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. 

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Blogroll. 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.