Noho: So what's the overall market really like?

Fourth in a series on what it costs to live in Noho and what you get for the money.

Below is a list of Noho co-op sales in the last 12 months.  Farther below you'll find a similar list of condo sales.

Space does not permit the inclusion of condition on the chart, but the unit on LaGuardia Place was called a wreck, and 439 Lafayette 4th floor, 722 Broadway and 200 Mercer were called "good" which usually means the property needs some work.  All the others were said to be in excellent condition.

Maintenances varied from 69 cents to $1.29 p.s.f. (remember, none of these has a doorman), with the average at 94 cents p.s.f.

CLOSED NOHO CO-OP LOFT SALES, 8.25.10--8.25.11
ADDRESS	APT #	RMS	BRS	BTHS	SF	SALES PRICE	$PSF
48 Great Jones	4F	7	3	2	2,500	$3,240,000	$1,296
27 Bleecker	5B	5	2	2	2,200	$2,700,000	$1,227
10 Bleecker	6D	0	1	2	1,100	$1,325,000	$1,205
27 Bleecker	4B	5	2	2	2,200	$2,630,000	$1,195
10 Bleecker	1C	1	0	0	1,700	$1,530,000	$900
710 Broadway	5	3	3	2	2,300	$2,035,000	$885
439 Lafayette	4TH	6	0	2	3,800	$3,270,000	$861
10 Bleecker	1A	3	1	1.5	1,700	$1,375,000	$809
10 Bleecker	1B	5	2	2	1,850	$1,400,000	$757
520 Laguardia	1N	5	2	2	1,500	$1,080,000	$720
722 Broadway	5	6	3	2	2,200	$1,575,000	$716
200 Mercer	3E	4	1	1.5	2,300	$1,495,000	$650
722 Broadway	7	5	0	2	2,200	$1,300,000	$591
						AVERAGE	$909
THE FOLLOWING LOFT HAS SUBSTANTIAL OUTDOOR SPACE
439 Lafayette	PH	8	4	3.5	3,800	$7,190,000	$1,892

Now for the condos.  Bear in mind that the condos have a number of features that make for higher prices per square foot.  First, most of them are either new construction or new conversions. 

Not only does this mean they're new and shiny, but it also means they've had the benefit of a highly aggressive marketing campaign.  Many of them have the added cachet of a starchitect's name attached. 

Also, they often have doormen as well as lots of other amenities.

All of these were said to be in excellent condition except 5 East 3rd Street and 14 E 4, #821, which were called "fair."  This usually means the property needs major work.

Monthlies varied from a high of $1.93 per square foot to a low of 78 cents p.s.f., with the average at $1.46 p.s.f.

CLOSED NOHO CONDO LOFT SALES, 8.25.10--8.25.11
ADDRESS	APT #	RMS	BRS	BTHS	SF	SALES PRICE	$PSF
1 Bond Street	6C	6	2	2	2,417	$2,100,000	$869
5 East 3rd Street	5THFL	5	2	1	1,900	$1,800,000	$947
14 East 4th Street	821	4	2	2	1,198	$1,385,000	$1,156
40 Bond Street	9B	4	2	2.5	2,076	$5,632,000	$2,713
48 Bond Street	7A	4.5	2	2	1,590	$2,395,000	$1,506
54 Bond Street	4THFL	6	3	2.5	2,274	$4,300,000	$1,891
54 Bond Street	3RDFL	6	3	2.5	2,274	$4,365,000	$1,920
48 Bond Street*	4B	4.5	2	2	1,551	$2,195,000	$1,415
57 Bond Street	3E	6	3	2.5	2,125	$3,200,000	$1,506
14 East 4th Street	803	1	0	0	1438	$1,480,000	$1,029
14 East 4th Street	509	1	0	1	1511	$2,600,000	$1,721
						AVERAGE	$1,516
THE FOLLOWING CONDOS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL OUTDOOR SPACE
6 East 1st Street	5A	6	3	3.5	3,600	$5,450,000	$1,514
14 East 4th Street	PH1108	7.5	3	2	3,370	$4,695,000	$1,393
48 Bond Street	PH+GAR	13	5	4	6,440	$14,208,625	$2,206
54 Bond Street	PH	7	4	5	4,863	$13,491,812	$2,774
*48 Bond is actually a co-op with no board approval and unlimited subletting

This may give you at least a vague idea of what your loft might be worth, depending on condition, maintenance, etc.  For a more specific market valuation, call or e-mail me.  No charge, no obligation.  (I do this for fun.  Really.)  917-991-9549 or cstimpson@stribling.com

Noho co-ops: And now for something completely different.

Third in a series on what it costs to live in Noho and what you get for the money.

There is a vast difference between the co-op buildings and the condo buildings in Noho.  Forget apples and oranges.  It's more like the difference between a four-door Lexus and your grandmother.

As we've seen in previous posts, the condos are new, shiny and expensive.  They have amenities--doormen, or wine cellars, or dog spas, or valet parking.  Many were designed by starchitects.  Movie stars live in them.

