We wish someone would sell us something at 200 Chambers for $10 too.

We don't know who this family is but we love the idea of trading an apartment at the still shockingly overpriced 200 Chambers (yes, the Palm is nice but really, does it matter?) for just $10. If you need some family members to come out of the woodwork, we are here for you at Downtowny.

"As If!" 311 Greenwich #6G - $825,000 - 650 sq ft

We debated whether this cute little apartment in one of the only Tribeca buildings that has listings for under $1MM is really the overpriced apartment of the week, but at $1,269 per sq ft, we just can't imagine such a price even in a renovated unit.

Both the Streeteasy ad and the floorplan loudly proclaim this apartment as a "Miracle on Greenwich Street!", although the only thing that we find miraculous here is that some new floors and a renovated kitchen would actually spur anyone to pay $825k for what is essentially a tiny apartment without a W/D in the unit and a "cute" balcony that is good for nothing growing herbs.

Although the renovations in this super small apartment are very nice and we like the location, we can't get over the unbelievable price tag given that a larger unit in the same building with a real balcony and in need of only new floors and some kitchen cabinets failed to sell at an ask of $775,000 and is now no longer on the market.

#6G sold in 2004 for $640,000, which we think is actually quite a reasonable price now, given the relatively low maintenance and pint-sized square footage. Add in the fact that absolutely nothing has sold in this building since September, 2008 and we're pretty sure that there are some sellers with high expectations here.

If we could be any buyer, we would be the dude who just bought at 101 Warren for $250,000

We've always loved the oh-so-overpriced, inaccessible, vaguely reclusive despite it's enormity condo building at 101 Warren in Tribeca. So it is with fascination that we note that#650, a 2 bed 2 bath 1,242 sq ft apartment that most recently sold in June 2008 for $1.5M just changed hands again a couple of weeks ago for $250,000 (what?). We don't know if there was a sex tape or something involved here, but whatever it was, we're willing to do it too for that kind of a discount.

[Downtowny Note: We've recently gotten a couple of nasty comments about this post from anonymous individuals claiming that we don't know nuthin' 'bout 'nuthin' and that this $250k sale was a parking space or similar. Ok, so first of all, duh. Obviously, $250k at a building like 101 Warren is not an arms-length sale, which is what we were trying to get at with this post. Second, yes, this could be a deeded parking space or storage unit, however that type of transaction (without a corresponding apartment sale) has NEVER, as far as we can tell, happened in this building, therefore it seems unlikely to suddenly be starting now, however of course, anything is possible.]

Andrew Cuomo Stops Bothering AIG Long Enough to Bother 225 Rector

We weren't all that surprised to learn today that Andrew Cuomo is investigating 225 Rector Square for all sorts of fraud after ice bucket wielding developer Yair Levy and management company Cooper Square Realty allegedly ran off with common charges and PILOT payments right before Levy defaulted on the construction loan from Anglo Irish bank.

After reading yet another article about how pissed the people who actually bought in this bankrupt building are, we found ourselves wondering, exactly how many units sold in this building and when? Well, it turns out (based on data provided by Streeteasy) that approximately 65 units out of a total of 305 were sold, or about 20% of the building. The last unit to sell was #3G (which we believe to be a 574 sq ft studio) on November 25, 2008 for $570,000. We still think that's a whopping price given that the building would file for bankruptcy only 3 months later.

The Lilliputian Apartment - 15 Jones St. #6F - $749,000 - around 750 sq ft

"Are we Gulliver? Do we need to lose 20 pounds?" we thought as we bumped into walls, ceilings, a staircase and just about everything else in this tiny, tiny apartment where every square foot is utilized to the fullest.

Although we normally hate duplexes because of the narrow ladders spiral staircases that make them basically unliveable, we were attracted to the outdoor space of #6F and it's prime location on one of our favorite blocks in the West Village. When we entered the apartment, through a tiny narrow hallway, we found ourselves in the small downstairs area which contains the bedroom, the kitchen, and the sole bathroom (positioned awkwardly next to the kitchen). We were told by the sales agent that we could install a D/W in the tiny (but renovated) kitchen, although it looked to us that we would have to remove most of the cabinets in order to do so.

We were very surprised to see a full staircase leading to the upstairs living room, although we did still have to rotate our Gulliver-size bottoms to avoid the A/C unit awkwardly positioned in a window next to the staircase. Upstairs, our feeling of space improved dramatically, with relatively high ceilings, exposed brick and an airy feel to the super-cute living room. The terrace, off of the living room, is also adorable. The only issue we really had with the upstairs was the lack of a bathroom, although the large staircase definitely improves matters, as we can see ourselves, after a couple of beers, making it safely downstairs.

