I met some members of the 15 MSN sales team at the Luxury Living Expo this past Sunday at the Puck Building.  We’ve been big fans of this project and the Madison Square Park story for a while.  When we originally blogged about the project Phase I was almost sold out (in about six months) and we were starting to get reader inquiries about phase II.  Naturally, these units are spectacular and the prices reflect that.  As of Sunday there are twelve units remaining from the original offering of almost 80 fabulous homes. 

The A and B lines, with direct Madison Square Park exposures are clearly the most desirable.  They are also the most expensive.  9B is a massive 3,236 foot three bedroom priced at $5.75M.  The same unit on the 13th floor is listed at $6.125M and on 15th floor for $6.4M.  The listing description on Corcoran refers to it as a ‘loft’ because the living/dining area is 600 feet.  If the direct park view isn’t urgent for you, try the F line available on 9, 13, and 15 as well listed between $3.275M and $3.75M.  These apartments are also three bedrooms but have ‘smaller’ (still spacious) layouts at 2,390 feet.  There are four one bedrooms left, two on the fourteenth floor and two on the fifteenth floor.  There is also a huge two bedroom (convertible to three) with direct park views available.  All of these units are very large and have been tastefully converted. 

Over the past six months I’ve spoken with many readers about the incredible gentrification of the Madison Square Park neighborhood.  One Madison Park really raised the bar in this neighborhood with average asking prices well over $2,000 per foot. 

15 Madison Square North isn’t far off with most unit prices ranging from $1,500-$2,000/foot.  Units with direct park views are even pricier.  Some New Yorkers may recall the 1980′s when Madison Square Park was not just unpopular, but dangerous to some extent.  It really wasn’t until the mid 90′s when communities formed to improve the area.  The movement has succeeded and sales of new projects around Madison Square Park have, for the most part, been very brisk. 

I have observed that during the first quarter of 2008, sales in buildings just north of Madison Square Park haven’t been doing quite as well as those buildings directly on the park.  It’s a phenomenon that has plagued several new developments that find space near a great neighborhood but are just a block or two ‘off the mark.’  Prices have come down for some of these projects and we’ve had several buyers succeed in a 5% or more negotiation in ask price.  This really didn’t happen even six months ago when most negotiations resulted in concessions of some part of the closing costs rather than a reduction in sales price.  This is probably a sign of the recently struggling economy which has, for the most part, passed over the new condo market thanks to Europeans scooping up apartments for a deep discount. 

We visited Loft 25 on Friday and had a chance to see the construction progress since we originally started coverage a few months back. Closings have started in part of the building and the majority of units should be complete by June. This is a bit later than original estimates but not terrible. There are 21 apartments listed on the current availability sheet out of an original offering of 79 units. They are basically 75% sold and prices have increased since the sales office first opened.

The developments consists of a ‘loft building’ which has some really great units and a smaller glass-clad attached building which is not lofty at all. The smaller building is an opportunity for first-time home buyers who are looking to live in West Chelsea but don’t want to shell out the big bucks for some of the more premier developments. The advantage is that you get access to the building’s amenities even if you don’t choose to live in the Loft section of the building. This smaller building has four units remaining: 3J, 4J, 5K, and 6K. The K line faces the street and both units have treetop views. They also have views of the massive housing project across the street. The J line faces the back which isn’t much of a view but does get light shining over London Terrace Gardens.

The loft units are certainly impressive with 12’+ ceilings and truly unique kitchens. That building still has about 17 units left (most layouts still available) which range in size from about 1,200 feet to 2,000. Some have home offices and all of the one-beds have two baths. The building is not that tall but it is wide and many of the units have partial river views and a piece of the skyline. We don’t love the lack of an abatement (because it’s a conversion) but the prices per square foot here are considerably more reasonable than most of their hi-line neighbors.

We’re not sure yet how much, if at all, Loft 25 is negotiating on the ask prices.

