808 Broadway loft sellers did not move far

maybe 30 feet, down to garden
Sometimes the cliches commonly used to sell real estate are more than just cliches, cliched as they may be. Case in point: the marketing text for the Manhattan loft #4C at 808 Broadway (the Renwick) that sold on April 28 begins “Location, location, location!”, implying that the sellers were enamored of the location. Indeed they were, as they had just bought #AB, a garden unit at The Renwick, on January 4. Perhaps they should be the spokespersons for the coop.

if flush, can work backwards
The sequence suggests that the garden purchase was opportunistic, as they did not put #4C on the market until after signing a contract to buy #AB. Many people don’t have the financial resources to buy a loft before selling a unit they already own; these people were fortunate not to be in that situation.

Note that they were motivated enough to pay full ask for a loft that had been on the market for nearly five months by the time they signed a contract and that they had to drop the price and further negotiate to get their old loft sold:

The “1,975 sq ft” #AB looks like a pretty simple combination of A+B, with no walls removed to open up the space and (probably) the former extra kitchen being converted to that generously sized master suite dressing room. That dressgin room is larger than 11 x 11 feet; the second bedroom is 11’ x 17’ 6” … these rooms are many and large. There is also a private garden accessible from each of four rooms, irregularly measured at 13 x 50 feet. The layout of 4 side-by-side rooms each from 11 to 12 feet wide is not my idea of loft-y, but with high ceilings (12 feet?) and tall windows on to the garden from each room, there is a great deal of volume. A very different space than #4C.

from this to that
Based just on floor plans, #4C and #AB have much in common: side-by-side rooms of 11 to 12+ feet (only 3 rooms in #4C), windows only on one side, and plumbing on the wall opposite the window wall. But the pictures tell a different story. Even if the ceilings really are the 9 feet claimed in our data-base, they ‘feel’ low, especially in that master bedroom photo. Again, not my idea of loft-y, but for different reasons than with #AB. #4C is said to be “1,400 sq ft”, and #AB has only the one extra dining room on the floor plan, but with higher ceilings, much taller windows, and that private garden space, #AB will undoubtedly feel much larger than #4C.

2009 plans, revived
The #4C sellers-turned #AB buyers had a brief fling on The Market in the summer of 2009, asking $1.249mm from June 23 to August 6 that year, just as the overall Manhattan residential real estate market was beginning to thaw. (Perhaps those bunk beds are a sign of their motivation to move.) But when #AB came to market on June 11, 2010 they did not immediately jump at the opportunity. Instead, it took until October 6 for them to sign a full price contract. I imagine the opportunity to have a great deal more volume plus the garden space, without having to change their dry cleaner or local food preferences eventually weighed them down.

The kids could have much taller bunk beds in #AB than in #4C, but unless one kid takes over the new dining room or moves to the lofted space off the living room, the kids will be sharing a smaller room in #AB than they had in #4C. With garden access they probably don’t care, and the parents certainly do not.

Nicely played, folks. Nicely played.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011