75 wall or 20 pine

have not seen 75 wall but 20 pine is a dark office conversion that still feels like an office. while the square footage can be high it still feels small and still feels like an office. kitchen is terrible, bathrooms are nice and oh, did i mention how dark and depressing it is.

thanks.

same goes for wall. These old office buildings and bunker like towers end up converting into weird units. Most have home offices to increase efficiency like 15 broad. No windows and they call is a bedroom.

moving down to fidi is in no means movinup... idc where you are coming from.

i agree, 20 pine is dark and depressing. saw a unit a couple weeks ago. The dark wood floors don't help the situation either.

the dark floors are so soft that if you a glass falls on it, you have to worry about the floor being chipped than the broken glass.

the above is for 20 pine

oh, that's probably why the broker made us take our shoes off before we went into the apt! absurd!!

the floors are super sensative in all the new buildings. there is a blog here about the floors at 75 wall. 20 pine is dark and depressing because there is little light and the building is a HUGE, cavernous office building. And where do they put the amemities in the dark, depressing space....
THE BASEMENT!!!
by february you just want to jump off the ledge

They should have built more closets into the units to use up some of the interior/windowless space.

I rented at 20 Pine, high floor, 3 bedroom, lot's of light. There are plenty of poorly designed, dark units, but there are also some very nice units. Look for high floor units facing south and east. West and north views don't clear the neighboring buildings. Finishes were very nice. Staff is great and responsive to problems. The amenities are awesome, complaining about the gym, golf simulator, sauna, steam room, billiard tables and pool in the basement is absurd, they are incredible. The rooftop terrace is also very nice. Your problem in the financial district, if not all of New York, is the rent vs. buy cost is ridiculously in favor of renting, especially in 20 Pine, given all the "investors" needing to rent out the units.

One negative was many of the residents being young, obnoxious and immature. By this I mean marijuana smoke in the halls, dog crap left in the halls and loud parties. One perfect reason why parents should never be allowed to buy condos for their children.

I suggest dealing aggressively with dogs and dog crap.

I suggest dealing aggressively with people and their crap.

The kids too, I agree if they are doing what was said.

wow goldie, thanks for your comments. really dog crap & pot smoking in the bldg.?
i am thinking of going to look at 20 pine & 75 wall, maybe even the new W on washington st, (not yet opened)
anyone have info on cipriani on wall? Also if you dont mind goldie how much does a 2 br rent for @20 pine?

GOldie - what floor do you need to be to clear the other bldgs? I looked at a studio on the 20th floor and the other building was BAM! Am looking for a 1 br ideally.

kstiles - if you're on the East side of 20 Pine, you face Chase Plaza, so no buildings in the way and you get a pretty cool view to the AIG building to the East and if you're high enough (27th+ floor), you get a small East river view. On the South side, you need to clear the Trump building, which means you need to be above the 27th floor, roughly. Forget about North and West apartments if you want a view other than into an office building. I was on a high floor with South, East and West views and the sunlight was very, very good. Great views onto the NYSE.

I saw good 2 BR rentals in the $5k range, East facing on high floors. Real 1 BR's were in the $3k range. One thing was that the asking rental prices were ridiculously far from where deal got done. I think original asking price for my 3 BR unit was something like $15k/month and we ended up renting for $6.6k (they had chopped down to about $9k ask when I offered). That was back at the beginning of 2009, but it's not like the Financial District is on fire.

Also, instead of contacting an agent, you can ask the front desk attendants for names of owners looking to rent, they will help. There are alot of "investors" here! Which is a great thing as far as not many people around, the building is half vacant because of that. I liked that.

Don't let my negatives of pot smoking and dog crapping discourage you, it is a great building if you get the right unit.

thanks goldie. did you look at other bldgs in Fidi when you were shopping around? i've looked at 15 broad, setai, & william beaver. i am looking to buy 2br, but if i can't get a low price, i may consider renting.

