Sale at 171 West 71st Street #10E10E1

wow. that's a tough price to swallow for a 5 rm fixer-upper. everytime i tell my husband how gorgeous the building is he reminds me of the person that leapt to his death from the top :(

Curious question. If the resources ($$$) were available, what would be the advantage of buying two apartments, combining and "recreating" versus just buying a larger apartment? I owned a combined apartment (no formal renovation, just a door cut through in 1959 or 60 which was a source of unending grief that fortunately would not recur in today's world) and paid higher maintenance than I would have with for a similar sized "original" apartment in a comparable area building and there would have been no renovation necessary.

Just curious as to what the appeal of this approach would be> Or is this a unique apartment (amazing view, other intangibles) that make it a special circumstance? Thanks 100023.

Okay now that I've really looked at the listing I can understand why 10023 would be interested in adding on. Your $2MM apartment and if you had a kid he/she would have to go into your bathroom, en suite to your bedroom, to bathe or shower. Cute when s/he's three; doable at nine....I see open warfare potential in the teenage years. And if you have more than of four+ person families who shared a bath, but it wasn't in the parent's bedroom.

And then again, if you happen to have two children of different genders you are SOL entirely.

No this apartment as is would probably perfect be for a single person or couple who want a den or office (like me when I was in the market a couple of years ago). Of course so many in that cohort have $2MM plus renovation costs handy!

Um, uwsmom? That was a gargoyle that leapt to its death (or whatever you call those little stoned people who hold up the balconies and such on that building).

yeah? hey, i don't know where he gets his info? that's what he tells me EVERYtime I drool as we walk by. maybe it was "attempted". i try to shush him quickly.

Okay, so maybe he's right. But all those gargoyles are so animated-looking. Or something.

My original question was ill-constructed. Can someone (other than me) buy this and ask me to be their design consultant? Unlike many of the attempted combos which attempt but fail to be greater than the sum of their parts, D + E would be the original 9-room, with little work (as E retains original layout). Decent views over THs to the east. And superior to the Bway 8-room apt, with its southern end abutting the Gray's Papaya taxpayer bldg which can be replaced easily with a monstrosity like 200W72.

Liz: there are not many original 9rm+ apts. The advantage would be that this recreation would work as the 2 apts were originally one. Higher mtce is an issue, but no worse than the 10rm mtce at 300WEA. Agree that the 5rm is a fabulous pied-a-terre. Views not great. Merely okay.

Uws: I walk by this bldg multiple times in a day. It gives me the same warm feeling in my heart as the Ansonia.

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=286898&imageID=464841&parent_id=286807&word=&snum=&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=301&num=24&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=35

But those big apartments at 300 West End have been snapped up as they sold for $3,400,000-$3,500,000, down from $5-6 Million asking. And they have fabulous layouts.

bump

ph41: ?

You think 2m for the front 5rooms + 1m for the rear 4 rooms (not on the market) is not bad? Or, as in the original 9-room layout is inferior to 300WEA (don't agree).

I think 2m for the front 5 rooms is insane. Then, IF you could get the rear 4 for 1M, again, overpaying wildly for the apartment itself. Now, if you could get both for less, then pay through the nose for the renovation/restoration, might be worth it (I noticed that 6DE had sold in the past for something in that range). But when you look at the original pricing for the larger apartments at 300 WEA, the market also valued them very highly, and still does. (When the market turns, those prices are going to go back up,IMHO, as you say that there are not very many intact large apartments still existing apart from CPW)

Also, there seem to be more intact 9-10 rooms at 300 WEA,which means the big apartment would not be the elephant in the building, which it might be at W71. (6DE didn't trade at enormous premium back in the heady days, and the combo on 2 couldn't sell recently.

And though I am not an UWS'er, the relative peace/non commercial nature of WEA seems a better location to me.

2EC and the potential 10ED are completely different apartments. 2nd floor will be VERY dark. I wouldn't be interested at all. 10th floor has much more going for it.

the 6ED sale @ 3.2 in 2007 is indicative. As far as commercial vs 'residential'....this building sits at the intersection of those two types of streets. The east facing position of this apt would make it feel more 'residential' than the west facing apts.

When all is said and done, the 10DE combo is probably worth what 6DE traded for at the peak...but will the 'D' apt ever be available?

So you need to buy the two apts for something around $2.7mm combined and then add on a renovation to get you to the 're-sale' value.

walter - so if the 6DE combo traded at 3.2 at the peak, that would make 10DE worth what now? 2.2-2.4? 2.7 seems on the high side. With the upside being 3.3several years from now?

Whereas 300 WEA is CURRENTLY trading in the 3's.

Top tier building on the UWS (this one included) have seen remarkably small price corrections. The four extra floors of elevation to clear the brownstones to the east is a big plus in this case. I'd expect a 10DE combo to trade at $3.2 or better in the current mkt (3/26/2010).

Frankly I think that price for an apartment is just plain nuts, but the market is what it is.