Overall, this apartment is cute and perfect for a 4'10, 90 pound flexible individual living alone. The apartment's almost perfect location and interior charm will probably make up for the fact that it is fundamentally unliveable. If there are still parents out there with cash, we can definitely see this as a starter apartment for a (small) child and we think this place may actually sell in the next few months.

What's with all of those boxes outside of 20 Pine?

Instead of running into the 20 Pine sidewalk stanchion advertising "Immediately Available" sponsor units as per the usual, we were surprised today to see a bunch of boxes and (gasp) free weights outside of the venerable FiDi zombie condo.

Looks like some progress is going on in that gym...

"Media Event" Plane Causes Evacuation of Lower Manhattan Buildings

Our details are still sketchy, but it looks like some sort of Air Force media event involving a military aircraft has caused the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan, including all Morgan Stanley offices. We do not see an update yet from the NYPD.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal has now
picked up this story - looks like this was a "photo-op" of military jets escorting a commercial airliner. Thanks for telling us guys - no one in our high-floor Lower Manhattan tower is laughing.

Zoinkers, another East Village apartment goes into contract!

Is all of this "increased foot traffic" in the Spring actually leading to more contracts? Maybe we thought, as we saw without too much surprise that our favorite apartment at 111 Fourth Avenue went into contract on Friday.

We first saw this apartment a couple of weeks ago and noted even back then that this is probably the best unit in the weird Franken-loft East Village building where many really nice apartments have been converted into basically unusable terror lofts. #2F (although in need of some updates) is the rare exception, where the soaring ceilings were left loft-free.

How Absurd(istan)! Does Gary Need to Sell Fast?

In a plot twist reminiscent of the venerable Absurdistan, we were surpised to see that New York Times' bestselling author Gary Shteyngart has lowered the asking price of his Lower East Side 1 BR just two weeks after listing the apartment. Click here for our take on his apartment.

The 800 sq ft apartment, located in the Communist abode of Coop Village, can now be had for a mere $425,000 (or 6% less than the early April ask).

Let's Go See the "Mystery Writer" Apartment!

We were so intrigued by this Curbed article commenting on the listing of Gary Shteyngart's LES apartment that we decided to pop by the New York Times' bestselling author's 1BR located in the Soviet-esque co-op wonderland on the East River about which we have always been curious.

In addition to Gary's apartment, we ended up seeing several 1BRs in this complex, which is actually a Moscow suburb three separate co-op communities . There is the "East River" Coop (close to...well, you get it folks), the Hillman Coop (which is sliiiightly further west), and the much better located Seward community which is priced higher but is somewhat closer to hipster-filled laundromats the subway. Overall, these coop apartments are all attractively priced (listings currently run at around $621 per sq ft but many are priced lower) albeit the apartments themselves are not particularly attractive. Although we did see a couple of renovated units, most units needed a major overhaul (including some really simple basics like cleaning the windows), new floors and appliance updates.

Still, we couldn't help but be drawn into the Cold War aura of these enormous stark buildings and can imagine how the area (maybe in the winter? maybe with fur?) can make you feel part of the landscape of the charming Russian Debutante's Handbook or the wild ride that is Absurdistan.

As far as Gary's actual 1BR, it's quite well-maintained and spartan (duh) although we did enjoy some well-placed Soviet irony such as the picture in the kitchen of a Communist building exterior and a cosmonaut (what?) candy bar.

We also loved peeking into the reading life of Gary Shteyngart (one entire wall of the living room is taken up by books) and are pleased to note that he loves Absurdistan as much as we do, having approximately 10 copies of just that title on his shelves (see the porntastic, "we're just checking our email and not taking photos on our Blackberry" image above). Unfortunately, we were shooed away by the agent before we could find "R" for Russian Debutante's Handbook, but we know it's there somewhere in every language too.

Battery Park Landlease Snafus

If you've ever wondered why the heck taxes are so high in BPC, check out this very helpful article from Crain's, which summarizes the whole landlease situation and has a useful list of BPC buildings and their specific landlease status.

Although the article mentions that the high monthly payments that many owners in Battery Park have to endure as a result of the landlease are "priced in" to the sales of the units, we've really only seen this at the Cove Club (2 South End Avenue), a decent building where sales have recently been running at around $670/sq ft.

