what about that (not yet) New Construction across the street?

 

good, or bad? yes and no
I had a kind of cocktail party conversation with someone who may be buying very near a high profile (pun intended) proposed Major Real Estate Development in a prime part of Manhattan. Long story (aren’t they all?), but I don’t represent them, so we were just talking "generally".

We talked about a lot of things: potential impact on resale value (now, during, after); quality of life issues (during, after) from noise, dust, congestion, ‘tumult’; light and view impacts; and, miscellaneous. They seemed to think it worthwhile that we had this conversation, that it helped them think systematically about the risks / opportunities involved in their anticipated purchase and The Project nearby.

I tried to explain that everyone will approach a situation like this differently, for a host of idiosyncratic reasons, depending on factors such as:

• how long before they are likely to move again;
• whether the current purchase price includes a discount for (short-term?) negatives;
• if they trade light (a slice of sky) for a view of A Beautiful Building, how they value each;
• if there family members there regularly during the (noisy) work day (sleeping toddlers, work-from-home creatives);
• whether they would open their windows if they could, or prefer filtered breathing;
• whether they enjoy watching something being built (perhaps a boys-love-cranes-and-iron-workers thing);
• whether they view That Particular Project, once built, as a net benefit (a work of art?) or as a blight;
• simply: one’s tolerance for uncertainty and risk

Which made me think that there might be Some Generally Applicable Principles (i.e., a worthwhile blog post) helpful to people in such a situation. Refill your coffee, if you find the topic interesting. Manhattan Loft Guy is about to wander, as some of these things bear explication.

location, location, location
Rarely is that maxim more relevant than when a huge project is involved. Is it next door? (blocking lot-line windows, endangering your party wall?) Is it across the street? (blocking light and view?) Is it around the corner? (making the beep-beeping more remote?) Is it 3 blocks away? (blocking view, but more remote for dust and congestion?) If it blocks sky, is The Money View impacted? (will you still see the river, the park, the Empire State Building?) Is it on my side of the building? (screw my neighbors on the other side!) If The Development Site runs completely through a block or sits on a corner, will the deliveries be made on ‘your’ side or on the other? (is your block association stronger than theirs?) Is it so close that my building will have a sidewalk shed for The Duration?

Here’s one thought experiment about New Construction Nearby: the people who live on Second Avenue feel very differently about construction of the subway than people on First Avenue.

Another angle: if you lived so close to the Woolworth Building that you can tell who came to work late this morning, your windows have lost view and light (granted, the light and view was lost 100 years ago); but if you are 20 blocks away with a direct (protected!) view of that Cathedral of Commerce, that is your Money View.

One more: the folks at 474 Greenwich Street were less enthralled about construction of Zinc across the street when their foundation began to crack.

The Project
How big is it? This is most obviously important in relation to your location and view, but also about construction methods and timing … how long will it take to drive all those piles? …  how many hundreds of truck loads of girders will there be? … how many weekends will my street be completely closed when they jump the crane to the next-higher level?

Which side is the construction elevator going to be on (that elevator will likely consume the sidewalk until the building facade is complete)?

Is The Project compatible with my political sensibilities? It may be one thing to live with consequences when you appreciate that the net benefit is a benefit (a school is being built or expanded; Mikhail Baryshnikov is building an arts and performance center) than when there are more bloodless capitalists building more luxury housing on a scale that is out of character for the neighborhood.

Aesthetically (whether the architect is a name or not), will you like to look at the thing when it is done? Will you find it thrilling to say (years down the road),  yes, I live across the street from The Stunning Building?

timing is everything
This might be a more important factor than location.

No matter how near or far, might you have to sell when all the negatives are apparent but before the benefits are obvious, or are you likely to glide through Construction Hell to get to The Other Side? The worst case is that you buy in without a discount for disruption (noise, loss of view, whatever) and then have to sell with a discount because the darn thing is not finished.

The best case is that you buy with a discount because The Project is real-but-not-started-yet and that you will not in any case sell before the scars have healed, the landscaping is done, and whatever benefits have sprouted.

life style
Some people buy a particular Manhattan loft or apartment entirely because of what is inside (the quality and/or amount of space), or because of the location (within a school district, proximity to work or to a park). Some of those people are essentially indifferent to what goes on outside the window. For example, people who work at night or who work 100 hours a week (medical residents) want the darker, the better.

Other people will spend all waking hours within 6 feet of a window, and anything that makes the window less attractive (noise, distraction) will impact their quality of life. The more so, those with seasonal affective disorder.

While it is (generally) true that (most) infants ‘can get used to (most) everything’, few infants sleep well with pile-driving.

