loft without walls sells for $1,098/ft at 60 East 13 Street

it is a lifestyle thing
For a loft condominium conversion dating only to 2005, the “2,575 sq ft” Manhattan loft #5E at 60 East 13 Street has an old school look, at least insofar as the (very open) floor plan is concerned. Apart from the walk-in closet in the southwest corner of the loft, the only walls in this rather large space are needed to keep the bathrooms private. Sorta like the “layout” conceived of by a single guy in a 1980s downtown loft with more space than he knew what to do with; the kind of loft that over the course of 30 years had bedrooms filled in, as needed. Nor is there much else in this space to brag about. The kitchen is simply “windowed open kitchen with breakfast counter”; the bathrooms are simply “1.5”; the fact that there is “fantastic light through 16 oversized windows” is a matter of bones, not finishes.

Yet, despite the vast open space and the restrained broker babble implying that serious upgrades are in order, the loft spent little time on the market to sell at $1,098/ft. It came to market on January 27 at $2.975mm, found a contract by March 10, and closed on April 27 at $2,827,500. I am going to say it is either because of the location, the location, or the location.

rental conversions are variable
Prior to being converted to condos in 2005, 60 East 13 Street (at the corner of Broadway) was a rental building with two wings, in an “L” shape: 5 floors on one side (east) ran along 13th Street to Broadway; 4 floors on the other side (west) were mid-block and are oriented north-south. I can’t find out what interiors looked like as a rental, but I bet that loft #5E looked then like it does now. StreetEasy does not have the listings from the 2005 sponsor sales, but (miracle of miracles) our listings data-base has a link to the original PruDE listing for loft #5E. Despite the floor plan with that listing of “the East Wing Plan” showing 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, it is clear from the pictures that the space never got built out beyond what you see in the current listing. My guess is that someone had rented in with that configuration, probably for a long time, and all they did to dress it up as a condo was to refinish floors and paint. Maybe they put in new appliances. Back then, it sold for $1,985,587 ($771/ft).

Contrast the unchanged-from-2005 top-floor loft #5E with top-floor loft #4W, which re-sold approaching The Peak in very different condition than when the sponsor sold it in 2005. The “1,875 sq ft” loft #4W sold on July 3, 2007 at $2.45mm ($1,307/ft) (full description, pix and floor plan survive on the Corcoran site), after being sold for $1,663,057 ($887/ft) by the sponsor in 2005. (The only reason for the difference between the sponsor prices for #4W and #5E is the much higher ceilings and skylights in #4W.)

That 2005 PruDE listing has an as-is and alternate floor plan showing that #4W was delivered as an open loft with only one bath. Note the contrast between the enthusiasm of the 2007 #4W broker babble and the ho-hum babble for #5E in 2012:

open gourmet kitchen, sophisticated built-ins, SNE exposures and is in mint condition. 15.5 – 19 foot ceilings allow someone to add square footage to use as a den or home office. Located in an elevator building steps from Union Square, this beautiful space must be seen to be fully appreciated.

Loft #4W re-sold in 2007 in an improved and built-out condition; #5E re-sold last month just as it was in 2005. Considering that, and considering that #4W sold at a 15% premium over #5E in the first place, the 19% spread between #4W at $1,307/ft in 2007 and #5E at $1,098/ft in 2012 seems well within the range that an efficient market should tolerate. (If anything, you’d expect the spread to be a bit higher after #4W was improved.)

For those of you who believe in such things as an efficient market….

© Sandy Mattingly 2012