celebrity sale at 43 West 13 Street, with history

why I need the NY Times and Curbed.com
Yesterday’s NY Times ran a piece about a 2 BR loft in Greenwich Village that took only two weeks to find a contract at the full asking price ($2.5mm, in 19 days, but that’s quibbling), without giving a specific address. I am more interested in Manhattan lofts than in TV stars, so a hat tip to Curbed for outing the sale today as being at 43 West 13 Street (aka Morgan House).

With that important detail, I was able to go back and find the October 2003 purchase price: $1.7mm. Interestingly, the loft also sold then for full asking price, and did not take very long to do so (from offering to closing was only 4 months; the contract took 32 days). So the celebrities were no better negotiators than the salsa-marketing guy.

Back in the day, it was described as "stunning" and "triple mint", with "chef’s kitchen" and "beautiful extras". The old listing photos look very similar to the 2009 listing (with a new kitchen counter and lighting fixtures, but [probably] the same cabinets; no bathroom picture then, so maybe the lovely 2009 bath is new; the "floating" a/c that amused Curbed was there then, as wasthe funky green library/office wall; same floors, but nicely polished in 2009). Bottom line, it appears that the celebrity couple did not dress it up much in 6 years; maybe they added a lovely bathroom to generate a 47% return.

© Sandy Mattingly 2010