Other buildings (particularly 21 South End Avenue) remain remarkably overpriced given the monthly carrying costs.

$2.4M Condo must "endure" closet

Thanks to this Streeteasy thread, we discovered the quite funny (perhaps in a Madlibs sort of way) misuse of language in this Prudential Elliman ad where a $2.4M condo features a guest bedroom that "endures a closet".

Although we're sure that this guest bedroom has really been through enough with having to deal with this closet, we think that more pain is to come when the room realizes that it is also being subjected to the ugliest zebra rug ever.

If we were the sellers of this $2.4M apartment, we would certainly be flopping mad (or is that freaking angry?) and might be asking ourselves if some of that $100k in commission might be put to good use by buying a dictionary for the office.

We didn't know they were called "stanchions" but will miss them anyway in BPC.

We were surprised when we read that The Battery Park City Authority wants to make the area even more boring by "limiting" certain types of signs that businesses currently display. In order to make the neighborhood look like Ohio reduce "visual clutter", the BPC is proposing to eliminate "stanchions" (what? right, the sandwich-board signs on the street) and limit businesses to only one sign per window which can only have the name of the business and its logo.

We don't really understand why the BPCA would want to do this, although we do wonder what other tricks the Riverhouse, one of our most favorite CILFs has up its sleeve to sell the rest of those darn units.

Don't leave that hanging, Goldman

We were kind of freaked out today when we looked up at the Goldman building and saw a lone window (with no workers nearby) dangling off of what appears to be around the 42nd floor.

Given that Goldman was only recently allowed to re-start construction following the very uncool hammer drop from the 18th floor a couple of weeks ago, we sure would like to see someone out there tending to that window, boys.

"As If" (The Overpriced Apartment of the Week) 533 East 6th Street, #6 - $849,000 - 1080 sq ft

We thought we were going to see an underpriced wonderland as we wandered toward this apartment on Avenue B last week. After all, we said, Avenue B is far from the subway and still developing a vibe, so $849k for just over 1,000 sq ft seemed like a reasonable price for what looked like a beautifully finished 3BR floor thru apartment.

Instead, we couldn't believe it when we arrived at this unit and discovered (by running around the ground floor and peering into every rectangular shape that looked like it could hold a person) that this place is an fcuking (not the clothing retailer) 6th floor walkup. "Oh why the heck not?" we said as we climbed stair after stair - we've walked all the way to Avenue B, we might as well see the unit.

After finally arriving at the 6th floor, we wiped off our sweaty brows and decided to have a look around as this would undoubtedly be our last visit to this apartment (unless a helipad is being built on the roof deck that is oh so accessible from the 6th floor). What we found was quite fascinating - this place is actually some artist's studio (and boy is that obvious) complete with only 1 BA, an industrial "kitchen" (basically a huge sink to wash your paint in and a fridge) plus no W/D (ummm...are we actually supposed to carry our laundry somewhere?).

Overall, although the floors are nice and there is (sort of) some square footage in this unit, the asking price is completely ridiculous. Maybe if Halstead gave us an airlift into this place, we'd think about seeing it again.

Are we completely insane?

We found ourselves wondering whether we are totally nuts when we had the following conversation with a bemused parent:

Parent: "So, you guys are thinking about buying something in downtown Manhattan?"
Us: "Yep."
Parent: "How much would that cost?"
Us: "Around $750,000 for a 1BR."
Parent: "How big would that be?"
Us: "Around 750 sq ft"
Parent: "That's the size of our kitchen."

55 Liberty St. #21A - $899,000 - 1250 sq. ft.

This apartment is often compared to the other $899,000 listing at 55 Liberty even though these two apartments have a totally different vibe.

#21A is basically a glorified two BR (yes, there is the ubiquitous fake non-weight bearing wall that cleaves the living room in half) albeit with a good layout and fantastic light. The views are spectacular here and actually better than the attic penthouse unit that is also for sale. Since we can take the elevator all the way to this apartment, we kind of prefer it to the PH anyway. The full-size side-by-side washer and dryer in this unit was also so cool that we even forgot how much closet space it takes up.

On the down side, this apartment pretty much needs a full cosmetic renovation (floors, paint, bathrooms etc.). And what the heck is up with the creepy horseshoe shaped "Eat-In" kitchen, which we didn't even want to step all the way into never mind sit down to "eat-in" anything.

CILF of the Week - 107 Avenue A #3F - $799,000 - 751 sq. ft.

