The Milan Condo

Horrid location. Perhaps Empire State views from top floor.

The location is great for people who work outside the city -- right on the PATH Train. The low floors have a nice view of St. Vincent's, and the street noise from 23rd is honestly very minimal between the triple-pane windows and the set-back from the balconies. The finishes in the units are top-notch.

On the other hand, I've heard several rumors about this building:
1) The condo conversion is not even approved(?)
2) The upper floors are still rentals and are going to remain rentals even after the conversion? (Doesn't make sense, I admit.)
3) The lower floors are also for rent (confirmed)

I talked to three people at Benjamin James about this building, and got three different sob stories about what is going on, at which point I ran screaming. Basically, I get the sense that this is a shaky conversion. If they straighten out whatever problems they're having, I think the apartments offer great value relative to the market if you can live with the location and don't mind a no-frills building without gym, roofdeck, or other amenities (aside from doorman). For me, all of the above are strong pluses, and the low floors actually have an interesting view. If the building is not in foreclosure next year, I'd seriously consider buying there.

I beg to differ about the location. The reality of the "view" of St. Vincents is that it is a falling apart church with woeful finances and a not-so-upscale soup kitchen that results in loitering homeless all day long and sometimes into the evening. The street is grimy and retail very mixed. Subway/PATH on corner means huge transcient foot traffic.

These may be decent units if offerred at a bargain, but to pay anything close to a premium for some nice finishes is insane. Finishes age and go out of date, but the location/bad view/tiny layouts are forever.

Point taken about the location. I understand why others may find it less than ideal, but for my situation it would be perfect.

The layouts are not that tiny, especially for the two-bedroom two-bath units that have nearly 1,000 square feet. Pricing doesn't seem that bad either. < $1M for two good-sized bedrooms, two full baths, a balcony (even if it faces 23rd St.), in-unit laundry, and top-of-the-line kitchen/baths? There aren't too many other places you can find in the area that fit those specs, unless you get up into the Penn Station area, which is even worse neighborhood-wise.

But, heck, I hope you're right and they have to drop the prices another $100-200k. :D I do think the building is over-renovated for the neighborhood, and the initial $1.25 - 1.4 million asking prices were ridiculous. Maybe they'll find their market, though.

lad, I just think you have an unduly rosy picture of this offerring. First, there is no way the 2-bedroom approaches 1000 sq/ft. It is more like 750-800 sq/ft and that is being generous. That means about $1300+ per sq/ft for the 2-bedrm listed at $1.050.000. For 23rd St and 6th Ave that price is off-the-scale. You could own a gold-coast area apartment on or just off lower Fifth Ave by the 9th Street PATH train in the Village at those prices per sq/ft.

Like I said, I hope my outlook is "unduly rosy" since we renewed our lease and are not buying until at least the beginning of 2010. :-) I suspect that The Milan's positives are things my s.o. and I value, and its negatives are things we don't much care about. We're pretty tied to Chelsea, even if it means living at 23rd and 6th, and didn't see much else in the sub-$1M mark with in-unit washer/dryer, outdoor space, and a true second bedroom. The second bathroom and upscale finishes were icing on the cake.

For the niche buyer (and we'd be it), the $965,000 two-bed, two-bath units are very attractive. The problem is (likely) that there aren't enough niche buyers to generate interest in the building, and so the conversion sits in limbo with no closed sales and probably no one able to get a mortgage.

I wish I could give this place zero stars due to the management company.

PRO's:
- beautiful apartments
- very few maintenance issues
- big outdoor spaces
- convenient location

CON's:
- no amenities
- MANAGEMENT

If you can afford to live in a building like this, please do not waste your time and go to the other luxury buildings in the neighborhood.

Management is so unorganized that there were months we never received invoices, they lost our lease/account information and didn't recognize some of our checks, didn't answer phone calls or emails, and were RARELY available in the office during office hours.

In addition, they submitted two false housing court violations without even notifying us. Because we weren't receiving invoices on time, we weren't able to pay on time. Little did we know, they were submitting housing court violation claims behind our backs. What does this mean for you? When you do move out and try to find a new place to live, this will show up on your credit report and you will have issues finding housing. This was their way of trying to make an extra buck.

Also - moving out. We asked the super for the exact color of the white walls so we could paint them back to normal. After buying the correct color paint and painting it back ourselves, they told us it actually wasn't the right color and they would deduct it from our security deposit.

And finally, the security deposit. A week after moving out we had in writing via email the amount that they would be paying us back. It took them EIGHT MONTHS to pay us back. During these 8 months, we continuously wrote emails, called, and even stopped by the office to collect our check. Our next step was having our lawyer submit a letter.

This was one of the worst experiences I've ever had, and I hope you will avoid this as well. These guys are crooks.