I saw almost everything downtown except the Setai. However, we were looking to rent. I liked 15 Broad, the facilities are great (I use the gym there) and it seems to be a fairly stable building, given the timing of completion was before the downturn. There are some really nice 2 BRs in there. 55 Wall was also very nice, but you need to be careful. Units on the West side had vibrations from the subway, even up to the Penthouse. I don't think it would bother me too much, but I would prefer the East side. The units facing Wall Street had plenty of light, the units that don't had much worse light. Also, when you were buying, it came furnished, and I wasn't a fan of the designers. Beaver was o.k., but I thought ridiculously expensive and there weren't many rentals. I've read prices are dropping there. There were a few buildings on John Street that were unimpressive in my view, cheap renovations, weren't comparable to the others above.

If I were buying downtown, I would seriously consider the nose units in the Cocoa Exchange, 1 Wall Street Court. No facilities other than a roofdeck, but great units with good light and reasonable prices. There was a great unit in 55 Liberty that we looked at to rent, that is currently in contract. The prices seem more of a bargain there, but no facilities there either and it's an older building renovation. Same story at 176 Broadway, but units are definitely priced right, I love the penthouse unit that's currently for sale. Be@William was also reasonably priced, but small units and an average renovation, definitely worth at least a look.

i saw setai, right now it is a mess! also ammenities are extremely important to us. they only had a spa, a so-so gym, and lounge. the apartments have the bedroom right off the living room with pocket doors, so i didn't feel that was appropriate for a master bedroom to be integrated into the living room.
i liked 15 broad my husband didn't so much, not much in the way of views. we loved william b, but they don't move on the price ($1200 psf!-in the Fidi)i will be checking out 75 wall & 20 pine. may consider a rental in the beaver if all else fails would like to be in the $5000 range for 2 br.

Thanks for the info Goldie. I don't think 20 Pine is going to be an option just because I refuse to live in a dark depressing apt.

Does anyone know if you feel subway vibrations at 88 Greenwich?

movinup - see 88 Greenwich. I've been in multiple times and never noticed subway vibrations...

agentrachel i think you meant that post for kstiles99? kstiles99 did you see 20 pine? what did you think about the amenities and the apt layouts?

movinup - I thought the amenities at 20 pine were nice. nice roofdeck. Pool and steamroom and gym (although in the basement) were very nice and empty. Only saw 1 apt and it was studio. Kitchens are designed for people like me who don't use kitchen. Bathroom nice size. Don't think I really like the dark finishes (especially if you don't get good daylight). I would consider an apt here only if it were top floors.

20 pine is fabulous

sure- if you are a bat

just- i would be interested to hear what it is you like so much about 20 pine

i did look at it, definitely did not like the kitchens, with the oven enclosed in a cabinet, as well as washer n dryer in the kitchen under the sink. the windows were small and high up on the wall, the floors and bathrooms were black. definitely not an apartment i would live in not even for weekend. the amenities in the basement or very nice.

I saw a few apartments in 20 pine. Folks are right, way too dark.

The problem is they are HUGE floor plates. So all the apartments have to be long, and you get windows just at one end. In many of those apartments, you're pretty much completely dark at noon until you get halfway through the apartment. Many of the apartments have bedroom "coves" near the front door. And the bathrooms are nice, but they use up too much of the space on them. But I guess its part of trying to find ways to use the darker areas. It really is a problem.

It is also an investor building, meaning lots of owners renting out.

I have to imagine that a lot of owners would never have bought if they had actually seen the apartments beforehand in person, because that light thing really is a problem.

My problem with 20 Pine is the advertised square footage. I realize that some claim that it's "industry standard" to use a pro rata share of the common areas and add it to the actual sqft of the apartment but........ come on - you can't take an 1100 sqft two bed and call it 1500 sqft. Because there are so many amenities and hallways the sqft in this building are GROSSLY OVERSTATED. What they are doing here should be (and arguably is) illegal. If NY's brokerage industry (especially REBNY) had any integrity they would self police this practice so our inept government doesn't have to step in and solve this problem.