This week's CILF is the charmingly overpriced, fantastically located, beautifully renovated Alphabet City East Village gem of a 1BR, 2BA condo. Although we continue to scratch our heads about exactly why it is necessary to have 2 bathrooms in a 750 square foot space (can't...make...it...one...more...step), we love the renovations in this light-filled apartment in an elevator-building amidst a sea of horrifying walk-ups.

A reasonable maintenance and taxes charge of $861 per month complete the picture in this unit, which is located right next to Tompkins Square Park (it has legitimate park views) on one of the most fun blocks in the East Village. Additionally, the floors look even better in person than in the photo and the kitchen is great.

Is it overpriced? You betcha, but we'd still love to live here.

55 Liberty Street #PH - $899,000 - 1500 sq ft

As this discussion thread on Streeteasy so adequately demonstrates, high maintenance is the word at this beautiful but oh so inaccessible FiDi penthouse. Although the asking price per square foot is quite reasonable, $3314 in monthly maintenance (huh?) on 1500 sq ft is enough to make anyone balk, particularly given that the co-op building housing this apartment is kind of old and not the amenity-filled wonderland that you would expect for $2+ per sq foot of maintenance.

The other big minus is that despite being on the 32nd floor of an elevator building, this PH is actually a walk-up, requiring occupants to take the elevator to the 30th floor and then walk up 2 flights of stairs.

On the plus side, the apartment is quite cool although we are not fans of the attic-like sloped windows that basically obscure the phenomenal view of the old-school eagle statues and plain old gargoyles that sit on top of the roof of this building. The kitchen here is very pretty, has a small window (which we are suckers for) and has a wine fridge. The living room is huge and the bathrooms are both in fantastic (renovated) condition. Plus, we kind of like the vibe from the down-to-earth seller on the Streeteasy thread.

Although we saw this apartment during the day, one of the things that struck us as we entered this building is that our favorite FiDi bar, the venerable Pound and Pence is located right on the second floor (same entrance as the residents). Is this a plus (drinks in your jammies on rainy days)? A minus (rowdy after-work smokers outside of your building's entrance)? We can't decide....

Are 5 floors and a fake wall really worth $100,000?

111 4th Avenue #10C


111 4th Avenue #5C
We found ourselves asking this question as we looked on with surprise at this listing at 111 4th Ave #10C in the East Village. This apartment (listed 2 weeks ago according to Streeteasy) at $839,000 (huh?) is exactly the same as the also horribly overpriced $740,000 #5C that we saw a couple of weeks ago and that has been on the market since November 2008.

To be fair, #10C is on a higher floor and has a wall that splits the living room into a tiny bedroom plus a tiny living room. I'd probably pay them $10,000 just to get rid of the wall, which (when combined with the storage area upstairs loft, makes this apartment an overpartitioned disaster similar to #5C). It's also no surprise to us that the frequently shady Sotheby's has intentionally removed neglected to add the dimensions of the rooms on the floor plan.

250 Mercer #B602 - $799,000 - 1000 sq. ft.

This has to be one of the strangest buildings that we have seen in a long time. Like the other dorm-like building that we saw last week in the East Village, 250 Mercer also had that multiple elevator bank, huge lobby effect popular with college dorms built in the 1980s. This particular building seems to have some kind of Italian Renaissance theme (ok, think back, when was the last time that you saw a residential building with a theme?) complete with a tacky, Olive Gardenesque painted courtyard with a single plastic wrought iron chair and table in the middle.

Already in the mood for a little freshman year orientation, we found the right elevator bank only to be surprised by a touch of barf in the first elevator that arrived.

Yet again though, we digress. When we got to the actual apartment, we were surprised that we kind of liked it. The ceiling height is great and the apartment (for the most part) is finished, so no major renovations required. The apartment faces the aforementioned inner courtyard, so it's definitely on the dark side, however the high ceilings give it a feeling of more space. Also, as you can see from some of the pics online, this apartment has an enormous old-school column right in the middle of the living area (remember the Italian Renaissance theme?) which could make for some interesting furniture layouts.

Overall, we liked the space and hated the building. There are so many goofy lofts on the market right now in the East Village and this is one of the better ones, in our opinion. It's certainly priced more competitively than the ridiculously laid out loft around the corner that we saw last month.

Sellers need to be more realistic, duh

So we've heard again and again that sellers need to be more realistic in this market. Now, NY1 has a cute little video summarizing the general idea that sellers need to get in front of falling prices in order for transactions to finally start happening.

We've been seeing overpriced apartments for months now, many of which are STILL priced higher than their 2006 selling prices, so we can totally relate.

