long-time Ruggles House owner sells ready-for-renovation loft at 112 East 19 Street

quick deal aside from that one hiccup
It looks as though the seller of the “1,950 sq ft” Manhattan loft #3R at 112 East 19 Street (the Ruggles House) has been in the building since at least since 1983. That’s as far back as I can see the name on ownership records on the Property Shark building page, but it is possible that she was one of the original shareholders from the conversion to a residential coop in 1973. Whether 1983 or 1973, that is a long time for single ownership of a Manhattan loft, and while it has “[t]ons of details are still intact” the broker babble makes it plain that there is renovation expense to be factored in to the equation: “ready for your dream renovation”. After all, dreams can be expensive.

The Market had little trouble with the math, notwithstanding the dream expense:

That’s 10 weeks to the first contract, then a month to the second, at a 4% discount to ask (only 7% from the first ask).

it’s hip to be square
A square loft can be very efficient, but the utility of the square-ish #3R footprint is limited by the single exposure. There are a lot of rooms, as built, but only the 2 bedrooms and the living room have windows. Not that there’s much to see out the windows, as the building in back looks to be with 20 feet of the windows.

The floor plan is … odd. I cannot for the life of me figure out a reason to have the entrance to the “master bedroom” in the kitchen instead of the living room. Aside from it being an awkward transition, that doorway significantly breaks up the kitchen furniture. And there is nothing “master”full about that bedroom, with the nearest bathroom on the other side of the kitchen.

The loft immediately above sold with the same footprint and in similar condition in April 2010 at a remarkably similar price, $1.65mm. Score one for the efficient market theorists, and another for those who believe the 2010 and 2011 were essentially flat. #4R also needed an update (“[e]njoy this three bedroom design or bring your architect and make it your own”). Though it has 3 exposures at this height, the pictures show that there is not much too see other than neighbors’ windows, and this floor plan is, if anything, even more strange than that of #3R. That kitchen is huge, and blocks the “view” of the windows from the entrance.

Architects are likely to have had a field day with both of these spaces, but especially with #4R and the prospect of creating a sense of space with those 3 exposures. These are two primitive layouts, with oddities I cannot fathom.

The Market prefers the front of the Ruggles House to the back. The only other at all recent sale was #8F, also “1,950 sq ft”, for $2.025mm in May 2010. The StreetEasy listing description is vague (“[w]ith a little TLC and you can own and create a fabulous apartment”), but the broker’s website was more specific (“awaits the discerning buyer who … is willing to do some renovating. … needs 2 new baths and a new kitchen”). (That’s odd; the descriptions usually match.)

$400,000 is a rather dramatic difference between “1,950 sq ft” project lofts in the same building in the same market (#8F and #4R closed a month apart). To complete the floor plan trifecta of oddities, note the round room in #8F.

Did I mention that comping is hard?

archives fun
I hit the #8F sale after it closed in my June 17, 2010, surprise! strong price for a fixer-upper at 112 East 19 Street (Ruggles House), in which I noted how that sale complicated comps for the building (that post has horrible formatting; will fix).

I hit the #4R sale in my May 12, 2010, price right, sell quick at Ruggles House, 112 East 19 Street, which was how I knew that #8F complicated comps here.

I first hit a sale at Ruggles House way back in 2007, from back in the day that I talked about then-current listings, in May, price drop at Ruggles House, getting to the point of pain? (need to fix that link; arrgghhh), and in my July 15,  2d floor sale while pain continues on 3d floor at Ruggles House 112 E 19 St,.

© Sandy Mattingly 2012