we’ve been here before / new at 160 Chambers

where’s the shaft?
Unit 2 at 160 Chambers Street is new to market today, without pix or floor plan (yet?) and the only web info I see is on NYTimes.com, here. They are asking $1.675mm and $1,500/mo for “1,500 sq ft” with “a new designer high-end renovation.”

Regular readers will recognize this address as the coop in which an elevator is to be added this summer, which might be more bad news than good news for a second floor high-end renovation. See the discussion with reader VDH in my August 4 elevator coming to 160 Chambers / NY Times On The Market about how disruptive that elevator project can be to this footprint.

Nor is it evident how disruptive to the high-end renovation it would be to add a second bathroom.

local price history
That August 4 post addressed Unit 3 in this building, which found a buyer in October after starting at $1.635mm in March, then dropping (and holding) at $1.575mm for six months, as recounted in my October 30 new contract, old price at 160 Chambers. So far, I see no closed price for this unit, or for 158 Chambers Street #5 next door, in city records.

Presumably, broker Cathy O’Regan and the second floor seller know the contract price for the third floor. It is hard to tell how the finishes compare without pictures for the second floor, but the second floor description implies a higher level of finishes than are evident in the third floor pictures and description. Perhaps that accounts for the asking price premium.

career tracking
The sales history for this loft back to 1998 in our inter-firm system is a virtual resume for this broker. She listed it in 1998 and sold it in 1999 when she was with a small firm (Susan Penzer Real Estate); last asking price was $565k. Then she listed and sold it in 2000 as an agent of Douglas Elliman; asking price was $850k. Then she listed in 2002 and sold in 2003, still with Douglas Elliman; that price started at $1.075mm and ended at $999k. Now she has her own firm.

So the current asking price would be an almost tripling of value in ten years. Probably not an atypical result for TriBeCa, though this one has more data points (sales) than most.

© Sandy Mattingly 2007