My favorite apt. in NYC is back on the market

I may go see it, and will invite you if I do. But it may have a fatal flaw. I am a shower person and my spouse is a bath person, and not having a master bath with one of each could be a deal killer. And I don't see much room to renovate the master bath to remedy the problem.

Was PH-A, that sold for $8 million, actually just a one bedroom? Hell of a terrace premium.

Hmm, if that's the only way I get to meet you.

The other penthouse had a much much more compromised layout and was indeed an extremely expensive one-bedroom. When the two are compared, this unit is a steal. I am very happy with my life and covet very little that I don't have, but I confess this apartment makes me dream....

Modern: To add a shower (unless you want a 10X10 shower) would be extending the bath another 4 feet into the closet area. Not a big deal.

You could reconfigure the entrance & closet to the other bedroom to get back some closet space for the master. Chump change when you're dropping 10m on the apt.

It's a big deal because these coops on lower Fifth (indeed most of them anywhere) generally won't let you expand a wet area into a currently dry area. Bath and kitchen footprints must remain the same. Adjacent closets are not exceptions--they are considered "dry."

kyle: nice post, serious RE:porn. (not that I don't like other types of porn) Is there one of these on CPW btw 74th & 84th I can have???

Ah, sorry, my old co-op was much less fussy. I would be okay with taking a shower in a bath tub then, if I had to have this apt.

P09: you going to show at the meetup tomorrow, my fellow UWSer? I would settle for the Gurley Brown PH at the Beresford myself.

unfortunately no....as AR will attest to, thurs is curriculum night at many of the uptown schools (kiddies come first), then lower east side dinner with some moms and dads..next time.

I wouldn't touch a thing. Great original french windows to the terraces, drafty though they be. I'll bet the hardware and maybe the baths are original, and the kitchen plan looks 50s-70s-ish, which'd be just fine.

Right, the PH above this one was trashed. All those built-ins from a suburban rumpus room.

this is absolutely hilarious. your problem with the apartment is that you would have to shower standing in the tub? what possible difference is there between showering standing up in a tub and having a separate shower? i've had bathrooms with tubs, with shower only, and with a separate shower and tub. believe me: there is no difference showering standing in a tub or in a stall.

OTOH as wonderful as this apartment is--and it is quite wonderful--i have been in it and the terraces are not as spectacular as they should be. there is no large expanse of outdoor space like you find in truly exceptional terraces. so while the apartment is great, the outdoor space is marginally disappointing.

and the north terrace is not 750 square feet.

I am SO jealous you were in this!! And if there were any way I could afford this, I'd gladly shower in the kitchen and suffer for months on end dining, entertaining, basking on my two 'disappointing' terraces. And can you imagine coffee before work in the conservatory? Do you know how hard it would be to focus on the paper because I'd keep thinking "I'm the luckiest person on earth."

kyle,
This place kicks tush! Wow, what digs. I rarely look at these b/c they only serve to highlight my inabilities at income production. I'd buy it yesterday if it were not for the shower in the bathtub thing. You want me to pay thatkind of $$$ AND lift my leg?
Let me do me as the owner of this apartment.............."I'm done....come wipe me!"

In a new bathroom, separate tub and shower are no big deal. Lots of tract shit-boxes have that these days, judging by HouseHunters.

In a prewar, though, it gives a moneyed spacious air, and you don't have doors or curtains cluttering the tub.

[falco made me laugh]

Nice, KW, N I C E ! ! Did you notice they're growing marijuana in the conservatory? NOT! Lots of doors leading out to the terraces which aren't of princely proportions, perhaps, but still lovely indeed. I promise to bring a bottle of Dom Perignon when I come to the housewarming. ;-)

-and did you notice those urns on the parapet?!? sigh

NWT:
a 'moneyed spacious air." it is amazing to me that the owner of a beautiful prewar apartment in manhattan would want to emulate a suburban tract house, and would imagine that suburban-style finishes are somehow sophisticated and desirable. i can understand someone insisting on a bathtub if he loves to take a bath. but refusing to step into a tub to shower? that's just bizarre. these mcmansion style bathrooms popping up in NYC apartments are just ridiculous. give me a classic prewar bathroom with subway tiles and a shower IN THE TUB any day.

and can we PLEASE stop with conservatory. what's wrong with a greenhouse? re-christening the room with a more pretentious name doesn't add to it.

for patient09: not CPW but WEA & 84th. appears to be in contract...oh well.

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/381184-condo-500-west-end-avenue-upper-west-side-new-york

No no, I meant *original* pre-war bath with tub and shower. They didn't piss away space on baths then, so when they did it meant something. Even some of the one-bedrooms at London Terrace have them.

Hey! This was MY dream! And in my dream, it is a..."conservatory." :) :) :) See how happy just THINKING about this place makes me?

I'm getting wood

"believe me: there is no difference showering standing in a tub or in a stall."

