74 Fifth back on market / ‘potential’ costs money

yes, location-location-location, but work-work-work
#8A at 74 Fifth Avenue is back on the market this morning at a new and improved price, perhaps getting this bring-your-architect project closer to a buyer. They are now asking $2.595mm and $2,234/mo for “2,400 sq ft” with the “potential to be a showcase apartment”.

Like 57 Bond Street yesterday, this listing took some time off for the holidays (less than 3 weeks in this case) but – unlike 57 Bond – came back at a reduced price. This was first offered last year in April at $2.85mm, before dropping to $2.75mm in September and holding there until mid-December.

The real story here is the reaction of The Market to having to renovate this place, but it will take me a while (below) to explain that story.

many walls to come down
#8A has a terrific corner footprint, with 5 windows east and 4 south. What is interesting to me is that it is marketed as a bring-your-architect, though the space is fully built out and does not look (in the pix) all that badly in need of renovation. But as you toggle between the pictures and the floor plan you begin to understand that the current interior arrangement is both choppy and awkward.

So rather than present this to buyers as potentially in move-in condition, buyers are conditioned by the listing description to ignore the fact that one enters the loft by the kitchen, then walks around the kitchen into the dining room in order to get to the living area or the second or third bedrooms, and then continues going around the kitchen to get to the master bedroom. Then there’s that piece between the dining and living rooms, presumably anchored on a structural column hidden In the wall. Then there’s the number of rooms … I wonder if the space got broken up as the seller’s family grew….

If it had been marketed as a replace-the-kitchen-but-otherwise-move-in-condition loft, nearly everyone would be disappointed by the layout. “Bring your architect” solves that marketing problem, though it has not found the buyer yet.

Recent building history helps to understand that problem.

contrast with #10A
The listing description for #10A is similar to #8A in talking about the views, but it has a very different history and layout. It is likely that #10A’s experience has been very frustrating for #8A.

#10A came to market 2 months after #8A at $2.95mm ($100k more than #8A was at that time) and found a buyer within 3 weeks. (It closed in September, but I can’t find a price through city records, but the velocity suggests close to ask, or more.)

Obviously, #10A and #8A share the same corner footprint. They even share a high number of rooms (#10A is not only 3 bedrooms plus den, but has an office). The only difference I see in the listing descriptions is that #10A was sold as “move-in condition”, though without bragging about any finishes.

same (crowded) footprint, very different floor plans
If the formatting holds, the floor plan for #10A will be here. It looks to me to be the same footprint, though with one additional south window and the entry being in a different place than on the 8^th floor (that one is on the PruDE site, as well as here). The flow of the two floor plans is completely different, with the 10^th floor kitchen over on the south wall, rather than in the (functional) center of #8A.

wisdom of The Market?
Assuming that #10A got close to the $2.95mm asking price and that it is in move-in condition, #8A may still have a way to go before finding the buyer-with-architect-and-renovation-budget. With “2,400 sq ft” and a ballpark figure for renovation of $200/ft (see December 10 need renovation stories / a reader writes for help; THX again A Maddry!), #8A will be more expensive to buy-and-build at the current price than #10A was to buy.

caveat read-or
Keep in mind that I have not seen either of these lofts, and that the listing description (and pix) for #10A are no longer on Halstead’s site, since it is a closed sale. So things may not be exactly as they seem to me, reading the descriptions and between the lines.

But The reaction of The Market to these two listings – separated by two floors – suggests that I am on the right track here. If so, the #8A sellers made the difficult choice to present their home for sale as though it has to be ripped apart but they may not – yet – have appreciated the dollar value to potential buyers of all that potential. “Potential” ain’t cheap.

#10A implies a deeper discount yet for #8A. Fascinating. Does anyone who has seen one or both of these lofts have a comment??

© Sandy Mattingly 2008