Correction to Visionaire Sales Post

In response to our post just moments ago, a reader was quick to point out that recent sales for the Visionaire (of which there have been many) are incorrectly classified as sales in the 9-story Riverwatch building, an older rental property located near the Visionaire. This should help with our comps search....

Is it Just Us or Has the Visionaire Not Closed a Single Unit This Year?

In our quest to determine what a reasonable price would be for the newly unveiled Liberty Luxe and Liberty Green we decided to head over to Streeteasy to get some comps for the Visionaire, a luxury building in an (arguably) less desirable Battery Park location.

So...surprised we were when we discovered that there actually appear to be no recent comps according to Streeteasy. In fact, the Visionaire, which we always thought was comparatively healthy seems to have not closed a single unit in 2010 (it's JUNE folks) and has done little this year except pull various listings off the market.

Is it us? Streeteasy? Or is more trouble brewing in BPC?

Party Like It's 1925

Check out this online collection (via a Streeteasy thread) documenting old floor plans and brochures from buildings throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. Not surprisingly, downtown was comprised mostly of office buildings back in the day, highlighted as an example in this neat brochure describing 99 John St to prospective tenants . Today, 99 John is living it's third life as an office building turned rental building turned condo building.

Liberty Luxe/Liberty Green Finally Reveal Themselves!

We've been waiting with baited breath for a look at Battery Park's final two residential towers currently being built on the last plot of residential-zoned land in North Battery Park City. Liberty Luxe, a 32-story tower and Liberty Green, a 22-story tower are set to join developer Milstein's previously constructed 1980s South Battery Park "Liberties" (Liberty Court, Liberty House, Liberty Terrace, and Liberty View). The rental arm of Milstein (Milford Management...oh so clever) professionally manages a good number of units in the South BPC Liberties so we can't help but wonder whether Milstein will also only sell a portion of Liberty Luxe/Liberty Green.

Anywho, on to the good stuff. The Liberty Luxe/Liberty Green website has been tempting us for months with a "VIP" form to fill out but no other information. Sometime over the past week however, Milstein put up actual building info with pictures of bathrooms, kitchens and common areas. You still kind of have to sneak by the pesky VIP form however, by clicking the newly appeared "Enter Site" link in the lower right-hand corner on the otherwise unchanged homepage.

So...the good?
-Looks like Liberty Luxe (the taller of the two at 32 floors) is going to have a rooftop pool! (ooooh, we likey) and Liberty Green (22 floors) is going to have a decked out roof deck
- The bathrooms and kitchens look nice - we like the bright finishes.
- The pictures of the views are spectacular although we suspect are available from fewer than 25% of the apartments

And...the bad?
- No Prices or Floorplans! Come on peeps...don't make us sit through the sales presentation just to get a price list or a glimpse of the square footage. With (we think) over 300 apartments to sell, Milstein has to price VERY aggressively in order for any of us who need a mortgage to actually be able to move in this decade. Let's not forget the plight of One Rector Park and other high profile BPC disasters.

Finally...the unknown?
- The dreaded ground rent! On the minds of any purchaser in Battery Park, we can't wait to see what Milstein has negotiated for the new Liberties. The South BPC Liberties have always had low ground rents for the area, a testament to Milstein's negotiating capabilities. Will Liberty Luxe/Liberty Green follow suit?

Fannie's Back in Battery Park

While we were out taking a look at some Battery Park apartments this weekend (it's been awhile but we figured we'd see how things have changed since we did this exercise last year), a broker told us that the Fannie issue had in fact been resolved on Friday. We asked for proof and were forwarded this article from a website that we don't ever read, but it sure looks legit.

Last month, Fannie Mae (with zero fanfare incidentally) quietly pulled out of purchasing residential mortgages in Battery Park due to fears regarding the uncertainty of ground rent charges. For our part, we've certainly calmed down about the 25 year reset (happening in 2012 for most buildings) however are still terrified about that looming 40 year reset. In 17 years, ground rent will apparently reset to 6% of your apartment's market value, which makes us both hope and not hope that our apartments are worth like $100 at that time.

And how did those BPC apartments look over the weekend? Well, strangely...renovated. Not sure if it's the market, but we've never seen so much granite and brazilian cherry in those 1980s buildings. Doesn't really go with the nautical theme....

Thoughts on that Crain's Article on BPC

So one of us has had a heck of a week at work so we haven't been posting much. Today however, we checked the real estate blogs and discovered this frankly weird Crain's article regarding Fannie Mae's apparent suspension of mortgage purchases for loans on condos in Battery Park. Obviously, given the huge inventory right now in BPC (with more coming in the way of the two Milstein buildings), this is very, very bad news for both buyers and sellers as Fannie Mae is pretty much the only game in town right now if you want to get a mortgage.

One thing that we thought was strange about the article is that it seems fairly anecdotal to us - all Fannie Mae was willing to say publicly is that they are "reviewing" ground lease agreements in the area. And even if Fannie stops purchasing mortgages in BPC in the near-term, once the mortgage market thaws out fully, it may not matter in the long run. All that this really means is that if you are a cash buyer and can somehow find that handful of sellers that need to sell RIGHT NOW, you will probably be given a phenomenal deal.

As we've said many times before though, buying in this neighborhood has so little economic justification that we don't really understand why anyone does. After all, you can rent almost any apartment that you would buy, renting is much, much cheaper even in the long run, so....

Coyotes in Battery Park City? Oh Sh*t!

Did you catch the Battery Park City Broadsheet article that indicated that a coyote was spotted in Rockefeller Park this morning (?*&%$^) at 9AM? For those of you that may not hang out in Rockefeller Park all of the time, this cute, triangular park is in north Battery Park City starting at Chambers Street and going all the way down to the almost bankrupt glitzy Riverhouse.

We walk our dog here all the time. He's small and (we guess) kind of vulnerable to an attack by a coyote. So where did this cotoye come from and (ummmmm....) where did he go exactly? See, the funny thing about the Broadsheet article is that it doesn't exactly tell us if good ol' Wile E. ever got caught . When last we left this, he was being...pursued. So unless Wile E. is hanging out at the abandoned One Rector Park, where he's probably enjoying granite countertops and a balcony, we'd be interested in what ever came of this, you cute little green-uniformed BPC police.