56 Pine Street, #11F - $685,000 - 756 sq. ft.

We have to admit that we've always had a small crush on 56 Pine. The building has a cool common area, a 421g tax abatement, and does not have the ridiculous financial problems of similarly situated downtown new construction buildings.

We wanted to like this apartment, which we assumed would be selling at somewhat of a discount given it's current status as an "office" for some weird start-up. Although we have heard that buyers are not able to use their imaginations, we never believed it until we walked into this apartment. It was certainly hard to remove the four huge desks in the living room out of our little minds as we tried instead to picture, say a couch and a TV. The bedroom wasn't any easier, as we tried to mentally unclutter away piles of folders and a small chaise lounge.

Overall, this apartment is probably bigger than it feels and seemed like a solid purchase to us. Although $685K is at least near the zip code of something approaching a reasonable price, we think this apartment is far from cheap enough to actually get an offer within say, 20% of the ask.

We still love you 56 Pine and think that you might be one of the few all-owner new construction condos left standing after all of this shakes out.

21 South End Avenue, #227 - $899,000 - 1,050 sq ft

We have to admit that we have never liked the "yacht club" feel of 21 South End Avenue, with the odd wood and blue trim everywhere (including the hallways and the interior of many apartments). The listing for #227 looked really promising however on Streeteasy and as we are HUGE suckers for outdoor space, we were very much looking forward to seeing the enormous balcony/patio, which we thought looked kind of serene in the pictures with Hudson River views.

In reality, this unit is kind of hit or miss. On the "hit" side, we love the real staircase which compares quite favorably to the 1BR with a ladder that we saw two weeks ago in the East Village and the 1BR with a 6 inch chute spiral staircase that we saw around the same time. Additionally, the outdoor space in this unit is quite large (as advertised) and the upstairs bedroom floor fills the entire space so there is no "down to below" hole in this apartment unlike many other duplexes that we've seen.

On the "miss" side, the outdoor space basically looks on to the building across the street and not the Hudson River, which certainly makes it less serene. Also the kitchen is quite small and awkwardly laid out in a nook next to the living room. Everything in the apartment also looks quite dated (we can't tell if it's the yacht club color scheme or something else) and the maintenance/taxes are bordering on unmanageable at almost $2500 per month for essentially 850 sq ft or so of indoor space. Another uh uh for us in BPC - perhaps we should go back to our Battery Park CILF.

176 Broadway #8E UPDATE

When last we left off with this strangely underpriced listing in FiDi, we were curious why anyone would be interested in this apartment, which as we noted is effectively a studio.

So it was much to our surprise when we received a forwarded Sotheby's email today from a potential buyer indicating that this apartment has received not one but three whole offers in the last 24 hours that are "solid". Of course Sotheby's is requesting any "best and final offers" in these last minutes of negotiation.

We can't wait to see where this apartment will land price-wise. If you put an offer in on this puppy, tell us what you plan to do with the layout!

176 Broadway #8E - $699,000 - 1225 sq ft

Much confusion abounds regarding this odd 2BR, 2BA listing in FiDi that seems seriously underpriced at only $570 per sq ft. What is this, 2001?

Well it turns out that this listing has many layers of excitement, starting with the fact that originally, #8E was being offered along with the neighboring unit, which is connected by a locked door. When the owner of #8E (and the neighboring unit) decided only to sell #8E, the price of the apartment dropped dramatically. Unfortunately, good old Sotheby's decided to drag their feet on updating the other pieces of the listing and forgot to mention that this apartment (instead of being a 2BR, 2BA) is actually a 1BA studio.

In case you are confused about this, Sotheby's actually offered us an imaginary ideal floorplan of the apartment indicating what it "could look like" were it to actually be the apartment that we thought we were going to see.

After getting over the intial shock and the Sotheby's shenanigans, we proceeded to view this studio, which is well-maintained but is really just an enormous living room and a mirrored dining area. The kitchen is updated but the apartment has a very 1940s sort of feel to it, with gilded/mirrored everything. Even the sub-zero had some kind of surface that we're pretty sure parties like it's 1945 when no one is looking.

When we asked about a W/D in the unit, we had the following conversation with Sotheby's:

Downtowny: Is there a W/D in the unit?
Crazy Sotheby's broker: No, but there's a dryer on this floor...but no washer.
Downtowny: (biting tongue) So...are there floors that have washers but no dryers?
Crazy Sotheby's broker: Yes.

