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October 20, 2009

Condo of the Day: 55 Berry Street, #5D

55 Berry is positively old-school when it comes to the condo-ization of Williamsburg—some listings at the converted knitting factory came on the market as long ago as late 2005. This particular 1,168-square-foot loft on the fifth floor has been kicking around since then, with its asking price getting as high as $930,000 in early 2006 before selling somewhere south of that in 2007. Halstead got the listing for the resale last month and just trimmed the asking price last week to $839,000. We love this kind of large-windowed, high-ceilinged space. Bachelor paradise.
55 Berry Street, #5D [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
Building photo from Curbed

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I'm confused - is this a resale?

Regardless - I'm sure someone will chime in that there's 100,000 condo units coming on the market in Williamsburg in the next 5 minutes so this place is only worth 50 bucks.

However - sales (both new and resales) in unique conversions have been doing well (Gretsch, Mill, Mason Fisk)

800k sounds good to me

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 12:46 PM

I saw the five clocks and immediately thought of this:

"It had suddenly got dark; I heard some rapid and almost secret footsteps up above; I raised my eyes and saw a boy running along the narrow and broken path as if it were a narrow and broken wall. I remember his baggy gaucho trousers, his rope-soled shoes, I remember the cigarette in his hard face, against the now limitless storm cloud. Bernardo cried to him unexpectedly: "What time is it, Ireneo?" Without consulting the sky, without stopping, he replied: "It's four minutes to eight, young Bernardo Juan Francisco." His voice was shrill, mocking."

~"Funes the Memorious", Jorge Luis Borges

Posted by: infinitejester at October 20, 2009 12:49 PM

- Currently set up as a one bedroom, this space can be easily converted to a one bedroom plus home office.

NO!!
Currently set up as a STUDIO with a home office that's being used as a windowless bedroom, can be converted to a legal one-bedroom plus home office.

Posted by: brownjokester at October 20, 2009 12:54 PM

If you happen to catch wind of which bachelor ends up here please send him my way. I personally don't know of any with taste this good.

Posted by: herkimermaid at October 20, 2009 1:08 PM

@ $650 psf, it's $759,200. apparently no central air, so points off for that. great location, so add back a couple of points. not a real 2 bedroom, points off again. pics look nice though.

Posted by: wine lover at October 20, 2009 1:08 PM

suprised you didn't mention what a hard time this building had selling... curbed used to gossip about it weekly...

http://curbed.com/tags/55-berry

many people bought apartments there that are worth less now... not sure how much this person paid though, too lazy to look it up...

Posted by: sender9999 at October 20, 2009 1:16 PM

It's also available to rent @ 3,200, which is actually cheaper than most newer 2 bedrooms around here (granted most others have 2br/2ba and this only has one bath)

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 1:18 PM

if you got Manhattan ppty to trade in, this price is cheap and easy to rationalize. I suspect that's why Dumbo is able to sell so many of those loft units at lofty prices - ie if one sells pad in tribeca before buying in dumbo, dumbo prices are dirty cheap. I suspect that's what's going to happen to this one - sells close to ask.

Posted by: more4less at October 20, 2009 1:19 PM

Very nice, large studio that could be remodeled to b a less-than-ideal one-bedroom. No more than $660K and it has to be the right person (not even sure a couple would want this space).

Posted by: BH76 at October 20, 2009 1:28 PM

It's a studio apartment in a area in which condo prices are crashing fast and have a ways to go. 500K max.

Posted by: shillstoner at October 20, 2009 1:30 PM

Horribly overpriced. For $820,000, I could buy a real 2 bedroom, 25% larger, at the Gretsch. No wonder they have difficulties. It's also a less desirable long and narrow layout with windows on one end. You could come from Manhattan with a large downpayment, want to live in Williamsburg, and yet know how to compare listings.

Posted by: Maly at October 20, 2009 1:32 PM

Does the owner wear 5 watches when not at home?

Posted by: etson at October 20, 2009 1:32 PM

"It's a studio apartment in a area in which condo prices are crashing fast and have a ways to go. 500K max."

Too bad all those jerkoffs with 5 million dollar studio apartments in Soho didn't consult with you first.

It's a loft. And I'm sure this may come as a shock to most of you Brooklyn breeders, but not everyone has kids and needs 5 bedrooms.

But hey - Trojans are only 99% effective, better buy a brownstone in Bed Stuy just incase.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 1:38 PM

Fine, but wouldn't you single-forever hipsters like to have a game room or craft room to hide your most precious possessions (whether WoW dedicated computer or hand made yarn from Tibet), when you invite all your hipster friends for all night parties?
I am just saying, your needs might evolve.

