what's up with this down? Sugar closes on Laight Street under $1,000/ft

wishing for 2008?
The last time I hit sales at 79 Laight Street, December 4, 2008, Sugar is sweet but 79 Laight Street closing is better, there were several recent sales. One was just under $1,000/ft, the other was nearly $1,100/ft. There was a deed filed Friday on a Manhattan loft sale closed on January 21 in this building, the US Sugar Building. #4D at 79 Laight Street cleared at $2.6mm after having been marketed since March at $3.099mm, with a quick drop to $2.995mm, another to $2.895 (June 1), and a final drop to $2.7mm, from which perch a buyer signed a contract by November 30. At "2,743 sq ft", that comes to $948/ft for a classy 2002 conversion with a high level of amenities over on the river edge of north Tribeca.

river is not such a premium this time
In that December 2008 post I speculated about the rationale for different market responses to different loft layouts and views in this classy building, with much help from Reader Jess. On the one hand I wondered whether duplexes had the same value as simplex lofts (the "spacious" factor). On the other hand I recognized that river views command a premium. In the case of #4D, there’s a plus ("direct river views") and (possibly) a minus (it being a duplex; at "2,743 sq ft" a large duplex, but still…).

The difference between the September 2008 sales of the smaller #5D ("2,332 sq ft") as a duplex with no claim to river views ($2.525mm, or $1,083/ft) and the January 2010 sale of the larger #4D ($2.6mm, or $948/ft) as a duplex with a direct river view is rather striking.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010