Thursday, September 23, 2010

☞ DWELL: The Fitzgerald Condominiums



We have been taken a look at the condo market each Thursday and The Fitzgerald (257 West 117th Street) has been on the radar since it was one of the first boutique style constructions that arrived in Harlem around the end of 2007. According to Streeteasy, out of the building's 47 units, most of the 17 that sold in 2008 was at full asking price but by 2009, only 3 units would close with around 8% price cuts: LINK

Summer 2010 apparently was the time buyers looking for deals came back to market since 6 units just closed at that time and a $1.6 million sale just went through this month. Add on the 1 unit sale in early spring and the building total is now at 28. Average price chops seem to be around the 7% mark with one extreme cut of 16% this year (there's also 1 recent contract out). Common charges range from $700-$1,600 per month depending on the size of the units and recent sales seem to be roughly around the $500 per square foot mark.

The buildings is less than a block away from the shops at FDB/8th Avenue and the B,C train at 116th Street. Anyone seen the apartments in this building? www.theFitzgeraldCondos.com

7 comments:

  1. "sales seem to be roughly around the $500 per square foot mark".
    -
    unless of course you're interested in the penthouse the original buyer is try'in to get out of @ $1,166 ppsf or a cool $2.1M

    "There is custom lighting and a stunning chandelier. More than $40,000 was spent on the sound system alone. More than $200,000 was spent on upgrades to this home".

    http://www.uppermanhattaninfo.com/homepage.htm?in_listing=5732891&ref=Trulia

    $2.1 or anything close will NEVER happen. Good grief, some context, the crown jewel of condos in Harlem, 111 CPN, last year had a bigger apartment, #3B sell for $671 ppsf ($1.3M). $2.1M to live at the Fitgerald, or $1.3M to live at 111CPN. That's a hard one.

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  2. There he is! What's up Reynolds? A lot happening on FDB right now. In five years it could well be considered the golden mile of NYC. If I were you, I would get in now before you miss out.

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  3. I saw a couple units in this building and was unimpressed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this building is not a totally new construction but rather a renovation of some stripe? Anyway, I wasn't impressed. This building is short on amenities: the rooftops are given over to the penthouses and the cellar space to the ground-floor duplexes, so there's no hope for a gym, playroom, common storage, bike room, roofdeck, etc. Also, many of the units that are being sold as new have been rented for one or more years -- the floors of the apts I saw definitely showed the wear. 500psf sounds all right, but why you'd pay even close to the 600+ they're asking with the douglass, livmor etc right around the corner is beyond me.

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  4. **A reminder that USER NAMES are needed for comments to stay permanent on current threads.

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  5. Chris, no offense, but as a casual reader of this blog I find your constant cheerleading to be as annoying as Renolds constant negative realism. It is so predictable that either one of you are going to pop up on nearly every blog that with the tell tale blind optimism or the jaded pessimism. probably both have some validity, but they are equally non contributing.

    I also went to the fitzgerald and visited the units. As someone who works in construction, I was very dissapointed by the construction. The hallways feel kind of medium quality hotel like.The finishes on the floors, molding and fixtures were sort of cheap looking, unlevel, and poor quality. when I pointed this out to the broker, she indicated "yeah you can have a punchlist if you buy an apartment".

    Unfortunatly many of the condos on the "gold coast" are this kind of construction. Many will say that is the case across all of manhattan, but that certainly does not make these "luxury" units in harlem really stand out as being "the golden mile"

    If we are lucky, all of these units will fill up, with or without price drops, and more people will move to the neighborhood. Which will at least improve the possibilty of a customer base for the few better quality businesses moving into the neighborhood, and perhaps bring more. And if we are really lucky maybe it will expand this development more north of 125th and onto st nick, and lower lenox.

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  6. Occasional poster, it was a tongue-in-cheek response to Reynold's initial post. Thought that was pretty obvious! Cheerleading? I'm from the UK, we don't do that.

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  7. The fitzgerald was a gut renovated building so they were not left with much they could do with it. I live at the Livmor and was actually comparing notes with some neighbors last night as it seems all of us had looked at all of the buildings. All the construction in the buildings leaves something to be desired, including the Livmor. It just comes down to personal preferance and what you are looking for. I for one was looking for amenities and my 5 year old daughter loves the playroom.

    I know someone who lives in a duplex in the fitzgerald and they basically rebuilt their whole apartment.

    I would not cheer the neighhborhood yet, nor would i trash. I would say based on the mix i see in my own building, you are finding a mix of ethnicity and ages. It bodes well for the future and since even though the prices are less then lets say the UWS you still need money and if we all reinvest in the neighborhood in terms of going out to local restaurants, etc, the area will grow over time.

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