If you work at home on Something Important That Requires Great Concentration, you might not like pile-driving either. Indeed, you might not like it that every delivery truck has to use Reverse to align at the un-loading point (beep, beep, BEEP), or that cement trucks queue up (idling) under your window, or that lunch hour for each set of trades involves a dozen professionally profane people sitting in the sun opposite your windows.

you may be paranoid but you may be right
Any construction site involves risks (and I don’t mean to suggest that another crane will fall down). The longer the construction goes on, the more risk. The higher the building, the more risk. You should read this piece from Curbed to see why this guy said this about the Incredibly High Gehryness of Beekman Tower, 52 Beekman Street (hint: death is averted):

"I am not somebody who is automatically against the idea of large buildings. I’m beginning to think this tower is too tall for the neighborhood in which it’s located. We have very narrow streets here, with a lot of people living nearby."

After this weekend’s attacks by Mother Nature, more people may be more concerned about whether those guys up there properly secure materials hundreds of feet in the air.

sitting by the dock of the bay
The physical orientation on the completed project can be very significant, particularly if there is a commercial component to The Project. A 100% residential building gets city Department of Sanitation service (day times); a commercial establishment (office, hotel, restaurant, museum, whatever) gets private carting services, which are generally at off-hours and (all too often) at 4 AM.

I once lived in a loft building with bedrooms in the back. The good news is there was a lot of light in the back because of a parking lot; the bad news was the buildings across from and adjoining that parking lot had commercial trash pick-ups in the wee small hours. Part A: beep, beep, BEEP. Part B: the grinding of hydraulics as they lifted metal trash bins. Part C: dropping said bins on the sidewalk.

How likely is it that you can get someone to tell you where the trash will be completed for a not-yet-built building? How motivated are you to find out? If your bedrooms are on that side, you might want to check that out.

Apart from trash, many commercial buildings get many deliveries throughout the day and evening. From the beep-beep of FedEx trucks, to semi-trucks hauling large pieces of equipment, or machinery, or just stuff. If that loading dock is on your side, you may hear it.

benefits … we got benefits
When the darn thing is up, some buildings add a lot to the immediate neighborhood … from a stretch of new street level retail for an under-served area (many blocks need another dry cleaner; some blocks really need a bank; most don’t ‘need’ another nail salon) … to just being a nicer,  safer (better lit!) street scene to walk by.

Some new developments increase property values; a few … err … don’t (methadone clinic? city agencies? some schools, some say).

Some people are afraid that if a ‘nicer’ residential building comes in, their building will suffer by comparison. My read of history is this is logical but not proven by reality. The property values for Your Basic Small Coop Loft in Tribeca have been enhanced, repeatedly, by the addition to the neighborhood of uber condos, and of even regular condos. That rising tide does tend to float all boats. (But this is true only if you sell after the benefits are felt.)

This rising tide can work even if the new development destroys some specific part of your value. I am thinking here of the Lincoln Towers complex in the West 60s along West End Avenue. The river views of nearly all residents here have been lost by the time that (that Trump abomination to Manhattan street naming convention) "Riverside Boulevard" was filled in. Yet it is my impression that the collateral benefits to these West End Avenue buildings from having so many high-end condos and rental properties nearby (cabs, street retail, general cachet) have made up for the immediate loss in market value driven by the lost river views (though not for the loss of the views, esthetically).

In this regard, "light" must be distinguished from "views". A new development that blocks certain lovely views but leaves your home well-lighted would be a very different outcome from a new development that was so close and so tall that you are plunged into darkness. I have seen lofts along Worth Street that have suffered market declines of a half-million dollars because of massive nearby building. Sucks when it happens to you.

NIMBYs can always hope
Sometimes "projects" don’t become "buildings". We’ve seen that recently caused by changes in the market and credit conditions (56 Leonard Street), sometimes by local opposition that is well-placed politically (I am looking at you, Greenwich Village whatever-for-historic-preservation), sometimes by a combination of the two. But one should be very leery before predicting that a Neighboring Monstrosity can be stopped.

net-net, it is up to YOU
Overall, all of the things I have talked about (and the other elements that will occur to you as you read this, or me after I hit SEND) depend on your tolerance for risk, your tolerance for temporary noise, dust, congestion, your tolerance for experiencing Life In The Big City. That tolerance — for any of these elements — probably will change over time. Developers’ schedules, appetites and capital may or may not coincide with your cycle of tolerance. And (or) you may find out that things that you ‘knew’ you had to have (could not live without) are not as sacred as you thought.

It is THE BIG CITY. Nothing stays the same. Deal with it.

Or not. As you prefer. It is your choice.

Hope this helps.

 

© Sandy Mattingly 2010