the rest of the story about 427 Washington / NY Times Habitats column
buyers see 100+ lofts until the ‘this is it’ moment
Fascinating piece in today’s NY Times “Habitats” feature by Stephen Williams about a couple who found (18 months searching) and renovated (2 years renovating) their TriBeCa dream loft “startlingly close” to the Hudson River, A Pair of Roamers, at Home on the Hudson. Totally fascinating.
Highlights for me are below, followed by the rest of the story revealed in city property records.
- patience (all around) – “they looked at more than 100 apartments [over 18 months!] before their real estate agent led them to a former spice factory on Washington Street”
- classic, not uber-loft – “lobby was a narrow hallway that lacked the marble, plantings, arty light fixtures and solicitous doormen of many of the other TriBeCa buildings they had visited. Instead, it was brightly lighted, with the cold, hard look of a detention center’s entrance”
- the ineffable ah-ha! moment – “the elevator opened onto an airy artist’s loft with painting racks and concrete floors and the elusive “good energy” that potential buyers seem to recognize the moment they step into the space that’s right for them. “I turned to Theo and hit him on the arm and said, ‘This is it,’ ” Ms. Kubicka said”
- the obstacle of the coop board – “the building wasn’t encumbered with any artist-in-residency requirements, [but] the artists who lived there wanted them to prove their artistic inclinations, particularly since this was only the second time in 30 years that an apartment had changed hands”
- the really cool multi-media feature in “Habitats”, with pix and commentary about the loft
It took a little while to figure out that this building is 427 Washington Street (the corner of Vestry, as one of the Times pix hints) because there were some bad clues in the article. (At least four floors in this 8-story former spice factory have been split into east and west apartments.) Property Shark shows that they bought this full-floor 4,300 sq ft loft in October 2004 for $3.3mm (it has been offered at $3.865mm.) The pix show they put a ton of money into the renovation.
Only two units have changed hands in the building since they bought in 2004, both this year: #3W for $2.1mm in April and #6W for $2mm in March.
#3W was offered as 1,800 sq ft of pretty well ‘done’ space (“Beautiful, open sun-filled loft with lots of special features. One bedroom, a child’s room/home office and one bath. Master bedroom with walk-in custom closet and contemporary sliding powdered steel door with frosted glass. Child’s room/home office constructed of powdered steel panels with frosted glass and sliding doors as well. Open kitchen with Viking appliances, stainless steel counters and floating rosewood bar. Marble bath with oversized shower and separate oversized deep tub. Seven huge new tilt/turn windows with southern and western views and partial views of the Hudson River. Wonderful light and beautiful sunsets. Brick walls, high beamed ceilings, bleached hardwood floors, B&W sound system with speakers in every room, central a/c, washer/dryer and loads of closets”). [Unfortunately, I can’t get back to the Brown Harris listing for pix, but here is the floor plan.]
#3W had been offered for sale since July 2006 (at $2.25mm) before having a contract signed and closing in April 2007 (quick Board work!).
#6W was probably not ‘done’ to the same degree, as it came out for sale in September 2006 at $1.995mm, went to contract in January and closed (after a more conventional period) in March this year at $2mm even. It appears that they were selling the windows on this one (“dramatic loft with fabulous Hudson River views!” is the highlight from the marketing).
This building was a very early coop (1979) for this then-very-quiet northwestern corner of Tribeca. I remember going to Capsouto Freres 25 years ago (2 blocks north at 451 Washington St, at the corner of Watts; it opened in 1980), when they were very accustomed to giving very precise directions. Streets were pretty much deserted day and night (at least there was car traffic up and down the main Tribeca thoroughfares in those days – Hudson and Church).
© Sandy Mattingly 2007
Tagged with: 427 Washington, Artist Loft, Capsouto Freres, Coop Board, Habitats, Ny Times, Washington Street
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