Loft-"like" sticks out (badly) in a loft neighborhood
I was cruising the NYTimes.com site (what you sometimes have to do without a true MLS in Manhattan) and came across this listing described as a “[v]ast loft like 2 bedroom apartment”. It happens to be in a neighborhood that has real loft buildings, south of Union Square, but this one is most definitely not a loft building, nor is this apartment “loft like”. But the agent wants the cachet of “lofts” so that is how she is selling it. To me, a peculiar choice.
It is a second floor unit in The Stewart House, 70 East 10 St, which is a fine postwar coop building with a high level of service. What it is not is a loft building. It was built as a coop in 1960 (not as a rental, and later converted) and it looks every bit the 1960 apartment that it is: white brick, low-ish ceilings (8.5 feet??), standard apartment-sized windows.
That’s the main picture in the listing, but check out the pictures in the NYT listing offered by Beth Chase. Please tell me immediately if you think “loft like” when viewing these photos.
Marketing the to wrong buyers?
If I have a buyer looking for anything "like" a loft, I am not taking the buyer to the Stewart House. And anyone who likes the units in The Stewart House is not going to look at lofts. Curious marketing choices….
As it happens I was in this building with a “non loft” buyer about a week ago, looking at a Corcoran listing by Janice Figueroa and Michael Jones. The unit we looked at (see listing data here) was pretty much the opposite of a loft – though it had its own charms as an “apartment”. It is in very good original condition (meaning, nearly 50 year old bathrooms and kitchen). Indeed, the telephone on the far nightstand that you can just barely see in the picture below is a rotary. (If you don’t know what a rotary phone is, ask your mother.) If you go see this unit, say hello to Janice for me.
© Sandy Mattingly 2006
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