A mystery townhouse shell at 254 West 121st Street has finally sold according to a tip received and public records confirm that the building officially exchanged ownership for the price of $895K. The house is part of a handsome set from apparently the same architect and the just-restored neighbor at number 260 was sold back in 2010 for $1.1 million :
LINK. This shell in a prime South Harlem location has been empty for about 24 years and now the former SRO appears to be finally getting the proper treatment. Apparently the new owners have already received financing for the renovations so expect this last house in the row to be cleaned up in the next few months.
Very exciting times, great location!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a helluva lot of $ for a shell in this economy. At least I think so.
ReplyDeleteAfter 24 years, the neighbors must feel this is divine intervention.
ReplyDeleteAbout time the owner sold the shell. He's had it on the market at least 3 times in the five years I've lived on W.121st and never seemed either a real seller or was simply unrealistic on $. The house is the last abandoned/ boarded up place on 121st, so it'll be nice to have another homeowner who cares on the street.
ReplyDelete@ Sanou's Mum: I think the price is realistic, at least when you project the potential, when you look at nearby comparables. There are 5-6 brownstones on the market currently on W. 120, W. 121 and W. 122 streets - and they're all priced at $2.65mm+. So if you buy a shell at $875k, put $300k per floor for a high-end gut reno (assuming you can keep some of the original detail) and the total cost comes out to be $1.8-2.2mm. Which is still a ton of money, but better than buying a renovated place from someone else. The brownstones I've seen here that are going for $1.6-1.8mm all require a fair amount of work and investment. I'm just glad I bought a while ago!
ReplyDelete@HHH. Yeah. Maybe. Building four up from me that was not abandoned but is being gut renovated went for around 7.9. Not a significant building. Twin to mine which had been gut renovated also. I redid a lot of it but at least the roof and mechanicals were new and we didn't need to pull wire.
ReplyDeleteBut congrats to the block. We still have more than a couple of derelict buildings here on 119th
Remember that this house also abuts a community garden, so, in the renovation, they could punch windows in that wall to get a lot more light without fear that the windows will later be blocked up. That's got to be worth a $50k premium on a similar house elsewhere. Still sounds like they slightly overpaid, but not by a big margin.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem high, especially considering the fact that it is not 20 feet wide. The Seller sold to someone obtaining a 203K renovation loan, which explains the higher premium. Had this been an all cash transaction, it would've have flipped for no more than $700K.
ReplyDelete@Amer, I'm not sure that owner would have ever accepted that money, even at all cash. He had a really overinflated sense of the value of that place! I wish the new owners well and hope the renovation they perform is worthy of the shell they have acquired, there are really tall ceilings in that place...
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