building at 408 West 57th Street

I can't answer Jake's question, just wanted to chime in and ask for input from residents of the building. We have been looking for a pied-a-terre and this building has popped up on the radar due to its flexible coop board. We were similarly concerned about the empty building next door. We would love to hear input from people who rent or own in this building regarding any positives or negatives of living or owning here.

Thank you. -Liz

lizsss: None of that building's residents will tell you this but I will:
re: rodents.

Empty building next door. Way west near the river.

There are wharf rats, not only on that block but spending the winter in that building as if it's Miami for rodents. Rats eat everything not just people/pet type food. They eat their way through walls.

If you want to pied-a-terre there, you may come home one night to find a rodent sitting on your sofa, smoking a cigar.

and of course you would know.

about rats.

liz: Just ignore columbiacounty.
He's a troll. He has nothing to offer on any discussion.

I'm in the grey zone because it makes it difficult for him to find me.
He spends his time searching every thread now, looking for a comment posted by me.
As he has nothing better to do, this is his exciting pastime.

really....?

how would you know anything about me?

you have never read a word that i've said.

not once.

never.

and that's the truth.

Hehe

huntersburg: what's a Hehe?

i own a unit and live in this building.

it's well maintained. boiler was down for repairs several days (9am-4pm) for repairs. no other issues.

residents are very mixed. you have a good mix of young singles, married couples (mostly without kids), and old tenants. i believe the older tenants outnumber the other categories but not by much.

the building next door is an eyesore. no rodent or bug problems although i did have a waterbug wonder into my apartment once over the last year.

noise is a bit of an issue during the day especially if you open your windows (facing 57th st). the double pane windows do a good job at blocking most of the noise and the traffic gets light after 10pm. if i close my windows and turn on a fan i can't hear anything from the outside.

the board is very laid back and the board interview was a breeze. 6 of the 7 doormen are very pleasant. the other one seems shady. super and 2 maintenance guys are also very pleasant. no issues with any of my neighbors either.

other things i like about the location is that its one ave away from the columbus circle stop and very close to central park.

i'd recommend the building to others. just keep in mind that its a not a luxury building.

Thanks for all the info, justme10019!!

Very much appreciated -

Thank you, JustMe. That sort of honest and detailed assessment is precisely what we were looking for.
Completely agree with you about the location, especially for our intended use it does seem ideal. Thanks again, -Liz

What is the sublet policy in this building? Does the board charge the owner any extra maintenance or fees if the unit is sublet. I wanted to buy a unit in this building for my kid to live in and after three years, his employer says that they will send him for an overseas posting for two to three years. I would need the flexibility to be able to sublet the unit out for about three years.... I hate being a landlord but that is my last resort.
Thanks for any info.
Bob

The broker who has the exclusive on the building works for elliman. Ask her

Bob- We looked at 2 or 3 different units in this building. We also prefer the flexibility to sublet.

To answer your question, there is a sublet fee. I am trying to remember what it was...Jim is right, Lauren Schaeffer is the Elliman agent who works with the sponsor in the building. She knows what it is. It wasn't bad compared to other coops, I want to say something like 20% of monthly maintenance charge. But please double-check that, it was a long time ago, and there have been so many numbers floating around in my head associated with different apartments, that I really can't be sure.

As far as the sublet policy goes, I believe that also changed at some point. It used to be after one year of ownership...now it is unlimited after 2 years of ownership. Again, I would double-check that, but I believe that to be accurate. Good luck with your son's apartment search.

Liz

We looked hard at apt 2l as the owner was desperate to sell. It had undergone a terribly designed renovation. Unfortunately its also a north facing apt had poor light and was depressing to us. As Justme notes its a non-luxury building with a pretty laid back board.

Agree, gloomy and dreary also come to mind when describing some of the north-facing units (no offense meant to Justme, I am sure there are ways to make a north-facing apartment appear more cheerful and bright). I also felt the north-facing units I saw were noisy from the traffic on W 57th. Those are the primary reasons we didn't move forward with an offer despite a reasonable price and supposedly lenient board.

Thanks Jim_hones10 and Lizss for your responses. I still have not pulled the trigger yet.... still searching....

I see that unit #10J has upped the asking price from 325K to 335K!
The unit was badly maintained and needs updating.

The Windmere is a fire or building collapse waiting to happen.

Otherwise, it's a great neighborhood, close to Central Park, the subway lines at Columbus Circle, and lots of restaurants on 9th ave.

That's bizarre. I saw 10J and dismissed it. I am shocked they had the nerve to increase the ask, given how poorly the unit shows I thought they wouldn't get over 310K for it. Maybe they were getting offers, but they were all too low?? We toyed with offering 295. Or perhaps they are trying to capitalize on the supposed recent heating up of the market in that price range.

lizsss: I was gonna offer 300K (firm) for it since I hate playing negotiating games but when the ask price went up, I did go forward.

The Board is not laid back anymore. Also, I hear they want to do away with subletting.

Does anyone know why the flurry of selling activity?

I have a client in the Geneva who likes it just fine. But IIRC there was an assessment -- maybe as rents soften, it's not as attractive to landlords as it was?

for the same price around same location, i would prefer a coop with more amenities like lincoln towers. also the school zone is PS 199 for LT.

Apartments in Lincoln Towers have become crazy expensive and the maintenance is very high.
This is a basic building with a very convenient location.

I lived here for several years and liked it. Great access to subways and the building is kept clean. The residents are generally friendly and will strike up conversations in the laundry room in the basement.

The only caution I'd give is don't rent from my former landlord, Bill Hales (apartment 10P). I guess it's not too atypical among landlords, but when I moved out he tried to claim a bunch of bogus damages and then disregard my requests for documentation showing that they existed or that he did anything about them. I filed a small claims court lawsuit and suddenly the bogus charges started dropping. Overall it was very sketchy. But if you can find a unit that isn't sublet by him I'd say definitely consider it; I was happy there until that incident.