With few exceptions, Noho co-ops don't have doormen.  The wine cellar might be a closet.  The dog spa is the bathtub or the pet place around the block.

They are typically artists' lofts, self-converted by the first artists who moved in years ago in the 60s and 70s before it was legal, lured by the large empty spaces and high ceilings which gave them room to make their art.

Note that while these began as strictly utilitarian art studios, the basics are stunning.  The high, often vaulted ceilings, the original, distressed floors, the sweeping open areas give them a charm and grace quite different from anything newly constructed.  Remember, they're inhabited by artists.  Artists like things that are beautiful.

Some of these lofts have been beautifully finished, frequently in a more interesting, less sterile style than the shiny new condos. 

Most of them are five to seven stories, with somewhere around 23 to 25 feet of street frontage and a depth of about 100 feet.  The lofts are full floors and normally net out at about 1700 or 1800 square feet, sometimes as much as 2000.

Ceilings are 10' or higher, windows are at either end with the back ones facing the back of another building.  (This makes for dark, quiet bedrooms.)

Once the lofts have changed hands a few times, they've been made much more apartment-like, with actual bedrooms and maybe even a second bathroom.

In most cases, somewhere along the line the co-op will have installed an automatic elevator, which usually opens directly into the loft.  However, some buildings still have manual elevators--the big freight kind where you pull a rope to make the elevator go up or down.  These elevators may or may not be summonable.

In buildings at the corner of the block, of course, there will be a long wall of windows.  Buildings next to vacant lots, or shorter buildings, may have lot-line windows punched through the long walls, but these will be lost if there's construction on the vacant lot, or if the shorter building is replaced with a taller one.

Nearly all of them legally require artist certification, granted by the Department of Cultural Affairs to those who can provide evidence that they are serious artists.  This evidence might be programs from gallery shows, or proof that a film was screened.  Weekend watercolorists will not qualify.

But some buildings accept the so-called "Soho letter," which indemnifies the co-op against any costs it incurs due to the residence of a non-certified person.

On the highly sought-after block of Bond Street between Lafayette and the Bowery, there are just two co-ops.

The date of construction of 39 Bond is lost in the mists of time, at least to Google, the AIA Guide to New York City, Charles Lockwood's "Bricks and Brownstone," and everywhere else I looked.

However, the building's brick facade and arched windows on the fifth and sixth stories suggest a date somewhere between 1880 and 1900.
[39 Bond is a beautiful building and I have very nice pictures of it, but Blogspot is absolutely refusing to allow me to paste them in here, so if you want to see it, you'll have to go in person.  On the other hand, it's an interesting block, architecturally and otherwise, so maybe you should anyway.]

Somewhat atypically, the building has 75' of street frontage and is 92' deep.  This allows for 13 units spread over its six stories.  The most recent sale was in February of 2008, when 2R, with two bedrooms, one bath, and 1400 s.f., closed for $1,425,550, or just over $1,000 p.s.f.

One wonderful feature of this building is that the maintenances are minuscule.

30 Bond



30 Bond, built in 1889, has six full floor units of about 2000 s.f. each.  Most recently, the fourth floor, newly renovated, closed in July of 2008 for $2,900,000.  The 7th floor, which had exclusive roof rights and was in "excellent" condition as per the broker, closed in March of 2007 for $3,550,000.  But the 5th floor, said to be in "good" condition, fetched only $1,895,000 a month before.

Maintenance is a reasonable 95 cents p.s.f.  There is one loft currently on the market, at $2,995,000.

Another typical Noho co-op is the seven story building at 40 Great Jones Street, with six full-floor residential lofts of about 1500 square feet each.  The most recent sale was the seventh floor which included exclusive roof rights and went for $1,900,000 in November of 2009.  The third floor also changed hands in August of that year, for $1,400,000.

Maintenances are $1,100 except for the 7th floor, which pays a bit more due to the roof rights.

Ambience note:  the ground floor houses Partners & Spade, which urbandaddy.com calls a "crazyspace and pop-art flea market.....Walking in, you'll feel as if you've entered a thinkspace at the intersection of Julian Schnabel's studio and Pee-wee's playhouse."

I can easily understand why Partners & Spade chose Noho for their whatever-it-is.

40 Great Jones Street

 

Of course, there are exceptions to the seven-story, full floor loft pattern.

Most of these were converted by developers during the 1980s.  Some comprise two or three buildings, often combined around an inner courtyard.  303 Mercer is one example.  The larger number of units in such a co-op spreads out the cost of a doorman enough to make it less than prohibitive.

The largest of these, 77 Bleecker, is actually three buildings, on Bleecker, Mercer and Broadway, built around 1930 and combined with new construction in 1984.  Bleecker Court, as it is known, has a total of 234 units, many of them duplexes or triplexes.  Prices average around $860 p.s.f.; maintenances about $1.66 p.s.f.

If there's anything else you want to about Noho, or any of its buildings, or anywhere else in Manhattan or Brooklyn, you can find me at cstimpson@stribling.com, or 917-991-9549.  Cheers!