HOTD: South Side Delusions of Grandeur
Returning from a few days vacation last night, we walked down Bedford Street from the L train and were contemplating our impending move and feeling a bit nostalgic about Williamsburg, our home for the past two years. People often misconstrue our criticisms of ugly new developments in the nabe as some kind of broader anti-Williamsburg…
Returning from a few days vacation last night, we walked down Bedford Street from the L train and were contemplating our impending move and feeling a bit nostalgic about Williamsburg, our home for the past two years. People often misconstrue our criticisms of ugly new developments in the nabe as some kind of broader anti-Williamsburg stance. Not at all. We like some aspects of Williamsburg very much–we’ll be coming back frequently to sup at Diner, that’s for sure. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re going to give a free pass to some of the ridiculous asking prices that keep popping up. The one to catch our eye today is a listing for a basic 4-story brick house on South 1st Street at Wythe Avenue. The asking price of $1.69 million seems absolutely crazy to us. There’s nothing we can see in the pictures or description to merit anywhere close to this price. What’s going on here? There’s a reference to some air rights–is this a development play? If not, we don’t see how this can be worth more than $1.1 or $1.2 million. North 7th Street this ain’t.
South 1st Street [Corcoran] GMAP
I’m sure Williamsburg is a hipper area than the West Village. Still, I would think the just-out-of-college types would most likely rent rather than buy. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the current owners get the $1,700,000.
I’m the anonymous who wrote that they could get $1.7M for it easily. I would like to defend my point:
Many young people these days who just graduated from college and want to move to NYC have their eyes set on Williamsburg. Period. For them Williamsburg is NOT a cheap alternative to the village. Williamburg is their first choice destination. They see the village as being full of old out-of-touch rich people who don’t know how to party. They see Williamsburg as full of the fun, stylish, artsy, young people that they want to associate with.
Many of these young people do have lots of money. Most of them were given it by their parents, of course. For them, $1.7M for a big house in their choice neighborhood is not a lot to spend.
Perhaps for todays market $1.7M is too much for that building. Honestly, I don’t know. However I do know that some day soon $1.7M for that house is going to seem like a total bargain.
Each generation of young people “discovers” a neighborhood and makes it their cultural center. The past few neighborhoods have been SoHo, Greenwich Village, the East Village, etc. Each time, the older generation thinks the kids are crazy for wanting to live there. It is foolish to ignore history. And it is absolutely astounding that anyone is still denying that Williamsburg is the center of chic for the 20-something crowd these days.
I don’t know if the asking price is reasonable, however:
– I think this was listed a few months ago at 1.75m; I also thought it had been sold (this from tenants who had to move out for a supposed new owner), but prop shark says otherwise.
– The additional rights probably does mean a rear extension, or a rooftop addition. This lot is being upzoned.
– The building does NOT have a roof deck, but it does have a sweet garden, and it DOES have some great views from the roof and from the top floor apartment (which has windows facing north and west in the kitchen). The views are NOT terribly threatened by waterfront development (which is too far north), but MAY be threatened by development on the same block at some point in the future (or when something happens at Domino).
Oh please. Yeah, some view- can you see the Police junkyard from the roof, or is that just a nice thing to walk past on the way to your house? Any river view will probably be blocked out by a future tall waterfront building. And a quick commute into the city? Yes, if you don’t mind being squeezed like a sardine every morning into an already overcrowded L train. As it stands now, it’s not uncommon to have to wait for 1 or 2 trains to go by before you can get on. It’ll be even better when a few more thousand people move into the anticipated luxury condos springing up around the burg. And the tractor trailors that form a long line of backed-up traffic now on Wythe (there for the forseeable future) really tops off the list of “immenities”. Feh.
are you the broker? knock it off.
“Just remember that likely buyers will see it as a bargain compared to a similar townhouse in the village.”
apples and oranges, friend. it’s not the village, and it’s located on a really icky block in a neighborhood that is, again, NOT the village.
as for the commute, this place is nowhere near the subway. finally, it DOESN’T MATTER that it is “much bigger, has better views, a yard, a potential private roofdeck, etc.” READ MY LIPS, it’s NOT in the village. YOISH.
They could get 1.7M for it easily. Just remember that likely buyers will see it as a bargain compared to a similar townhouse in the village. That part of W’burg has all of the immenities that Manhattan has, at least as quick of a commute into many parts of Manhattan, and that part Williamsburg is the choice neighborhood for many 20-something kids with trust-funds burning holes in their pockets. The whole house is still about the same price as a decent apartment in the village, and is much bigger, has better views, a yard, a potential private roofdeck, etc.
This is a joke. I can hear the bubble bursting as we speak.
sweet mother of god … we’ll see what happens. i do know of similar properties in the neighborhood can be had for roughly half the price … but without the vaunted water view. just how much time does one spend staring out the window, anyway? corcoran really sucks.
“Additional buildable rights” probably means an extension could be added in the back. Seems like a high price to me. These sellers might be getting their hand stuck in the cookie jar. Let’s see if the price comes down in October…