We have always been curious about this set of loft buildings located in a cute part of Tribeca near our favorite speakeasy hangout. When we walked in to the completely under construction entrance (45 John anyone?), we thought that we would be whisked right up to some goofy showroom where we would sit through yet another "conversation" about:
- what our needs are (just show us an apartment)
- the lending situation (we know you're flexible on price)
- how it's a great time to buy (we know you're flexible on price)
Instead, much to our amazement, we were told by the doorman to sign a construction waiver and then proceed to the elevator. We were handed a sheet of paper with a bunch of unit #s and prices and...that's it folks. For the next hour, we roamed completely unattended through floor after floor of fascinating old loft units. It was like poking through an old haunted mansion - you never quite knew what you would find behind each door.
Fortunately, in one unit, we actually ran into a Brown Harris Stevens agent, who informed us that The Tribeca Lofts are a "conversion" from rental units to sales (even though the building basically just looks abandoned) and that we can choose to buy units "As Is" (abandoned) or "Finished" (around $300k more). As you can see from the photo of the leaky ceiling (yes that's a garbage can collecting rain water) above, the units are in various states of repair. Despite some leaks, we loved the location here and the units are large and laid out quite well (particularly the enormous lofts on the 5th and 6th floors that really feel like houses). Although we don't think there are any "view" units in these buildings (view choices are a dark ugly building very close to your windows or a dark ugly building further away), the ceilings are magnificent and the windows in some units are truly spectacular.
Unfortunately however, we cannot find a single recorded sale in this building (even though BHS tells us that there were two sales and that occupancy will happen "very soon") and the 9 apartments that are supposedly in contract are also nowhere to be found.
We'll keep our eye on these lofts, which we hope will start selling...otherwise, back to rentals they go (we think).
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15 comments:
Wow, so the leak was bad? Were there a lot of people attending the open house today (Sunday 5/4) I thought the building upgraded and revamped its plumbing and heating in 1997 but apparently they did a horrible job from your picture the leak looks bad! Was wondering where may you locate actual signed sales records? Thank you very much.
So the leak was pretty bad (it sounded like it was raining in the apartment) but on the bright side, there was only one apartment with a leak :)
We saw maybe 8 people at the open house (which is a lot for us) but we also attended open houses yesterday where we were the only ones to come through all day. I'm sure there is a curiosity about the 80 Leonard lofts that drives people there as well.
You can search for deed transfers on ACRIS (free) or Streeteasy ($10 per month but much more user friendly).
-DT
I used to rent those (to people). The only units with views were the top floor duplex bedrooms, and those were these weird 70's slits for windows things... Roof had great views back in the days but been so much construction around there wouldn't know any more. The units with the corinthian-type columns were my favorites...
we used to live in one of the top floor units, two huge bedrooms plus an upstairs office that opened onto a roof deck we shared with the folks who had the other top floor unit. the apartments were pretty great—decent floor plan—but i think they're asking 3 mil for those
lalaland - we saw those duplexes with the slits for windows - the space was phenomenal in those apartments but the bedrooms had a basement feel even though they were on the top floor. We saw some corinthian column units on the second floor...thought they split those grand living rooms up a bit too much.
Anon - the most expensive unit that we saw was $1.7M. We're not sure if the units that you are refering to have "sold" (e.g. were not on the list that we received from BHS) or if there's been a substantial price drop here...
I lived on the top floor (duplex) of this building 6 years ago and the roof leaked so severely then that there was water all the way down to the floor below -
my guess/fear they'll just patch the roof and leave the new owners with a special assessment surprise! and yes, the bedroom window slits are weird and sort of depressing but it was nice to have a second bathroom upstairs.
hey, which unit had the leak? 5D?
We have to look back through our floorplans, but the leak was not on an upper floor unit. We think it was on the 2nd floor.
cool, thanks! do u think this bldg is priced right? or a lil high considering it's "abandoned"?
This building is definitely not priced correctly - the square footage is nice but there is no demonstrable commitment from anyone (sponsor etc.) that the building itself is actually going to get fixed/maintained. Pop by these units if you are curious. They are basically an "as is" disaster - I would wait for something to actually close in this building and a concrete (no pun intended) plan for the common areas prior to buying.
BHS is giving some of you the run around..typical
What happens if you sign a contract now, but the other units don't sell, they decide to go rental or worse still, the bank takes over? Can you get your money back or are you stuck in a building with a few owners and paying more maintenance? What is the biggest risk of buying in a condo at this stage of conversion and in this market? Sorry if these questions sound a little amateur, but just trying to understand the downside risk.
Sorry it's taken us so long to get back to you...check out this great NYT article which discusses the repercussions of developer bankruptcy etc:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/realestate/08COV.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=maintenance%20fee%20sponsor%20bankruptcy%20risk&st=cse&scp=11
Check out our coverage of 225 Rector for information on a real building that is currently going through almost all of the problems that you describe.
Any new updates? Some of the spaces are truly spectacular. What do you guys think are the "risks" today?
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