dropping $2mm to make an un-lofty sale at 175 Sullivan Street

 

Officially, the Manhattan "loft" #4A at 175 Sullivan Street was on the market only since January 2009 ("starting" at $3.25mm) before closing on June 16 at $2.65mm — an apparent 18% discount. But the longer listing history tells a longer, darker story….

 

This loft was offered for sale for 12 months in 2007 into 2008, before coming off the market for 4 months and returning in January this year. The original original ask was (wait for it) $4.65mm, which dropped to $4.25mm in a week and holding there for 51 weeks. If that one-week-only price was real (real in the sense of actual asking price, as opposed to real in the sense of realistic), the June 2009 clearing price was $2mm less than the September 2007 asking price. The "discount" of 43% off that original asking price is simply not as ‘impressive’ as the dollar magnitude of the discount: two million dollars.

distracting neighbors? (again)
When they brought this unit to market in September 2007, the slightly smaller duplex #5A ("2,100 sq ft") had just cleared at $3.5mm (an odd price, considering it had been asking $3.499mm — a [small] bidding war??), or $1,658/ft, after a crisp 10 weeks from coming-to-market and going-to-contact. But instead of asking the equivalent price for #4A (in round numbers, $4mm) they shot for the moon ($4.65mm, to start), and missed.

Even then, there may only have been one buyer at this level for this building (if so, #5A got him/her), but pricing above #5A certainly did not work. They held at $4.25mm (still, above #5A’s price-per-foot) for a 12 month period that not only included the Near Peak, Peak, and Post Peak, but by the time they took it off the market for 4 months in September 2008, Lehman had crapped out. A bad time to be patient at an above-market price, if you really want to sell.

Turns out that they did really want to sell, so they dropped an even million bucks when the came back in January, then another $300k in March, then negotiated another $300k (by then, only a 10% discount) to reach the deal that closed a month ago.

not very loft-y
This apartment was billed as a "loft", but I will quibble about that: it is a new building, so there was no prior life as a commercial or industrial building; ceilings are only 9 feet (though the windows are big); and this block is an old Village block dominated by old Village 4 to 6 story apartment buildings. Yes, the floor plan is pretty open, but that is hardly surprising in a "2,400 sq ft" space. From the I-know-it-when-I-see-it perspective, this one does not strike me as a loft — move it to Soho and add another foot to the ceilings, maybe it would. Whatever ….

[I hear the voice of the NY Lotto guy from the commercials here: "to make this sale, they dropped Two (pause) Mill-Yon Doll-ers!!"]