Condo Beat: Sky High in Boerum Hill
We all know that Boerum Hill is hot, hot, hot, what with the influx of star power and the prospect of the first retail jail in the country, but we didn’t realize it was quite this hot. This top-floor condo at Wyckoff and Smith has got killer light and a pleasing clean, simple modern finish….
We all know that Boerum Hill is hot, hot, hot, what with the influx of star power and the prospect of the first retail jail in the country, but we didn’t realize it was quite this hot. This top-floor condo at Wyckoff and Smith has got killer light and a pleasing clean, simple modern finish. But have apartment prices, even for the nicest ones, really reached $850 a square foot in this neck of the woods? As an aside, this place looks vaguely familiar–especially the custom shelving in the living room that walls off the small baby room. We’re pretty sure this place was the subject of a NY Times real estate porn piece within the last year or two.
88 Wyckoff Condo [Prudential Douglas Elliman] GMAP
A one bedroom in this beuilding sold in July 2005 for $690 a square foot.
um, how much of that square footage is hallway?
how is bar below a nuisance? its situated in the basement.
linusvanpelt: A 1BR in this building sold in November (also through Elliman) and while it wasn’t a corner property and was on a lower floor, the bedroom and living/dining room were on opposite ends of the apartment, which is a much nicer layout to me. I think it was listed at like 550,000 and was 900SF; it was not as nicely finished, but was still _very_ tasteful and needed zero work.
Anon 12:24: This is to my mind the nicest condo (dates from like 1900) in the hood and has great amenities and doesn’t have a loud bar below, but by no stretch of the imagination is 850,000 appropriate, even if it is nicely designed. Think of what 2BRs are going for in the neighborhood, or even in the heights.
It is clean and bright, but other than that I really don’t see anything remarkable about this place. What am I missing?
2 blocks south on Smith St. condo recently sold for just under $700 sq ft. But that is over a restaurant (Fa’an) and on wkends a nuisance nighclub -BarBelow (much as us neighbor hate it and that city does nothing about it) – in newer Fedders bldg that doesn’t have the nice common spaces (not even sure if has elevator).
I think this is much much nicer building (with nice quiet bank downstairs).
So, um…I have to ask. Just what do they consider to be comparables here, to justify this price and $/sqft?
After all, even forgetting a rational marketplace for a moment, bank appraisers stick to hard and even comparables, in deciding how much of a property to underwrite in a mortgage. They can’t price this above someone else’s ability to get a mortgage underwritten, and realistically expect it to sell.
So just how does someone here make the jump from..eh..mayyyybe $725/sqft clear up to $850 sqft with an awkward layout, relatively basic finishes, and a location right down the block from the projects?
Someone please spill the beans, I am all ears. What other properties (recent sales etc) do they consider to be comparables to support this valuation?
This should be amusing.
anon 10:55 makes a good point. We (me included) focus a lot on retail and other “amenities” but spending a few bucks on Fresh Direct pales in comparison to the cost of tuition. Sure, some people will use private schools anyway, but money’s money and money is fungible and anything you spend on private school is de facto not available for a mortgage payment. That said, not sure if the school here is an asset or not.
As for this place (which yes, is probably not for someone with school-age kids) — I think the design commands a premium, but not this much of one.
First off, this is a really great building (okay, I’m partial because I live in it) with a nice gym/steam/sauna, a nice common roofdeck, great security (keyed-elevator for floor access) and a fantastic super. The ceilings in this apartment are very high (mine are 10-11′, which is the standard I think) and this is a corner apt. with tons of light, especially in the massive living room. It’s a condo with low taxes and the building runs _very_ smoothly. All positives.
Still, this is just a large 1-BR, which isn’t suitable for a family, so the school access doesn’t enter into the picture (and the public schools nearby aren’t anything to write home about). It’s a lovely apartment, but 850K seems astronomical to me, and I live in the building!