quick sale at 244 Madison

The combo loft at #11CDE 244 Madison Avenue joined 3 units but only got "1,650 sq ft" out of it. Better, they got a contract within 3 weeks of coming to market in January and have just closed. (It hit our data base as closed on Wednesday, but I tried to wait for the clearing price to be posted before posting this; nahh — still not on city records.)

According to the official building website (! — more on that below), this a former greeting card factory and was converted to a coop in 1984. They count 180 units in the 17-story building. While definitely a Manhattan loft building (prior industrial history, high ceilings), it has relatively small windows in many units and was cut up into very un-loft size units. In the original residential floor plan from 1984, each floor had a single 2 bedroom unit (950 sq ft), five 1 bedrooms, and 6 studios. I guess they figured that The Market in 1984 in this non-residential area would prefer small units to true loft-size spaces.

buy the neighbor
This unit looks as though it had been combined pretty recently, as #11DE was offered for sale for about a year, then was taken off the market 3 years ago. Instead of selling then (they were asking $695k at the end), the #11DE owners bought #11C next door in May 2005 (for $337,500). Three years and one gut renovation later, they got a quick contract while asking $1,000/ft — a pretty heady price point for this building.

local history
#10H (one of the 950 sq ft 2 bedrooms) sold in February in "newly renovated" condition for $825k. #10A did not sell, when it was on the market the second half of 2007 for $979k (this was said to be 1,000 sq ft and was also newly renovated).

There are four units in contract in the building, none of which appear to have been asking more than $800/ft. There are also a bunch of units for sale, but you’ll have to go to StreetEasy or a similar source for information about those. (Sigh.)

Point being, #11CDE looks as though it did pretty well compared to the building’s history, but I will update this when I see the clearing price recorded.

244 Madison .com is way cool
The official building website is a treat. Intentional or not, the whole site seems accessible by anyone (some building sites restrict access after the home page to shareholders by passwords). In addition to the building history, managing agent, board and staff info on the Facts page, the building forms are available for everything from the alteration agreement, house rules, the full purchase application — a terrific service for real estate agents, prospective buyers and shareholders.

No guessing about what the purchase application requirements are — what a concept!

no-smoking building
Most of the listings I have seen note that dogs are not permitted here. None also notes a restriction typed onto the form of Purchase Application: "No Smoking allowed. This is a smoke-free building". I don’t think I can think of another building that is smoke-free (though if there’s one, there’s more.) I guess ifyou have a tobacco habit you need a strong umbrella to live here.

electric building
I don’t see anything in the building documents, but this building is one of the relatively few without gas for cooking. All of the apartments I have been in (a handful) have had electric ranges and ovens — too many to be a coincidence. Maybe there is an indication of this in the House Rules, but I did not search for that.