77 Bleecker Street, #221 - $575,000 - 675 sq ft

We kept wondering if we had stumbled into an NYU dorm as we wandered around the sprawling building housing this apartment. We have to say that #221 is pretty much exactly as advertised - there is nothing spectacular about this unit - it's a solid, well-maintained East Village apartment that seems reasonably priced for the current market (e.g. it may actually get an offer or something albeit 20% off of the ask). The kitchen could use a little bit of updating but is otherwise fine, the exposed brick is anti-climatic, the bathroom looks good and we like the attractive closet addition in the bedroom.

This unit kind of reminds us of the East Village snoozer that we saw last week that is currently in contract. We would not be surprised if someone bought this apartment (again, at a discount to the ask) in the near-term.

"As If!" (The Overpriced Apartment of the Week) - 324 Pearl St. #2J - $800,000 - 825 sq. ft.

This week's winner was a no-brainer, although the apartment in the ghetto on Avenue D that we saw was a mild contender. In FiDi, this 1BR, 1BA's block is our absolute least favorite. The apartment is on Pearl, basically right next to the FDR. Yes, you can walk 5-10 minutes and reach a better part of the FiDi or even the South Street Seaport (who wants to go there anyway?), but essentially this location is like living on an on-ramp.

The apartment itself is quite dark, with one tiny window in the living room (no opportunity to create another window) and a bigger (but still too small) window in the good-sized bedroom. There is no W/D in the apartment but the kitchen is renovated. We liked the vaguely S&M details in the apartment (think old chain links) left over from when this building was a book bindery, but none of it makes up for the nasty location and the dark, other buildings view. We're thinking $550K.

753 East 5th Street, #4B - $850,000 - 750 sq ft

"Is Avenue D still ghetto fabulous without the 'fabulous'?", we kept asking ourselves as we walked and walked and walked to this apartment on 5th street and Avenue D. The answer (in case you haven't been to Alphabet City in awhile) is "um...yes" as we discovered while walking past housing projects and sketchy parks on our way to this super weird 3-year old luxury condo building in the middle of a ghetto fringe.

Oh, well we thought - at $850,000, this place will probably be magnificent because of it's subprime location on Avenue D. Instead, we were surprised to find yet another (welcome to Alphabet City) 4th floor walkup (5th floor if you count the stairs in the apartment leading to the bedroom/TV area) that was very, very small for the price (750 sq feet - are you kidding us?). There is a well-constructed loft which currently serves as a second living room, a tiny living room on the first floor and a bedroom on the first floor as well. There is no W/D in this unit, although it does get good light and is overall super cute.

We went up to see the common roof deck as well (what the heck, we said, only one more flight of stairs) which was...about the size of a large terrace. Truly underwhelming - this place was a big contender for our "As if!" award for overpriced apartment of the week, however it was just edged out by the nutso seller over on Pearl.

CILF of the Week - 333 Rector Place (One Rector Park)

Although we haven't even reached Open House Sunday yet, we're pretty sure that this week's CILF (Condo we'd like to...woo woo) is the magnificent 333 Rector Place . We saw mostly 1BR, 1BA units priced between $630,000 - $810,000 (most were around $730,000 or so) - all in the 760 sq ft - 870 sq ft range. There are two "finishes" available for these units - the "Park" and the "River". The Park finish has darker floors, a kind of retrolicious white marble in the bathroom and a lighter wood on the cabinets/doors. The River is almost an exact mirror image, with lighter floors, dark marble in the bathroom, and a darker wood on the cabinets/doors.

All of the units that we saw had balconies and the southern facing units have direct water views. The fixtures look great and we loved the large, open layouts of the apartments. The amenities seemed fine although only the bar/library was finished enough to show.

The units here get significantly more expensive on the higher floors (there are 14 floors in the building) with only apartments higher than the 8th floor having any water views. Similar to 20 Pine and The Riverhouse, we now lust after One Rector Park (which we think of as The Riverhouse of the South) but we are of course concerned with the building's financials. Particularly given that Rector Square, which is located literally across the street, has filed for bankruptcy in a public shitstorm that might not go away for awhile.

One Rector Park tells us that the sales office has been open for about three weeks and that the building is 10% sold. They have "relationships" with some major lenders but those lenders require the building to be 50% in contract prior to allowing anyone to close (all cash buyers, whoever you are, you can close any damn time you want). Sooooo....that means that of the 174 or so units in this building, 17 are sold leaving an additional 70 units or so that have to go into contract before anyone can live there. Hmmmm....no transactions right now means fat chance you're moving into here anytime soon.

