SOLD & CLOSED MANHATTAN CONDOS

Selected May closings downtown:

130 West 30th Street $2.485 mil 2077 sf $1196 per sf
415 Greenwich Street $3.325 mil 2466 sf $1348 per sf
80 John Street $997,200 1177 sf $847 per sf
16 West 19th Street $555,000 460 sf $1207 per sf
217 Second Avenue $1.485 mil 1354 sf $1097 per sf
95 Green Street $1.754 mil 1201 sf $1460 per sf
472 Broadway $1.28 mil 1109 sf $1154 per sf

42nd STREET

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SOLD & CLOSED MANHATTAN CONDOS

APRIL CLOSINGS: Source: Public Records
43 East 30th St $995k 919 sf $1083 per sf
20 Pine Street $1.735 mil 1275 sf $1361 per sf
210 Lafayette St $1.45 mil 762 sf $1903 per sf*
280 Park Ave So $1.125 mil 810 sf $1389 per sf
211 Madison Ave $1.57 mil 1800 sf $872 per sf

*To answer your thoughts - yes, was double checked and yes this number is correct. It sold one year ago for $1.3 mil.

AHHH - A SIESTA OF SORTS?

Crains York Business is reporting today that the number of permitted residential units fell 69% in Manhattan. Developers are saying the most important reason is the negative credit environment making it difficult for developers to find financing. Go to Crains for the complete story. crainsnewyork.com

THE BIG YELLOW CASTLE

photo courtesy AP

AKA as the American Embassy in Baghdad. The site is composed of 21 buildings and a huge swimming pool on 104 acres of land. It cost $750 million to build. Breaking that down to numbers Manhattanites can directly relate to it comes out to $721,153 a an acre in the desert, or only $16.56 per square foot. What a bargain! To further illuminate this purchase we ask approximately how much did each US taxpayer contribute? In 2005 the IRS reported 99,880,223 taxpayers, so that will make it around 75 cents per taxpayer. Looks like a very sound investment, but do we own this land? Is it a land lease? Eminent Domain? Do we have an investment or is this a contribution to the city of Baghdad? If we vacate who gets the lease? Say we took the 75 cents and spent it on US elementary public school education how would that change our culture? Anyway, for a good article on the largest embassy in the world jump over to the article from the Christian Science Monitor.

WEST BROADWAY

VIEW FROM A LOFT IN 261 BROADWAY

SOLD AND CLOSED - MANHATTAN

April 2008 Transactions

125 West 21st Street $1.14 mil 992 sf $1149 per sf
173 Perry Street $5.15 mil 1853 sf $2779 per sf
211 West Broadway $1.975 mil 1263 sf $1564 per sf
200 Chambers Street $2.525 mil 1685 sf $1499 per sf
2101 Broadway $1.225 mil 867 sf $1413 per sf
299 West 12th Street $980k 585 sf $1675 per sf

MADISON SQUARE PARK

SOLD & CLOSED MANHATTAN

CLOSINGS MARCH & APRIL 2008 SOURCE:Public Records

140 Seventh Avenue $596,000 517 sf $1153 per sf
71 Nassau Street $960,000 892 sf $1076 per sf
80 Elizabeth Street $879,670 656 sf $1341 per sf
260 West Broadway $2.3 mil 1334 sf $1724 per sf
19-21 Leonard Street $2,633,856 2137 sf $1233 per sf
125 West 21st Street $1,039,900 605 sf $1719 per sf
303 Greenwich Street $850,000 698 sf $1218 per sf
147 Waverly Place $5.750 mil 3350 sf $1716 per sf

If you'd like a quick but thorough look at the past 10 years of sales activity for coops and condos in Manhattan, jump here for Jonathan Miller's Market Reports then scroll down to Manhattan Market Report 1998-2007.

HERCULES, MERCURY & MINERVA

Grand Central Station April 2008

REAL ESTATE + MANHATTAN = ANOMALY

If you want to know what's going on in the world of US real estate the best place to go is Jonathan Miller's blog - Matrix.

All the voices of consequence are posted and discussed in detail here. A couple items to motivate your jump are the S&P/CASE-SHILLER HOME PRICES, a summary of the one year change in the nationwide markets. Leading the list on the downside (bad news first) is Las Vegas (aka Lost Wages) tied with Miami at a minus 19.3%. The good news is steamy Charlotte at a plus (and the only plus on the entire list) of 1.8%. New York comes in number eight at a minus 5.8%. This number is deceiving because it lumps together all five boroughs. Taken separately it's a whole different story.

BTW coming in second to Charlotte at .5% is one of our most beautiful cities, Portland, Oregon. Wind surfing capital (Columbia River), Mt. Hood as the backdrop and oh those rose gardens - so beautiful and fragrant, it's heaven.

Enter Manhattan market - Market Overview 1Q 08. "Jump in prices as number of sales fall." This pretty much sums it up. The median sales price gained 13.2% from the prior quarter! Read and believe.

Thank you Jonathan Miller, you are truly a chart master - when we read this stuff it makes instant sense, endless parsing not necessary!

OBAMA IN NASHUA NH JANUARY 5TH 2008

SOLD AND CLOSED - MANHATTAN

The Grand Madison 225 Fifth Avenue

CLOSINGS IN THE PAST SEVEN DAYS:
11 E 29th St $1.6 mil 1596 sf $1003 per sf
1 Morton Square $2.825 mil 1500 sf $1883 per sf
80 John St $720k 708 sf $1017 per sf
210 Lafayette St $1.9 mil $1150 per sf
225 Fifth Ave $4 mil 1922 sf $2081 per sf *I represented the owner on this transaction
252 Seventh Ave $1.15 mil 979 sf $1175 per sf
525 W 22nd St $3.52 mil 3000 sf $1173 per sf

SOLD AND CLOSED - MANHATTAN

CLOSED IN FEBRUARY 2008:

155 Perry St $2 mil 1373 sf $1457 per sf
280 Park Ave So $1,305,000 892 sf $1463 per sf
11 E 29th St $1.66 mil 1596 sf $1040 per sf
5 E 22nd St $1.5 mil 900 sf $1667 per sf
260 Park Ave So $3.425 mil 2525 sf $1356 per sf
184 Thompson St $1.05 mil 875 sf $1200 per sf
140 Charles St $1.125 mil 713 sf $1578 per sf
225 Lafayette St $2.885 mil 2048 sf $1409 per sf

URBAN ROOFTOPS

MANHATTAN
BAGHDAD

THE CLOCK TOWER

SOHO BUILDINGS

Broadway between Prince and Spring Streets.