250 Mercer Street small loft flies off shelf, above ask, above $1,000/ft

New York Post recent Manhattan residential sale is, in fact, recent, and interesting
Sometimes the residential sales that appear in the newspapers (New York Post on Thursdays, New York Times on Sundays) are more or less current; sometimes they are much less current. The resale of the Manhattan loft #D1104 at 250 Mercer Street that was featured in today’s Just sold! in the Post is pretty recent as these things go (closed on October 26; deed filed November 9).

It is easy to see that there was a bidding war here, but two of the interesting things about the sales are obscured by the bit in the paper: the loft took only three weeks to find a contract, and it closed above $1,000/ft if you use the right measurement.

Here’s what the Post said:

GREENWICH VILLAGE $831,675

250 Mercer St.

Prewar one-bedroom, one-bath co-op with granite and stainless-steel kitchen, 11½-foot ceilings and stairs to loft area; building features doorman, roof deck, courtyard and bike room. Maintenance $1,770, 75 percent tax-deductible. Asking price $815,000, on market 24 weeks.

Here’s the listing history:

look at the size of those feet!
StreetEasy takes this as a “939 sq ft” loft, apparently using one of two measurements in the listing. (Property Shark has no size values in this building.) The listing description is pretty interesting, in that the size claims are sourced to an architect and offered in the alternative:

measuring 939 +/- gross square foot, as provided by architect Daniel Frisch. Interior square feet measured at 788 +/-

I can’t imagine the subtlety escaped anyone who has been in the loft, nor can I imagine that anyone who has been in the loft would use any number other than “788 sq ft” to describe the size. The 151 sq ft difference between gross and interior square feet is not very usable except with due care: that is the space on top of the kitchen, bath and bedroom entry in the floor plan “currently used as a second bedroom/sleep loft and extra storage” (much care is due, as the ceilings are only claimed to be 11’6”). As pictured in the 4th and (especially) 6th photos, that “second bedroom/sleep loft and extra storage” looks more like a crawl space.

nice disclosure
But the listing is clear: the interior has been architect-measured at 788 sq ft. You would never think that you could walk around in that additional space.

I love this disclosure because the agent could have used the figure in the inter-firm data-base for this loft: “850 sq ft”. (I have no idea if the coop’s Offering Plan has ‘official’ measurements, but if it does I would hope that inter-firm number comes from there.) Close readers of Manhattan Loft Guy will recall that the use of an architect’s measurement was one of the standards that I suggested in my November 3 post criticizing REBNY for not taking a consumer-friendly position about this, the square footage dilemma: REBNY “leads” by protecting brokers, not buyers. So the Steins of Sothebys get some MLG props.

another mini-loft
I guess this blog, like so many things, runs in cycles. I’d like to think that it is because I am interested in so many things, and that there are so many things about Manhattan lofts to be interested in; but maybe it is because I am easily distracted. (Fans of UP, that lovely film-that-happened-to-be-animated, should smile at being reminded of the distracting power of squirrels.) Whatever, I have hit an unusual number of small lofts lately:

November 28, bass ackwards at 150 Nassau Street?? as lofts are sold low + bought high, with an agency twist
November 19, why did The Market hate this small loft at 315 Seventh Avenue?
November 7, another loft in New York Times, another inexpensive renovation, with 400 shoes
November 2, small loft at 476 Broadway closes at $1,107/ft, in normal range (“1,300 sq ft” is small for that building)

You could even count this one in that category: December 10, turning 2 “lofts” into 1 “apartment” at 303 Mercer, then selling for $996/ft.

“top of the line” renovations + iconic view garnered (only) $66,675
#D1104 was marketed as a “mint” loft (I initially mis-read that as “mini”, another indication of my small-loft distraction), that is “beautifully designed”, with “Top-of-the-line renovations includ[ing] hardwood floors, granite and stainless steel chef’s kitchen, built-in storage cabinets, and custom closets”. The “brilliant light and views” include unobstructed views of New Jersey (insert joke here and dare Chris Christie to come after you) and the Empire State Building.

The Market considered #D1104 to be rather modestly priced when it came out on May 18, as the contract in 3 weeks was at a 2% premium to the $815,000 asking price. The same floor plan on the 9th floor overlapped on the market with #D1104 for one week in May. #D904 had been asking $779,000 from March 20 to its contract on May 25. It is maddeningly difficult to assess the condition of that loft, as the agent who prefers to go by his initials is equally terse about this loft, claiming only the light and open NJ views.

Don’t hold me to it, but I am going to guess that you can’t see the Empire State Building from the 9th floor and that #D1104 was sold in better condition that #D904. While the higher-and-better loft sold at a 9% premium over its 9th floor fraternal twin, at this price point that was only $66,675 … just maybe enough to have paid for the “granite and stainless steel chef’s kitchen, built-in storage cabinets, and custom closets”.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010