proper name (California closets) and no bragging about finishes apart from calling the kitchen “mint” and the track lighting “new”.

If these relative benefits of 505 Greenwich over 395 Broadway are not enough to explain the 22% premium of #5D over #5E, their respective layouts further advantage #5D. The Greenwich Street loft is oriented to the huge windows along one long wall; the Broadway at Walker Street loft is a classic Long-and-Narrow, but the two bedrooms are at the windowed narrow end while the other two “huge” windows along one long wall are not featured in the listing photos. The Broadway loft has only one bathroom, about as far from the bedrooms as you could be in a “1,217 sq ft” loft.

Net-net, The (current) Market rationally preferred #5D in “Soho” over over #5E in northeast Tribeca (both sold on January 28; both went into contract in September). But #5E barely held its value from April 2005, while #5D just sold at a 61% premium over its sponsor sale in December 2004.

the closer comp should sting more, light be damned
505 Greenwich is clearly not a good source of comps for 395 Broadway. But the comparison of market treatment within the building is probably a more bitter pill for the #5E seller. Whether that renovation is really “complete” (or even recent), it is not very enthusiastically babbled about. But #15A  was explicitly a complete re-building project, not in livable condition, when it generated a bidding war to close at $1,032/ft — a 9% premium over #5E.

Considering that any reasonable build-out of #15A would include a second bathroom and that the existing bath and kitchen are worse than worthless (demolition costs money, and this loft “[n]eeds complete gutting”), the adjusted premium of the light-filled #15A over the (puffed?) “abundance of light” in #5D is probably more like a minimum of 36% than 9% ($1,032 + $250 vs. $944). That is factoring in a base line of $250/ft for a moderate renovation, though the guy who did a bento box for less than $200/ft (November 4, that bento box loft in Noho also provides a Quote Of The Day) or whoever did the shoe closet (plus loft)  (November 7, another loft in New York Times, another inexpensive renovation, with 400 shoes) for around $100/ft might do better on the cost side while generating a similar value bump.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011