I respectfully disagree. As a shower guy, there is a huge difference, in terms of shower heads and elbow room, and not having some crappy plastic curtain flapping around. And someone who takes a soaking bath every night much prefers a tub not used for showers.

And I don't think I am super fussy, I ripped out the bidet in my current master bath as superfluous.

For a similar amount of money, I've seen the master bath I want here:

http://www.stribling.com/propinfo.asp?webid=1130532&type=SALE

I love the 147 Waverly layout, I am just not too crazy about that neighborhood though, between 6th and 7th. Nice outdoor space though with great views. Outdoor fireplace is something fairly unique for NYC, though I've seen hot tubs before.

Falco...you outdid yourself this time. Depending on what your proposed use is for the greenhouse area, you might be able to expand the master bath into there since there was probably a sink making it a "wet" area. Personally, if I were going to spend over $10MM (plus renovation) on an apartment I would want the master bath of my dreams. (As an aside, I was recently in Chicago--NOT looking for Rufus--and my friend and I went looking at a new construction condo as a lark. Same shit, different city. But I had to laugh at the floor to ceiling windows in the bathroom. Yes, you sat on the throne with all of Chicago at your feet....not for me..no way.)

Kyle, much as I swore I would never live in the Village (or its western environs) again, I would have to make an expception for this place...forgetting that I will never be able to afford and even if my lotto number came in, I could never pass the board.

I would say that both are glass houses but, to me, a greenhouse has shelves & areas for growing plants whereas a conservatory has an oriental carpet & wicker chairs with a glog tray &, of course, potted plants. Anyway, I'm a pretentious bitch; get over it!

modern:
you can put whatever shower head you want above the bathtub, so that point is moot. you can put in an extra large tub for elbow room, and you can install doors if you really object to shower curtains. and seriously, why in the world would someone who takes a soaking bath at night care if someone else showers in the tub? bizarre.

the 147 apartment is very cool, but i don't think it is anywhere near in the same league as the penthouse at 40 5th. It doesn't have a classic layout at all--although it is in a prewar building it has the feel of ersatz prewar like 15 CPW. that sort of thing becomes quite tedious. the penthouse at 40 5th is a real classic.

I wanted to say that 147 Waverly is incredibly convenient to a bunch of trains (1/9, 6th and 8th avenue lines) and then I remembered how ridiculous that sounded. Someone how I doubt purchasers of $10MM apartments worry about train proximity.

drdrd, and leather animal footstools for those so inclined. i stole the bull, btw.

AR, you little vixen, I WONDERED what happened to that bull - Congratulations. Uncle Bernie will never miss it.

Happyrenter, are you married to a man? It's not bizarre to me. It's annoying to have to clean the tub before a bath.

Doors on a tub may be the lowest rent look possible, other than shag carpet on your toilet cover. I am not talking "shower head" I am talking multiple "shower heads", steam, etc, you just can't do it with a tub. And if someone is spending this kind of loot, seems to me they should get what they want and not compromise.

OF COURSE you don't need it, you could live with a bathtub in the kitchen too and get just as clean, been there, done that, no thanks. Might as well get rid of the air conditioning too, they didn't have that back in the pre-war days, and rip out that dishwasher!

Is that a mail slot cover I see on the inside of the front door? So you don't have to slip the Chinese menus under the door?? Seriously, what is it for? Do they deliver your mail up to you?

modern, I don't know the practice of this particular building, but yes, in other lower Fifth prewars some actually deliver your mail to your door. Ain't THAT somethin'?!

I agree that side sprays in a stall shower are a marvelous thing. I've never used the newer "rainbar" variety, but I enjoyed a 1920s one that had three largish heads on each side wall, plus a foot spigot to get those little piggies. Otherwise, I'd be fine with the combo version.

If I had a conservatory, I'd need to decorate it with music students and be sure they're busily composing away, or at least being subservient in master classes. Otherwise, my tomatoes need a greenhouse, thank you.

I think they said that there are elevator operators ( ! ! ! ) so bringing the mail to your door isn't such a stretch.

Just means that 40 Fifth is "low rent" compared to the great old prewar buildings uptown. Many of them (Beresford, Strathmore come immediately to mind) had humongous master bathrooms with huge showers. Suburban? I think not.

No bragging rights for any of these buildings unless we have verified info that there are foot spigots in the huge showers.

"Doors on a tub may be the lowest rent look possible, other than shag carpet on your toilet cover. I am not talking "shower head" I am talking multiple "shower heads", steam, etc, you just can't do it with a tub. And if someone is spending this kind of loot, seems to me they should get what they want and not compromise."

I don't know, I did what I think you are talking about and have gotten mostly raves about it.

KW: you know, just me personally.... I just don't think I could ever live in that building (but I would say the same for an awful lot of 5th and Park uptown as well).

In terms of "cache" I don't think there is ANY comparison between 147 Waverly and 40 Fifth (location wise, either).

"For a similar amount of money, I've seen the master bath I want here:

http://www.stribling.com/propinfo.asp?webid=1130532&type=SALE"

Hmm.

