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June 23, 2009

Apartment for Rent at Meier's OPP

OPP-rental-0609.jpg
This ain't going to help sales at On Prospect Park, the glassy Richard Meier-designed condo building overlooking Grand Army Plaza: As of this week, you can now rent a 1,241-square-foot two-bedroom in the building for just $4,000 per month, less than the mortgage payment on this 1,195-square-foot unit that's listed as being in contract for $850,000 and less than half of what it would cost you to underwrite the purchase of this 1,272-square-foot pad. So either this rental's a great deal or the sale listing is way overpriced. Or, as we suspect is the case, both.
1 Grand Army Plaza Rental [Douglas Elliman]
On Prospect Park: Is Anybody Home? [Brownstoner] GMAP
OPP Floats Some 'Limited Availability Pricing' [Brownstoner]




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:01 AM | Comments (20)
Categories: Prospect Heights, Rentals

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Comments

this place reminds me of the new Yankee Stadium - beautiful but real bad timing...hopefully it can survive until the next bull market...4K for a brand new 1200 SF Apt. seems pretty sweet though...

Posted by: 7182713 at June 23, 2009 11:15 AM

They seem to be selling many of the properties at the back of the building as well as on higher floors. From walking by there, however, the low floor units that are on Plaza Steet East are not selling.

Of course that makes total sense. The glass looks nice, but who would want to be in the units where pedestrians gaze in?

Posted by: havelc at June 23, 2009 11:43 AM


I really really wish that one day I can even imagine thinking $4000 per month is a "sweet deal." $38/sq ft annually.

But since that may actually exceed my take home pay (actually, it certainly does), I'm thinking "sweet" is not quite the term that comes to mind.

Posted by: tybur6 at June 23, 2009 11:45 AM

As a corollary to havelc's comment... are you restricted as to what type of curtains you're allowed to hang in your windows?

Posted by: tybur6 at June 23, 2009 11:49 AM

Rents all over are dropping. We've been paying $2500 a month to rent a 2BR that's big and reasonably well-located, but that has little else going for it.

Now I'm seeing that in prime neighborhoods you can get an equivalent apartment for $2000 or around two-thirds the monthly payment it would cost to own it (mortgage plus maintenance). And that's not even counting your having sunk $70 or $100K into a downpayment.

I think the uneven ratio between sale prices and rents shows that the former still have a long way to fall.

Posted by: zuleika at June 23, 2009 11:50 AM

"are you restricted as to what type of curtains you're allowed to hang in your windows?"

Yes, from what I have heard second hand (mentioned in a discussion about something else with a broker).

Posted by: etson at June 23, 2009 11:52 AM

Oddly enough, Streeteasy only shows one active sales listing for the building, one in contract, one for rent and 50 as sold.

I wonder where the rest are? Or maybe when they combined to make larger units, there aren't anymore? That wouldn't seem right would it...?

Posted by: 11217 at June 23, 2009 12:01 PM

"are you restricted as to what type of curtains you're allowed to hang in your windows?"

There are built-in shade pockets and shades from what i've seen walking by.....

Posted by: squaredrive at June 23, 2009 12:04 PM

Wow. I heard they combined a lot of units, but I don't know how many/how to confirm. I have also seen more people moving into the back/St. Johns Place-facing side, which I think would be less attractive, view-wise, than the Plaza St. East side. (But maybe cheaper?)

Posted by: meerkatz at June 23, 2009 12:10 PM

At least from what Streeteasy suggests their absorbsion rate is, I don't think the building can rent out properties... this must be someone who bought one renting it out.

Posted by: havelc at June 23, 2009 12:23 PM

Maybe they could sell some of the apartments if someone took 5 minutes to pull up the weeds that have quickly taken over the supposedly landscaped areas in front.
Doesn't bode well for the overall management of the place. . . but what do you expect for a mere $2M?

Posted by: ontheparkway at June 23, 2009 12:36 PM

I think the mortgage on the $850,000 place would be less than $4000/month if you put 20% down. Granted with maintenance you'd be well over that, so the original point still stands...

zuleika, your $2000 for a 2 bedroom in prime neighborhoods sounds low...not sure what you're calling prime

Posted by: woodys at June 23, 2009 12:42 PM

"you can now rent a 1,241-square-foot two-bedroom in the building for just $4,000 per month, less than the mortgage payment"

...mortgage payment PLUS loss (downpayment, cash at close, etc.) divided by months of occupied ownership.

No. This is not good.

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at June 23, 2009 12:43 PM

And for $4000/mo, you can get a similar sized pre-war on 116th/Manhattan Ave in Harlem. In Manhattan!

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at June 23, 2009 12:44 PM

You can't really compare OPP to anything else in Brooklyn.

Sure 1,000psf is high for Brooklyn as is 4k per month rent - but compared to other Meier buildings at 3,000psf and 15k per month rent - it is a bargain.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at June 23, 2009 12:58 PM

Are the floors of the balconies glass too? I don't want anyone looking up my shorts!!

Posted by: tybur6 at June 23, 2009 1:21 PM

What gets me is that the maintenance on this apartment is $1400 / month so for renter and owner it's truly a win / lose.

Posted by: gagneur at June 23, 2009 1:29 PM

"You can't really compare OPP to anything else in Brooklyn."

Oh yeah? Apparently, prospective buyers are doing just that. What's confirmed % sold?

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at June 23, 2009 1:44 PM

@woodys: If I am remembering correctly from my surfing of Craigslist last night, there are more than a few 2BRs at around $2000 -- $2100 (some w/heat and hot water included) in Park Slope, plus some just across 4th Ave in Gowanus and Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill. If you go to Bed-Stuy or Crown Heights or PLG, the rents are another $500 lower.

Posted by: zuleika at June 23, 2009 1:47 PM

Did this apartment really close at 850K? Streeteasy said sold at 1,450,000, i think. It's unit 11a.

Posted by: fffresh at July 9, 2009 10:57 PM

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