345 West 13 Street loft sale shows neighborhood change from 1999

you said meatpacking district, they say MePa
When the Manhattan loft #5E at 345 West 13 Street closed on January 20 at $4.95mm it not only just squeezed in under the (arbitrary) $5mm upper limit I set when I started the Master List of Manhattan Lofts Sold Since November 2008, it was the first time this loft had been sold since the 1999 conversion. What a difference 12 years makes!

When this former printing press was converted to condos, the facts on the ground were in the process of changing the Gansevoort Market meatpacking district (where, you know, meat was processed, and packed), into Meat Packing (MePa, to the tragically hip; where boutiques were beginning to open). Now with boutiques galore, restaurants aplenty, the 2004 Gansevoort Hotel where a by-the-hour “hotel” had been, and the decrepit High Line having become The High Line!, any risks in moving to this collection of awkward West Village corners has long since passed. Those #5E sellers 3 weeks ago at $4.95mm paid $1,909,500 to the sponsor in June 1999.

The finishes were marketed in 1999 as state-of-the-art, with proper proper names and stone countertops to go along with big windows, exposed brick, and wood columns and beams. The full-time doorman no doubt made it easier for uptown folks to colonize the area.

When brought to market on September 2, 2010, the babble included a “tastefully designed renovation”, the extent of which is unclear. The floor plan now is nearly exactly the same as the 1999 floor plan, with the obvious changes being limited to closets being moved (slightly) or expanded (slightly) and a back-kitchen hallway being converted to a strange hybrid: “dark room for photography buffs or it can be a spacious butlers pantry”. I just can’t tell if the kitchen or baths have been changed, tastefully or otherwise.

At “3,260 sq ft”, the sale of #5E last month comes to $1,518/ft, essentially the same as the sellers next door got when they sold #5F on December 1 ($4.4mm for “2,880 sq ft”, or $1,528/ft). The difference between these two lofts (which came to market one day apart in September) is that the #5E sellers thought they’d get more and the #5F sellers were afraid they’d get less.

Funny that it worked out that they got essentially the same, despite one starting 13% too high, the other 5% too low. Ha-ha. Sometimes The Market is more efficient than I give it credit for. (The sponsor figured the comparison between this pair very differently: #5F sold for $1.146mm [$398/ft], while #5E was originally $1,909,500 [$586/ft]; the contracts were signed within a few weeks of each other, so they sold in the identical market. Ha-ha-ha.)

(I hit #5F in my January 6, 345 West 13 Street loft is candidate for sale of the year, but the year was 2009, and mentioned that very peculiar price history in yesterday’s post, how to read past sale data / one Flatiron loft laboratory, as it is a classic.)

this is NOT a million dollar terrace
It is also funny how some people overpay for outdoor space. The clearing price for #6D is out of my league at $6.4mm on September 24, but look at that “3,599 sq ft” floor plan compared to that of #5E: the basic footprint is a little bigger on the 5th floor, but the 6th floor has an entertaining mezzanine and a “225 sq ft” terrace. If the interior space on the 6th and 5th floors is of equal value, the #6D interior “3,599 sq ft” is worth $5.5mm (using the higher $1,528/ft of #5F). That “225 sq ft” terrace would then be worth $900,000, or a ridiculous $4,000/ft. Let’s just say that that implied value for the outdoor space cannot be reconciled with The Miller’s rubric.

fun in the MePa brand
A 2002 Village Voice close-up counted about 30 meatpacking companies still in the area, with the “best restaurants” at that time claimed to be Florent and a place under the High Line that did not open until 2 AM, and the top two bars (for the VV, at least) being Rio Mar and Hogs & Heifers. (Two out of four is not bad; R.I.P. Florent and Rio Mar.)

The National Trust for Historic Renovation magazine has an August 2001 piece that notes what may be a coincidence, as far as the fortunes of the 1999 condo conversion 345 West 13 Street is concerned. NTHR talks about the area having been dominated by one landlord who bought “nearly a fifth of the market area from failing packaging plants and sat on the properties, giving them little more than a coat of paint.”

That was the notorious William Gottlieb, who died in 1999, who was famous for (a) never selling anything, and (b) being content to keep properties empty, if barely standing. “Gottlieb’s reluctance to sell or lease his property, however, buffered the district from development.” I don’t know when (or if!) his estate started loosening up the meatpacking properties, but it is possible that his death was a catalyzing event for the area, along with some condo development, some boutiques moving in, and some restaurants taking the plunge.

Somehow, the floodgates opened, right around when 345 West 13 Street converted. Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good….

© Sandy Mattingly 2011