market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing : Manhattan Loft Guy

Manhattan Loft Guy

Jul. 7, 2007 - market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

is the market punishing this loft as too old?

I recently stumbled across this listing on the 2d floor at 36 West 15^th Street, which I hadn’t seen since January. Yikes! Still out there.

I commented then (nearly six months ago) on January 29 in nothing says ‘motivated seller’ quite like dropped dollars / 36 W 15 St #2 on a roll about (a) its shape, in what may have been my first “long and narrow” description (now just “Long-and-Narrow”) and (b) about its price history – in a word, “breathtaking”:

when is a loft a little like a bowling alley?

This 1,480 sq ft floor-through loft has that classic and limited Manhattan loft layout – long and narrow (in this case, 17 ft 8 inches wide), with windows only on the narrow ends and plumbing stacks limited to one bathroom – so it is set up as a 1 bedroom.

Sara Waisman at PruDE describes it as both “stunning” and “magnificent”, and it may well be. What caught my eye is a price history that I can only describe as “breathtaking”. New to market on December 5 asking $1.75mm, with a price drop to $1.65mm on January 4, followed by another reduction to $1.499mm today [Jan 29, that was “today’ back then].

I have even less breath after noting that the price dropped again soon after this post, on February 18, to $1.295mm.

solid building history

Given the price history in the building, I don’t get this lingering loft listing. Granted, it needs another bathroom, one closer to or in the bedroom; it also probably needs another bedroom, so that to-be-added second bathroom can be in a “master” bedroom. And maybe someone would want to move the kitchen (no bragging about the kitchen, and no pictures either) out a bit to put the new-master-bath behind it.

But high floor units (with light and views, of course) have sold for a good deal more than this one looks as though it can. As I said nearly six months ago:

Past sales in this building should support a healthy price, with adjustments for the low floor and little view of the 2d floor.

The 11^th floor closed at $2mm in November, about a week before the 2d floor came to market. That has four exposures (the adjoining buildings are six stories each), with views to the midtown jewels (Empire State, Chrysler, NY Life) and downtown (World Financial Center).

The 9^th floor and the 5^th floor sold in November 2004 for $1.815mm and $1.610mm, respectively. The 9^th floor had the killer views (I saw it when it was being marketed) and four exposures, but the 5^th floor probably did not.

Especially with the two year old sale of the 5^th floor, one might have expected to do better than $1.6mm for even the 2d floor. But the 2d floor owner is not counting on that, it seems.

how else can the owner say “motivated”?

Sometimes listings just get stale and The Market ignores them at (almost) any price. This baby has been well under past sales on higher floors for nearly five months, and out for eight months. Sometimes you see owners who just don’t want to sell, but serial price drops from $1.75mm to $1.65mm to $1.495mm and to $1.295mm don’t seem as though that is the problem.

Is anybody out there??

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View more entries tagged with: West 15, Price Drop, Renovation, Motivation, Longandnarrow

Jul. 8, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by jess

Hi, I did pop by to see this a while ago - what bothered me as this was the second floor was that it was above a dry cleaner. It's one thing if you are on the 11th floor, another if you are directly above and possibly inhaling chems. That said, the $/SF is quite sharp on this! By the way, I came across this article when I was researching this building, if walls could talk... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3D91339F931A35751C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print BTW - really enjoy your blog! I don't comment that much, but I log on regularly for updates. Someday I will find my loft!!!

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Jul. 8, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by jess

oops, click on the link below for the article...

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Jul. 8, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by Sandy Mattingly

Amazing the tidbits buried somewhere searchable on the World Wide Web, isn't it? Too bad the Times did not report which floor the crime was on.

How long ago did you see #2F at 36 W 15? I am curious about how the owner and agent are holding up during this difficult marketing period.

THX for stopping by, Jess. Good luck with your search.

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Jul. 9, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by jess

Sandy - we saw this when it was relatively new - around February if memory serves me right. We'll see if they get a contract by the end of summer... really love the neighborhood, but IMO 15th is not the prettiest block.

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Jul. 9, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by Sandy Mattingly

Funny you mention that block as ‘not the prettiest’, Jess. I have been meaning to do a posting about that block as a quintessentially gritty loft block, with a mix of uses and quite a number of small long-time residential loft buildings. It has some *very* expensive lofts behind some of those … err … gritty street fronts.

Now it is getting that uber-loft development down towards 6th Av, across from where the homeless outreach for the Church of St Francis Xavier sits. Interesting block -- in the ‘classic loft’ sense. And – therefore – not pretty.

I wish I could persuade somebody to take a look at 2F at 36 W 15 St. If they take a shine to it, it could make someone very happy at these prices.

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Jul. 11, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by jess

Not that I'm looking for West Village pretty - I actually like the grittier loft feel (though not the grittiness of Cass Gilbert) - cleaned up a bit. I actually don't like that block b/c of the non loft residential buildings on the block - detracts it from feeling like a true loft block. I prefer a couple of loft buildings in a row like on 19th or 20th Street. I still remember when Flatiron was all photo shops and 17th street was all the guys selling the perfume from these tiny shops. I'm torn about all the development going up, especially in the former Flower District. There's a rental building on every corner there now! I think some grittiness is essential to city life... OK, I digress...

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Jul. 11, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by Sandy Mattingly

Yes, true loft grit is either a plus or a minus for most buyers – few people are neutral about it.

And I get what you are saying about 15 St – in one sense, the buildings on that block that ‘ruin’ the loft feel are the Parker Gramercy (a monument of 1960s rental construction) and the Grosvenor House (the first very nice condo in the area, though with an Upper East Side lobby).

Funny you mention the rental towers springing like mushrooms in what is left of the Flower District. We lived near there for 13 years in a 2,200 sq ft loft. It is truly staggering that every one of those 6th Av towers above 23rd street is a rental – the number of people throwing $4,000 - $6,000 a month at a rental just boggles my mind.

The corridor can handle more density as well as any comparably sized neighborhood. So, from an urbanist perspective, the density is a good thing. But the nabe will be marked for a couple of generations with these 35 story same-same towers.

But I digress, as well.

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Jul. 18, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by jess

Hi Sandy - looks like this is in contract as of today!

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Jul. 23, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Posted by Sandy Mattingly

Jess -- I guess you saw the In Contract on PruDE’s site. Weird thing (irritating) is that it did not come through the inter-firm data base until this weekend.

Very curious to see what price they got, after so long. It is probably a very good deal for someone who does not need light/views.

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Manhattan Loft Guy

Jul. 7, 2007 - market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 8, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 8, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 8, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 9, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 9, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 11, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

Jul. 11, 2007 - re: market doldrums at 36 W 15 / selling an old listing

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