Oh and ummm...if you're a little light on your brunch budget these days, pop by their weekend open houses from 1-4PM. They have mimosas (yep), croissants, scones and you can even pocket some granola bars to go. PLUS they give you a cute tote. We love you 333 Rector.

Say what? Something we saw is actually in contract.

Despite the recent pronouncements that nothing in Manhattan is moving, it turns out that the sleeping giant otherwise known as a "buyer" has finally woken up somewhere and decided to take the plunge with enough of an offer (or the seller is in deep enough doo doo) to actually go into contract on an East Village apartment that we saw last week.

As we noted in our prior post, this apartment is a real snoozer, but it was well-maintained and a decent value for the area. We are watching this listing like little hawks to see the final closing price (what? a comp?).

1 River Terrace #8B - $920,000 - 865 sq ft

Ah, Riverhouse. Similar to our obsession with 20 Pine, we cannot stop thinking about this development and covet the apartments there like a lost lover.

This building has (we think) the best location in Battery Park in an area (which we call BPC North) roughly parallel to TriBeCa. BPC North (which is the small strip north of the World Financial Center, west of the West Side Highway and south of Chambers) is located next to the best park (we think) in Lower Manhattan and has only one condo building: The Riverhouse. That is until (or if), Millstein ever gets Liberty Luxe built AND ends up selling those units instead of converting them to rentals, as rumor has it.

But we digress. Riverhouse is truly a spectacular development although anything even remotely (and it's remote in this economy) affordable here has an interior (often very ugly) view. The unit that we saw was a little "clone home" if you catch our drift, but the windows were big and the floors were beautiful as per the new construction usual. The view in this unit was indeed quite nasty, facing another piece of Riverhouse plus a garbage area.

Is Riverhouse subject to the woes of other downtown new construction? We're not sure...they tell us that they are about 75% sold and 50% occupied, which are much better numbers than the bankrupt 225 Rector Place, the "other" new construction in BPC. We haven't seen any recent price drops on #8B, although we got the feeling from the agent that they would drop about $100k on this unit if faced with an offer.

311 Greenwich Street, #7I - $775,000 (Just Reduced) - 730 sq, ft.

When we first saw this apartment (listed back then at $799,000), the first word that came to mind was "airy". The layout is quite nice, with the living room and bedroom both containing a bright wall of windows. There is a long (although not exactly wide) balcony that can be accessed from both the bedroom and the living room. The cutout kitchen also has a window (to the outside) which is a cute touch that we happen to be suckers for.

Although the apartment needs major refinishing - we're talking paint, floors (is that old parquet?), kitchen appliances, and even the closet doors (a few of which have jagged edged "half" plastic knobs), it is a much better value than the treehouse next door.

The carrying costs (at around $1100 per month) aren't terrible, although the building isn't exactly amenity-filled. There is no W/D in the unit but there is definitely room for one. We still love this location and heck this apartment, especially with the mild price reduction (not enough in our opinion though), is definitely worth a look.

Goldman Debris Update

All was quiet yesterday on the unfinished floors of the downtown Goldman tower after a worker on the 18th floor of the site dropped
a hammer on a taxi cab earlier this week.

We can see lots of workers inside the building, so perhaps that temporary construction ban only applies to finally getting those windows glued on to the outside.

303 Greenwich Street #3A - $850,000 - 700 sq. ft.

Say what? When we walked into this apartment, we couldn't believe the price. Similar to
our experience at 71 Nassau, this apartment felt smaller than the (already too small for this price range) list of 700 square feet.

But we digress...the real issue with this apartment is that every exposed surface is covered with a dark wood. The place smells like a wood shop, has no W/D (no room for one anywhere either in the cramped layout) and is very, very dark (not sure if it's the wood that makes it appear that way).

On the bright side, we are in love with the apartment's prime location at Greenwich and Chambers but wouldn't even think about paying the (we think) $200k premium to live on this block. You can get the exact same apartment plus an extra 100 sq ft. in a prime East Village location for about $150k less.

280 Rector Place #7F - $775,000 - 915 sq. ft.

This is a real 2BR 2BA (although it does have somewhat of an awkward layout) and as we mentioned in a prior post, we still think it's really difficult to make 900 sq ft into a 2BR.

With that said, this apartment has good "bones" (a creepy expression, but it gets the job done). The small living room has quite a pretty (small) window that has direct Hudson River views. Both the kitchen (especially the kitchen) and the bathroom need updating.

