Overview

This 10-story, prime Tribeca, historic warehouse building was screaming residential conversion. Thankfully Ethan C. Eldon and Joel J. Silver snatched this building up a little over two years ago and began the conversion. The building presents several forms of living within its sixty-six units, such as loft spaces with 13-foot ceilings and a conversion of the truck docks into townhouse style living. The units are around 75% sold with the remaining units mostly loft-style apartments. The developer has yet to release certain penthouses.

The building began sales with much fanfare and gusto back in 2005 offering a unique style of living including internalized green and space and with an estimated occupancy of summer of 2006….oops! They are now looking at a December occupancy of this year. The sales slowed down a bit and with the remaining inventory, you would imagine you’d be scraping the bottom of the barrel, however the inventory still includes units with both outward views and inward on the garden space along with long awaited penthouses. The prices, however, are clearly not a first offering, with an average of $1,453 per square foot of the units in their inventory. The area is traditionally Tribeca, open and quiet. However for those units facing the West, you have the lovely view of the traffic into the Holland Tunnel. The building itself is like candy for real estate developers with its historic background, good architectural bones, stunning façade and pleasant location however what’s left comes with a cost, a big one!

Amenities

The Tribeca Summit offers every convenience any New Yorker could ask for. Along with your common 24 doorman, concierge, storage facilities, fitness room and sundeck it also offers a children’s play area, attended indoor garage and 2 internalized atriums. The units themselves also enjoy above-average amenities. The bathrooms, for example, in addition to a somewhat standard shower/soaking tub combo and large vanity area, have a tasteful marble lining. The kitchens are spacious and allow for the “triangle” of kitchen essentials which has been long forgotten in the world of Manhattan. Where most sinks and stoves are arranged on the same counter space, here you have the ability to cook from one surface, wash with the other and swing around to the third tip of the triangle to pull out your next ingredient from the Sub-Zero refrigerator. The developer also opted for your standard Miele appliance package but with one exception, a Viking stove top.

While the building itself is not “Green” it seems to have enough foliage to make up for it. The sundeck is to be completely landscaped and don’t forget about those internalized atriums. Overall, it’s hard to find a building with such great amenities without heading to the white-glove service Co-Op buildings of Sutton Place, but this condo will for sure be much hipper.

A rendering of the rooftop

Location

One of the best and worst things about Manhattan is that there seem to “pocket areas” where a desirable area lies within and undesirable one. The Tribeca Summit is a prime example of this. The area itself is open, bright, and with a casual air to it much like SoHo or the West Village. That being said, it’s only one block away in both North and East directions from the nightmare that is Holland Tunnel traffic. Regardless, the area has shopping, trendy restaurants, great public schools, and an overall calming nature to it. The area also allows for a wonderful view uptown and downtown from even low lying units. This can be seen with the rendering of the rooftop sundeck at the development’s website. Taking everything into consideration, the area is one of great interest for new developments and will surely continue the residential feel beginning to overwhelm it.

Units and Price

Up to this point I’ve been gushing positively about this building, but here is where that must end. As mentioned before the price of a unit in this building is astronomical, but expected as it’s in the last quarter of the inventory. The remaining units are, however, uniquely designed with the exception of the 2 bedrooms which are boring layouts and look onto the Holland Tunnel traffic. The architect, H. Thomas O’Hara, had a unique test with the atriums to work around. Well, he passed with flying colors on most units allowing for both atrium and outwardly views including a few units remaining. The monthlies on the building are surprisingly low most coming in around a buck and a quarter per square foot. It should be noted that the lower taxes, which all fall below the seventy-five cents per square foot mark, are lowered by the 17.5% Co-op/Condo abatement for historic preservation properties, which is rarely seen in condos. The abatement does phase out, but nothing like the 421a. If you were wanting in on this development for a low cost of the unit, that boat has sailed but the remaining units offer the same comfortable life-style, just at a higher sticker price.

Investment Potential

The investment potential for this building was obviously much higher when the conversion was announced and the price per square foot was considerably lower. Overall, with low monthly maintenance, a thriving neighborhood, and uniqueness of the building the property, values should continue to increase as much as the overall market will allow for.

Those that got in early will most likely see double digit prices increases within the next couple of years. That being said, there is still potential for the remaining units as there is still development oustanding in Tribeca. The biggest adversity to the remaining units is that with such a large input you would need to expect to live in the unit, or rather own the unit for a longer period of time to see the same return.

High standards, tasteful architecture, and quality of the building will all allow for the owners to hold high expectations for these apartments and see their prices continue to increase. As a Tribeca condo, the investment potential may seem somewhat more reminiscent of an Upper East Side Co-op. If a buyer is willing to pay the exurbanite price they should be able to cash in on the sensible monthlies and continual increase in value.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Blogroll, Tribeca Summit - 415 Greenwich Street. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.