54 East 11 Street loft needed only 91 days, but a complete re-do to add 10% to 2006 value

successful campaign, in a limited sense
You can’t tell directly from the StreetEasy listing page for the “2,000 sq ft” Manhattan loft on the 3rd floor of 54 East 11 Street, but it took only 91 days for the sellers to get their cash out, a rather extraordinarily fast transaction for a coop. The listing page tells you that ti came to market on October 14 at $2.3mm and was in contract by November 17, but you need to look at the deed record to see that it closed on December 15 at $2.205mm (that last $5,000 suggests that negotiations got difficult at the end).

The history in 2006 is a one-click affair, showing that these 2011 sellers were buyers on May 15, 2006 at $2mm. You’d think that a 10% gain since 2006 is within the range of reasonable, at least until I tell you that the loft was renovated in between.

As is often the case, the two sets of broker babble and photos make it difficult to see quite how extensive the intervening renovation, especially with only one photo surviving publicly from the 2006 sale, and no floor plan. But that photo is instructive, showing a raised platform at the front of the loft that is missing in the 2011 version. The old floor plan and more photos are in our data-base; by reference to the new floor plan, they show that the kitchen has since been pushed forward, toward the living area, that the master bath has shrunk (that jacuzzi-for-2 is gone, alas [not]), that there are still 2 bedroom and 2 baths with a half-bath added, and the former kitchen / dining area is the new den. The old floor plan shows that the entire rear of the loft (from the public stairwell on back) was also a few steps raised.

Structurally alone, that is a lot of work. The babbling is not much help, with no bragging about finishes in the 2006 edition, and a noted restrain in the 2011 edition (“[r]enovated and yet classic”; Liebherr and Bosch appliances). The brick walls, 13 foot ceilings and large windows are part of the skeleton, of course.

You already know that the kitchen, the master bath, and the half-bath are all new, and that there is no floor in at least the entire front and all of the back (the former platform areas). Trust me: the photo comparison shows that the kitchen and baths are much improved (the ‘now’ pix are easier to appreciate from the PruDE site). I can’t opine about the other ways in which the loft has been improved since 2006, but looking at only the elements we know have been, it is likely that this could fairly be termed a “complete” renovation (if not a “gut”), and probably a “meticulous” one, at that.

But we are quibbling about scale: the loft was dramatically changed and improved, regardless of precise degree. Now look again at the sale numbers: $2mm on May 15, 2006; $2.205mm on December 15, 2011. How much of that $205,000 “gain” is, instead, eaten up by renovation costs of this “2,000 sq ft” loft? If the multiple choice answers are (a) half, (b) most, (c) all, I would say the best answer is probably (d) none of the above, as the upgrades probably cost more than $100/ft. There is almost no possibility that the 2011 price exceeded the 2006 price plus renovation cost by more than 1 or 2%.

beats 5th floor by $280,000
On the Good News front, the 3rd floor resale at $2.205mm beat the 5th floor resale on on June 16, 2011 at $1.925mm. But that loft sold without interior photos or any bragging about finishes, and that seller was an estate. I wonder, of course, just how close to ‘estate condition’ this unit was, as StreetEasy is no help. All I get from our data-base is that the 5th floor loft sold last in 2001, with the same 2-bedroom + 2-bath utility, and was described in broker-to-broker notes as in “excellent” condition (as opposed to good, fair, or mint), both times.

Beating the 5th floor by 14% seems a very modest achievement. On a par with gaining 10% since 2006 after doing a major renovation.

paging Dick Button (is that a bad pun warning?)
One list of popular baby names in 2011 shows 40 names for girls, none of which are Carmen. My sophomoric (juvenile?) mind finds amusement in things like the fact that the deed record for the recent 3rd floor loft sale shows a Carmen on both sides of the deal.

Granted, it is not as much fun as saying “triple Lutz”, but you may also be amused imagining Dick Button in his Olympics full-gravity voice talking about landing a double Carmen sale. If not, you were warned.

© Sandy Mattingly 2012