Buyers Assemble $2.7 Million Williamsburg Supercondo
@guest #50: Condos vs. co-ops: crass warfare
By MICHAELGROSS
Apr 10, 2011 5:59 am
Attached Media
Columnist Michael Gross delves into the differences in condos and co-ops
Click here to listen to this audio clip.
As the co-owner of three successive Manhattan co-op apartments, I was heartened by last week’s Page Six items on model-turned-TV star Tyra Banks and Yankees captain Derek Jeter and their separate tussles with their condo neighbors over out-of-control construction. Maybe, I thought, this will be a wake-up call to whoever decided that condos are worth 25% more than co-ops.
Then came the deluge of first-quarter apartment sales reports from our local realty powerhouses. Figures for inventory and median sales prices are still depressed, but the reports contained a glimmer of good news: There’s been a sharp increase in co-op closings.
Prudential Douglas Elliman reports that co-op sales were up almost 29%, while condos declined by 24%. Co-ops "are going for over ‘ask’ all over the East Side," according to Corcoran broker Robby Brown.
Could this be the trough’s silver lining?
Co-ops had long had a bad rep. Post-Lehman, as the brokers say, co-op boards got even stricter and more intrusive in vetting potential purchasers. And few are relaxing the Draconian rules—limits on borrowing and subletting, bans on purchases through trusts or LLCs, rules limiting noisy renovation work to summer months—that have made Manhattan condos seem more attractive since they first came to market in large numbers in the 1980s.
Nowadays, condo buyers tend to be foreigners, absentee owners, empty nesters and corporate types with an instant-gratification streak who want to put down as little as possible for flashy, turnkey residences that they also can get out of as fast as possible.
Co-op owners tend to be more "vested in New York," as Stribling’s Kirk Henckels puts it—more social and financially stable, and more interested in the location and architectural quality (the steak, not the starchitect sizzle) that characterize Manhattan’s best buildings, most of which are pre-World War II vintage co-ops around Central Park. Co-op buyers need "a different level of commitment," said John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens.
You can buy fashion. Style is something you earn.
None of this is entirely true, of course. Despite board oversight, my wife and I have shared co-op buildings with some seriously rotten eggs: a violent housewife, a litigious lawyer, and a PR woman who gutted her apartment without board approval and who, after moving in, spent her nights stomping through it. And these days, better condos are clad in fine limestone and exercise strict financial oversight, just like co-ops, stringing out sales to ward off undesirables. They also
Can Nicer Sidewalks and Cleaner Buildings Perk Up Westwood Village?
I was negative on the new BID as written – as it smells like the same buearocratic failure the BID was last time around (and let’s hope that the new BID won’t have massive embezzlement woes either). But now that it is here – I hope for nothing but resounding success. Job one NEEDS to be relocating the homeless. Many are aggressive and scary – and I have had friends attacked on more than on occasion. Unless the fear factor is removed – there will never be an upscale shopping segment. After that, then let’s talk street lights and pretty signs. Best to you Westwood Village – I love your cookies and movie theaters and will be rockin’ Thor at the Bruin this weekend.
Geez! What a bunch of armchair critics! This house is experimental because of it’s use of recycled material and green technology. The garage door is in keeping with the architecture. Also, the architecture is also in the tradition of it’s modernist Schindler, Harris and Morris neighbors. It’s an awesome house!
American Life announces a brand new 377 rooms Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles downtown’s LA Live entertainment district. The $118 million dollar high-rise building is scheduled for construction in March of 2012 and expected to open to the public in spring of 2014.
On His Birthday, Places Charlie Chaplin Actually Lived (We Think)
Here’s what I have on Chaplin: His first L.A. residence was the Northern Hotel @ 420 West 2nd Street in 1913. Then he moved to the Hotel Stowell (1915) and later the Alexandria. In 1916 he lived in a bungalow at 1822 Morgan (Gramercy) Place in Hollywood and in 1917 he switched to the LA Athletic Club, which is where he lived until he married Mildred Harris in 1918. He then took up the mansion in Laughlin Park that later became part of the Cecil B. De Mille estate. After the divorce, he moved to Moorcrest where he remained until 1923 when he built what has been dubbed "Breakaway House" at 1085 Summit. Aside from a brief period at 711 Beverly while the Summit house was remodeled, he remained on Summit until he moved to Switzerland. As you know, there are lots of places that claim a Chaplin pedigree, but these are the only ones that can be confirmed through reliable records.
New Downtown Target Renderings Released, New Name Announced
It’s one more thing to make Downtown Los Angeles that much more livable. I like Target, tall building, and subways. Can’t wait to pull into 7th St on the Expo Line for this. The upstairs plaza and greenspace looks like an ubercool place to hang