new development limping towards finish line

will it cross?
There’s a new development property that has been offering Manhattan lofts for sale for so long that I used to regularly refer to it when I commented on active listings of other firms. When I noted a (fairly) recent closing in the building I assumed it was a resale, since the original offerings were so, so long ago. Not so, after all.

Turns out that it needs two more closings before I can talk about it publicly by name, which is a rather extraordinary number of unsold units in a building that has fewer than 10 units, a building in which the first marketing was done in 2006 [two thousand SIX!], well before the development was completed, in which the last residential sales to close were in 2008, and in which the development’s website has long since given up its URL. Yikes.

The lofts are in a prime Manhattan loft neighborhood, on a prime street for lofts. More than half the residential units were already in contract before The Peak. They were even able to sell one above $1,100/ft with a contract signed soon after The Fall of the House of Lehman.

But the last sale price was at $634/ft for space that was marketed without a view. Last two lofts are offered for sale above $1,000/ft (with light, views and space). One hardy soul is trying to flip out at $1,200/ft (a 12% premium over the arrival price). Double yikes.

in the canon of western literature
Cue Marlow. What’s that you say, Kurtz?

© Sandy Mattingly 2010