ups and downs at One York / recent sale off 7% since 2008

(a) lower, higher, then lower, all at very high levels
The blogosphere just loves a $24 million dollar Manhattan loft, so the news that the Penthouse at One York Street closed last week for $23,689,586 made quite a splash on Curbed and on The Real Deal. (Pardon me for just a second, while I drool….) With 15 rooms, "6,096 sq ft" of interior space and "1,931 sq ft" terrace, there’s a lot of gaga here; my favorite small detail is the master dressing room and walk-in closet of 20 x 16 ft. The loft had been offered originally (February 2008) at $25mm, then price-popped up to $34mm (June 2009). I hope that the guy on the sales team who pegged it at $25mm two years ago is still around to have won the office pool.

(b) just lower, on a different scale
As much fun as a $24mm penthouse sale is, it is way out of my league. But it does provide an excuse for talking about the Manhattan loft #6D at One York that closed on May 5, making a much smaller splash. But here’s the hook: #6D was a resale, and closed off 7.2% from the August 2008 sponsor sale at $1,964,208.

The #6D seller certainly paid transfer taxes on the way out (1.825% of $1,823,250 is $33,274) and probably (the original sale being pre-Lehman) paid them on the way in, as well (1.825% of $1,964,208 is $35,847), plus title insurance, plus mortgage recording tax, plus …, plus …, casting the plain Buy vs. Sell calculation ($141k) in an even gloomier light.

not the first resale
This small loft ("1,380 sq ft") was not the first resale in the building. Unless I missed an earlier one, the first resale was #4F. (Close readers will remember that I hit that one on May 9, flipping (down) at One York / is this the first resale?, using "ouch" a lot.) That "1,733 sq ft" loft was much more expensive than the smaller #6D on the way in, and on the way out.

The sponsor sale of #4F was in June 2008 at $2,596,237. Something happened to those folks, as they never moved in, selling for $2.22mm in April, and living through the entire season of Manhattan real estate nuclear winter, from December 2008 into Spring 2010. That’s a 14.49% hit, without taking into account the (round-trip?) transfer taxes and other closing costs. Not that that makes the #6D sellers feel any better….

Did I mention that the Penthouse sold for (essentially) $24mm. Yowza!

© Sandy Mattingly 2010