Posted by: Maly at October 20, 2009 1:49 PM

Maly, don't underestimate how some people (with the massive "easy come easy go" Manhattan home appreciation equity) can spend very loosely on ppties. For many of us who look at that price and compare that to our salary, we get sticker shock and find it super expensive. but for someone who stumbled onto $1M-1.5M easy gains on a tribeca loft, overprice just never enters their head when they stare at this unit (ie doesn't even trigger a quick mkt comparable search)

Posted by: more4less at October 20, 2009 1:50 PM

Fair enough Maly - regardless

500k though? Fair comp would be in today's "Last week's biggest sales"

The unit in the mason fisk a block away closed for 750/psf and it also doesn't have 2 real bedrooms (1 real and one home office)

There was also a similar unit in mill that traded a couple months ago for close to 800 psf i believe.

I agree with you about Gretsch - but many people believe Berry/N9th >>>>> Broadway/Wythe (I personally don't)

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 1:58 PM

I think most people play WoW on the easily concealed laptop these days, Maly. But yeah, no idea why you'd BUY this for $800K-plus when you could rent it for $3200. And speaking of that, wow (no pun) but rental prices in Williamsburg seem to be falling quite impressively.

Posted by: Heather at October 20, 2009 2:04 PM

- hand made yarn from Tibet

LOL
Is that what they're collecting these days?

Posted by: brownjokester at October 20, 2009 2:05 PM

"And speaking of that, wow (no pun) but rental prices in Williamsburg seem to be falling quite impressively."

Absolutely wrong Heather - I'm officially priced out. What are you basing that on? My landlord just raised the price of my current apartment I'm moving out of 30% and it rented in a day.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 2:08 PM

Sorry - rents Grand L stop and out are falling. Bedford and Lorimer are up at least 15% from 2 years ago.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 2:11 PM

dh, that's incredible.

Have a friend who moved into a three-bedroom in East W., near the Morgan stop. Huge loft, finished roof deck, elevator. Not sure the price but I was very impressed.

Posted by: infinitejester at October 20, 2009 2:26 PM

* - represents current apartment configuration, which may not conform to official legal documentation. Purchasers should consult with professionals to determine legal use parameters.

Dooooooooshy.

Posted by: MAT at October 20, 2009 2:49 PM

Ugh, dh, that sucks. I'm basing it on the fact that when we were looking for a new place in 2007 that much space on the northside was at least $4500 and we quite literally couldn't even find a 2-bedroom for $3K or under. (We did want under, a lot under.)And not just new construction, there wasn't anything much in the old construction, non-renovated railroad apartmentland either.

But a neighborhood like Williamsburg will probably always have strong demand at the lower end of its rental market, so there's probably more pressure there to raise the rents -- even if stuff in the higher end isn't moving at all. There will always be another recent college grad looking to pay $1200/month for a share. That's probably in the city charter.

Anyways, I guess I really have no idea.

Posted by: Heather at October 20, 2009 2:51 PM

haha jester - incredible, and infuriating.

There's some cool stuff and good deals out near Morgan. Roomies can still find a good sized spot and pay under 1k per person.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 2:51 PM

DH, guess you had way sweeter deal than you realized with your pad

Posted by: more4less at October 20, 2009 3:01 PM

"Anyways, I guess I really have no idea"

Sorry if I sounded hostile - I've just been very frustrated with my current search!!

It's just a weird market as the higher end stuff is priced so high and isn't really moving, but there is such a low inventory of the regular stuff (the avg williamsburg railroad in an ugly house)

2 years ago it seemed like u could get a decent 1 bedroom for 1600-1700 and that seems to be around 1900-2100 now for northside (there's still garbage out there for 1800ish however)

Posted by: dirty_hipster at October 20, 2009 3:04 PM

"some listings at the converted knitting factory came on the market as long ago as late 2005"

first units went on the market in march or april 2005, fwiw.

Posted by: longtime wburger at October 20, 2009 5:37 PM

I hear you, I was frustrated with my apartment search over there too. That's how we ended up in Clinton Hill. Or Fort Greene. (I think we're on the Clinton Hill side of the street.) You should look over here, I see postings in the 1600-2K range in the parent website messageboards all the time. It is also, actually a lot nicer here -- although I miss the restaurant options.

Posted by: Heather at October 20, 2009 6:08 PM

i love the gretsch, but this nabe is better for many reasons if you have kids, and i still think that many buyers are couples with kids or thinking about it.

north williamsburg in the 94th precinct west of the BQE is always going to be priced highest per psf although i'm not saying that this price won't come down - it will.

Posted by: wine lover at October 20, 2009 8:32 PM

« Last Week's Biggest Sales House of the Day: 65 Prospect Park West, Reduced »

October 20, 2009

Condo of the Day: 55 Berry Street, #5D

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