I loved the 40 Fifth apartment, but I have to admit the Waverly apartment is much more dramatic.

Having grown up in middle-class homes (and still living in one), I've never had the luxury of having a shower separate from a bathtub. And while I don't need a lot of space in the bathroom, frankly, if I'm going to pay EIGHT figures for my home, I should darn well have both. The bath in the Waverly apartment is pretty darn nice! Anyone saying they'd take a standard cramped prewar bath over it is only kidding themselves.

For my money, the Waverly apartment would be the winner if it had an actual kitchen, rather than a glorified wet bar at the far end of the living room.

"KW: you know, just me personally.... I just don't think I could ever live in that building "

Well, I couldn't live in that building for any number of reason quite apart from my desire to do so. For one thing, if I ever had enough money, I'd be on trial since someone with my job would have to have stolen it. btw, can you believe the comparison of 40Fifth and 147 Waverly? Have these people ever been to GV? If "location is everything" we're not talking about equal places.

I actually bid on this apartment the first time it was listed. It was priced at $12MM. The broker showed me something else she represented in the area which didn't work for me, and afterward as we walked by 40 Fifth, I explained how the penthouse was really what I had my eye on. I offered $1,000,000 in response to which she smiled politely and said nothing. You know, I'll bet she didn't even tell the seller's about my offer. Brokers! But now when I walk by with friends I sometimes point out that incredibly aerie and the terraces and conservatory that you see from the street at some angles, and I mention how it was almost mine.

LOL Gotta be more aggressive, kylewest

kyle, you should have started lower, then massaged the broker into suggesting a more realistic offer, then negotiated down to $1mm. She then would've felt like she was in control, and not only presented your offer to the client, but sold it as a great offer to him.

If you lived there, you'd be home by now (unless you show up for work at a reasonable hour).

KW - I posted this to you yesterday on the 59W12th thread. And, yes, you get the mail delivered to your door. It's nice. I want the penthouse. Bad. The greenhouse would quickly become a conservatory. It's worth $10M for sure, but be aware that the place needs a lot of work, and it would be pleasure and labor of love to complete it.

There is no doubt 40 Fifth is a better building and better location than 147 Waverly. But I like the apartment design and layout at 147 much better. But I want to buy east of 6th as far over as the Bowery, or else west of Hudson. I just can't see living between 6th and 7th, it doesn't appeal to me.

Note to Matt: Yeah the kitchen is not great, it has stainless steel countertops (which I hate) and is not very functional. But the sense of space is great and the views are fabulous in every direction. It's like a loft in the sky.

Looks the owner was reading this thread with all the love. Raised the price $500k to an even $11m.

Eh, watch it sit on the market even longer.

500 WEA...............is the greatest.
everyone in the pool!

If Janet Robilotti is reading this: I want my 6% of the added $500,000 if this aprartment sells!

Modern, I am a seasoned downtown broker and a Vice President of Halstead Property and i would love the opportunity to work with you. I can find you exactly what your looking for east of 6th avenue. If you would like to contact me my cell number is 917-750-3088.
Thanks
Lisa Conway
Lconway@halstead.com

I have a few fantastic apartments that you might want to see already and there are some more

I have the same apartments as Linda, but they are probably smaller.

Who ISN'T a "vice president" at Halstead?

modern,

interesting that you not only don't want to be between 6th and 7th, but also not between 7th and 8th. I'm surprised. My two favorite parts of the village are the stretch of West 4th and Waverly between 10th and 12th, along with the side streets between and around them, and the area around bedford and commerce. you would really rather be west of hudson or east of broadway than around bedford and commerce?

30yrs, hilarious.

Between 7th and Hudson is pretty nice in places, as you say, and I shouldn't rule it out. I guess I just dislike the area along 7th ave so much I don't want to be too near it.

Even though I don't like between 6th and 7th, it is not horrible or anything, so I am still tempted by the 147 Waverly building. I guess the questions is, is the apartment more important or the neighborhood? If you can't get the perfect apartment in the perfect neighborhood, which should you compromise on?

I'm waiting for ph41 to chime in and say, go to Murray Hill and get twice the space for half the cash.

I'm a "perfect" neighborhood vs. perfect apt person (as long as there is sufficient space).

It's been sold:

09/29/2009 Listed by Janet Aimone Robilotti & Associates at $10,500,000.
10/03/2009 Price increased by 5% to $11,000,000.
10/22/2009 Listing entered contract.
12/07/2009 Sale recorded for $11,000,000.

Congratulations on your new purchase, KyleWest, now you have another apartment to re-do! ;-)

ya think maybe this property influenced the price increase on this other listing?

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/466828-coop-24-fifth-avenue-greenwich-village-new-york

The new 40 Fifth owner in Curbed: http://curbed.com/archives/2009/12/11/chipotle_founder_assembles_village_empire_like_a_tasty_burrito.php