This apartment is one of those that doesn't "show well". There are stains on the walls, the floors are a mess, and the ceiling looks like it has some kind of water damage. We think renters live here and may not have been giving this place the love that it deserves.

Although $775k is a decent price in this location, the apartment's condition, tiny living room and high carrying costs (welcome to Battery Park) of over $2100 per month make this unit a big fat uh uh.

71 Nassau Street #7D - $895,000 - 830 sq. ft.

We like to believe in the best of listings, but this apartment felt way less than 830 square feet to us. Closer to 750 or less. The apartment is renovated and attractive - with beautiful blonde wood floors and a great kitchen. The view from the living room isn't terrible - a mix of buildings and beyond. Good closet space etc. but overall, the unit felt awfully small.

The iron beam in the living room is certainly distinctive and we definitely appreciated the presence of a W/D. I would look for this unit to decrease in price dramatically over the next few months as it is quite small and the particular block on Nassau is a smokeshop/diner/New York & Company extravaganza.

1 Wall Street Court #1309 - $899,000 - 949 sq. ft.

Ah, the Cocoa Exchange. This 2 BR has 45 John Street written all over it. Cramped living room at the expense of two reasonably sized bedrooms. Views of the building across the street really complete the picture here.

Not a bad building (what, with a Haru downstairs, how could it be terrible?), although still seems overpriced. The pictures make it look larger, but there is only so much you can do with 949 square feet and a true 2 BR (which this place is).

200 Rector Place, #24N - $550,000 - 650 sq ft.

The first problem with this unit is that 30% of the apartments in this building (Liberty Court) are professionally managed (they have a leasing office down the street) rental units. When we were looking to rent in this area last year, I actually saw three rental units in this building through that leasing office.

The sales agent that showed us this apartment last week "skirted" the rental issue over and over again until I finally gave up asking. Overall, this apartment is really, really small and needs a major overhaul. On the bright side, the price is "very negotiable" and the outdoor space is TREMENDOUS. The balcony is much larger than in the ad and when you go out there, it's kind of like standing on a floating platform in the middle of manhattan. Truly spectacular.

We still wouldn't touch this no W/D, parquet floor mess for $550,000 (or even $350,000), but go check out that balcony!

20 Pine Street, #1006 - $799,000 - 1,070 sq ft.

Ah, 20 Pine, how we lust after
you. This building has such a cool vibe. The beautiful dark wood floors, "W Hotel" like fixtures and ambience, plus the New York Stock Exchange views in the unit that we saw almost made us forget about the terrible financial problems that have been plagueing this building for the last 6 months.

But...although we would like to imagine ourselves 20 pounds thinner and 6 inches taller as we strut around these magical units, we can't help but be reminded that there are 55 units for sale on Streeteasy.com and that the building recently tried to sell these units plus more at rack rate to a VC (or whoever else can pony up).

Would we like to buy here one day? You bet your Armani slippers we would. Would we buy here today? I guess su Casa is not mi Casa.

45 John Street

We visited 45 John Street a couple of weeks ago. They still have the "model" 7th floor, where you can walk around and see apartments with a variety of floorplans that will (one day) become available on higher floors.

Overall, we thought this building was daaaark. Dark. Dark. There was only one layout (the tiny 589sq ft corner "A" line) that we saw that had any natural light at all. Believe it or not, this was our favorite unit on the 7th floor (because of the light). Unfortunately, the kitchen was in the tiny living room (pasta sauce spatter on the couch anyone?) and the bedroom was a prison cell at 10'x8'. The other apartments definitely had larger bedrooms at the expense of the living room (not our ideal) and were basically pitch black at 1PM on a sunny day.

Combine that with <50% sold and we're thinking no way. If you want to take a financial risk in this area, 20 Pine has much nicer layouts and District is beautiful.

District, The Movie

I have to admit that when we finally saw District yesterday (that sexy building on the remarkably unsexy Fulton Street), we were mildly turned on. We saw two beautiful apartments, with cool kitchens, very high ceilings and big windows. Not even the inevitable views of the building across the street changed our minds about the pretty apartments.

The amenities are pretty much complete (the pool is filled, the upstairs roof deck looks better than the pictures, the media room is done, and the spa and gym are very, very cool). Despite this building's well-documented financial problems, we were quite tempted.

All of this despite the Developer's vaguely mysoginistic, porn-tastic ad campaign which culminates in perhaps the worst movie that I have ever seen created by a professional. I wonder how much they paid per square minute for this shaky beauty shot by a handheld (huh?) camera. Is that the Odeon in the background?