James

Here at the NY Condo Blog we consider 15 CPW to be the best condo project to rise in Manhattan in a very long time.  We rated it #1 on our top 100 condos list and believe it could be decades before a project of this magnitude hits the market again.  We’d like to thank Adam Bonislawski for mentioning our blog last Sunday in the print edition of the New York Post.  So why am I doing another post about this building, even though it sold out and closings are well underway?  The Real Deal did such a great story on the building this month, tracking over 80 buyers who have already closed, that we had to reitereate some highlights from that story.

Clearly the resident roster boasts some uber-exclusive names.  Included in that list are almost 10 current and former Goldman Sachs employees.  The explanation for this, besides those insanely large bonuses we read about each year, is that developer Zeckendorf partnered with Goldman’s Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds to raise money for the project.  The relationship likely resulted in a certain awareness of what a valuable investment opportunity this property would ultimately become.  I’m sure many of these people bought in 2005 and 2006, and are now realizing a 50-100% return on their investment.  Who else bought?  Following the theme of financial powerhouses, Sandy & Joan Weill bought two units in the building a few months ago, representing some of the last sales before the project sold out.  One of Weill’s units is a penthouse in the smaller ’house’ tower of the building.  It happens to have the most outdoor space of any unit in the building.  Real estate brokers bought in the building as well including the famous Bobby Browne of Corcoran Group ($2.7M 2-bed) and Dorothy Somekh, a senior vice president at Halstead.  Dorothy actually bought the apartment directly above Sandy & Joan Weill’s smaller 6th floor apartment.  These broker purchases strike as brilliant business moves in addition to personal investments.  If Brown or Somekh can cuddle up with hundreds of millionaire buyers, they are destined to get referrals and make more huge commissions in the future. 

Everybody has been talking about Bob Costas’s purchase in the building.  Even though he dropped $10.8M, he’s only on the 8th floor of the building.  Fortunately, he chose a C-line which has direct park exposures.  Remember, the development has a ‘house’ section which is about 20 stories, and then the ‘tower’ section which rises another 23 stories up.  Other C-line purchasers include Jeff Gordon, the famous NASCAR driver who bought apartment 7C directly under Mr. Costas.  Unit 12C went to Richard Cantor, a former financial powerhouse who is now active in the New York elite scene.  His wife Pam, 15 years younger, is a distinguished psychiatrist.

The D-line in the tower section of the building is a corner layout which clears the lower tower and has dramatic views.  These fetched some of the highest prices in the building and went to distinguished buyers including Steven Hoffman of Millennium Partners, Alan Shuch (another Goldman guy), Zachary Schreiber, yet another financial guru, and political cartoonist Ranan Lurie. 

Some of the very most expensive units in the building went to Google exec Omid Kordestani, who dropped $30M on his unit and George Meng, an import-export powerhouse and survivor of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Meng bought apartment 37D for about $12M, now probably worth twice that.  Penthouse 39 went to Danile Loeb, a wealthy hedge fund manager but not the richest guy in the building by any means. 

This list only covers a handful of the buyers.  As closings continue to happen, we will continue to get public records filed with the city with information about the purchasers.   For now, we have a condo building which is easily the most succesful project of my lifetime.  Thank you Real Deal for running this great story which inspired my post.

James

Walking towards the newly opened hotel from 61st Street.  All the windows above are for the condos.  The hotel windows are neatly tucked in the back facing south into 9 West 57th and over 5th Avenue.

I remember the old hotel like it was yesterday.  I hosted my 21st birthday in a two-bedroom park-view suite and invited 30 of my friends to join me.  The suite had a circular breakfast nook in the corner which faced northwest over Central Park.  It’s incredible to me that three years has passed since Elad Properties shut the place down to monetize it once and for all.  The Plaza opened its doors finally on Saturday, March 1st and I finally had a chance to walk inside and take a look around.  Glitzy, glamorous, spacious–everything looked good at a glance and I even felt for a moment like I was in the old place.  But upon some further investigation, it’s really not the same at all.It should be noted that the legendary Palm Court has already re-opened for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but many new additions to the Plaza are not ready yet.  That includes the full retail collection (most likely opening in May) and the spa, salon, and fitness center.  The Oak Room and Bar is also planning to re-open in the next few months.

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