One Hanson Place

those penthouses are SO MUCH SMALLER than they claim they are. there is no way ph b is anywhere near what they are saying

We looked at some units there a couple of years ago. Wasn't impressed with workmanship--developers managed to take a gorgeous prewar structure and turn it into a collection of junky-looking new dev apartments with cramped rooms, tacky cherry-veneered floors, cookie-cutter layouts. I'd also be hesitant about buying in the building as I believe much of it has been turned into rentals but I may be wrong on that.

Just went this afternoon. Here's my account:

Took the train, very quick and easy (about 30 minutes door to door from Murray Hill). So that was good.

Once I arrived at the building, however, it all went downhill. First, after arriving in the lobby, the elevators were very slow. They seemed lodged on floors 10 and 23 for quite a while. After waiting five-seven minutes, the elevators finally arrived. But wait - this elevator bank only goes to the 23rd floor! Once we arrived on the 23rd floor and stepped out, I didn't know what to do - there was no signage prepared by Stribling. So I began aimlessly wandering the halls, and eventually, found a second elevator bank in another location that serviced the upper floors. I waited for that elevator, and finally arrived on the 29th floor where one Stribling rep was located inside a unit, although they had open houses for about 10 or so units, all on different floors. I asked about seeing the two upper PH units, and the Stribling rep said one was open, and to just go up. So I went back to the elevator and waited, and when I got in I hit the button I thought was for the open PH. When the elevator opened, I went to the front door. Locked. I waited for the elevator again. I went to a different floor, thinking I had mistakenly tried the wrong door. I tried that front door. Locked again.

At this point, with all the time waiting for elevators, wandering hallways, and trying to open locked doors, I gave up. I had spent almost twenty minutes in this building, with no assistance, no signage, nothing, and had yet to actually see an apartment!

My feeling is this. If I'm looking at apartments priced at $1.5MM to $3MM+ (in BROOKLYN no less!), I expect a MUCH better quality of service from the building brokers. If this is how they handle the building sales, I don't need to know how the management/building company who chose them operates. This price range in Manhattan brings a pretty decent (usually!) level of attention and quality to detail by brokers I've dealt with in the past, particularly in either new buildings or new renovations. There should be clear signage (such as "For the open houses on floors 29 and above, please use the elevator bank located 'wherever'") rather than having people wander about the hallways. If you have ten open houses at the same time in the building on different floors, you need to have more than one agent available. If the elevators aren't clearly marked yet as to which floor are open, even a simple piece of painters tape next to the buttons with the floors numbers written in magic marked is better than nothing at all.

the elevator situation was insane on sunday. it took us 10 minutes to get out of there. but i did ask a resident i met in the lobby and they said two were shut off and usually it's not bad at all.

jasonkyle:

Great to gear from another person looking at One Hanson. Assuming you were there also to look at units? Can you say which you looked at, and what your thoughts were? Would really appreciate hearing from another current possible buyer as to their thoughts about One Hanson....

i've been a few times. i do like the building itself and the transportation options but the units always leave something to be desired. we went yesterday just to look at penthouse b and the big issue for us with that unit is a lack of wall space due to the windows and amazing views (so that's a trade off). but to reiterate i could swear that apartment was under 1500 square feet. there is no way it is as large as the claim. there isn't really a living room to speak of. just that dining area and a couch staged in front of the kitchen. i think that's the last time we go check out that building. other units we looked at in the past were always above or including a terrace that was adjacent to another, so we worried about noise and even in that penthouse i could still hear a constant stream of sirens. i can't imagine it being a peaceful place to live.

I agree - the wall space is a big issue with me as well. I, also, for the life of me, can not figure out how they get the square footage they claim (even allowing for the standard deviations I'm used to from floor plans in NYC).....