Printing House loft sells under 2006 at 421 Hudson Street

no ‘greed’ involved
I hate to use the word “greedy” to describe a seller and an asking price, but you will sometimes see trolls (bitter renters?) on Curbed or StreetEasy describe an asking price that is ‘too high’ that way. But not even such credentialed members of the commentariat would have described the $1.25mm asking price of the Manhattan loft #407 at 421 Hudson Street (the Printing House) as evidence of greed, given that it had sold in April 2006 at $1.15mm.

Sadly, that June 10 asking price proved to be too high for The Market, though the January 5 price drop to $1.175mm also proved to be ‘too high’ in the sense that the clearing price was lower but not ‘too high’ in the sense that it did provoke a bidder into making a deal. The deal was done at $1.075mm, a discount of 8.5% from the last ask, and a discount of 6.5% from the sale five years ago. O. U. C. H.

That seems unfair. (Not that The Market cares. Or has feelings.)

those views! (but watch your head)
Myself, I am partial to “[e]ast views over St. Lukes Park and cityscape beyond”, though I am not a big fan of lofted “bedrooms” open to below. If our listing data is correct, the full ceiling height is 18 feet, although the pix don’t ‘read’ that high to me (that lofted space is especially challenging where that beam crosses the bed). The loft needs that lofted space, as the floor plan seems to really need the two levels to get any where near the book value of “912 sq ft”.

With the “bedroom” open to below, this is like the small simplex loft I hit in my April 21, stubborn loft seller wins at 21 East 22 Street: a perfect space for a single person or a couple with perfectly coordinated sleep schedules, but not as user-friendly for a couple with different work or television schedules. This one sold for $1,179/ft; that one for $900/ft. I suspect that the view of the ball field (and cityscape beyond!) has a lot to do with that spread.

same views + floor plan, different height
There is a fascinating comparable sale in the building, as #604 sold in May 2009 at $1.025mm with the exact same floor plan except that the downstairs bath is full in #604, half in #407. That sale is particularly impressive for having come out after nuclear winter set in (to market on January 29, 2009) but found one of the few buyers in early 2009, with a contract on April 20, 2009 after one price drop from $1.175mm to $1.15mm.

That is a small spread of only $50,000 between the 6th and 4th floor views and the markets of early 2009 and early 2011. A very small spread.

fun fact
Loft #407 joins the ranks of four-time sales on the Master List of Manhattan Lofts Sold Since November 2008, with two sales prior to the 2006 sale:

• Sept 23, 2003 $699,000
• Oct 15, 1997 $336,000

really fun fact
Given the rough parity between the March 2011 sale of #407 ($1.075mm) and the May 2009 sale of #604 ($1.025mm), that September 2003 sale of #407 at $699,000 has an intriguing and close relation to the September 2002 sale of #604 at $705,000.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011