Open House Report: 240 West 98th Street #12A

240 West 98th Street (Sabrina) #12A Coop, seven rooms; 3 BR, 2 BA + servants’ quarters Asks $3,195,000; CC $1391 RET $1087 Traffic: Moderate-Heavy (first open house) Location: North of prime UWS, on a rather inelegant stretch of Broadway. Building: Sabrina is a 2007 conversion that seems to be finding its legs as a condo. The listing agent mentioned that over 60% of the units have been sold.... [more]

240 West 98th Street (Sabrina) #12A Coop, seven rooms; 3 BR, 2 BA + servants’ quarters Asks $3,195,000; CC $1391 RET $1087 Traffic: Moderate-Heavy (first open house) Location: North of prime UWS, on a rather inelegant stretch of Broadway. Building: Sabrina is a 2007 conversion that seems to be finding its legs as a condo. The listing agent mentioned that over 60% of the units have been sold. Financing is available to qualified buyers, though not on the most favorable terms. Common areas, including the ornate lobby, are rather faded. Amenities are bare-bones: storage and laundry. On the plus side, monthly expenses are reasonable. Space: Sabrina's architecture is transitional: although 240 was built in 1923, the floor plans - including the "A" line - mimic layouts popular a decade earlier, perhaps with an extra bathroom or closet that hint at post-WWI trends. Consequently, while the "A" line is a legitimate seven, it's not a very generous one. The offering plan states 1,698 ft²; that seems about right. The listing agent estimated 2,000, which puzzled me until I saw the source of the discrepancy. Accompanying the show sheet at the open house, there was a square footage calculation of the type an appraiser would perform. Unfortunately, whoever did the math seems to have added the ~150 ft² cut-out at the southwest corner of the apartment, which should have been subtracted. Oops. Space in the "A" line is evenly distributed: all of the five main chambers are in the 175-250 ft² range. Only the kitchen gets short shrift; it is relatively small, dark and cut off from the rest of the apartment. Closet space is tight, as are the bathrooms: in the Jack-and-Jill en-suite bath, one door nearly grazes the toilet. Enter in haste, and you might kneecap a family member. Light is excellent, especially for an apartment with no southern exposure. Four rooms face east, over Broadway. The eastern view includes the pretty top of the Gramont. Two bedrooms occupy corners, with windows on two sides. The northern view is mostly open. Condition: The kitchen and pantry have been nicely redone. Bathrooms have been selectively updated, but it might be time for an architect to rethink them - especially the awkward en suite, which could be closed off on one side and converted to a true master bath. (The second adjoining bedroom has access to the hall bath.) Floors in the public rooms are stained dark and seem to be in mostly good condition. In the bedrooms, however, I think a cheap engineered-wood floor has been laid on top of the original hardwood, with predictably awkward results. Potential: The "A" line's footprint will constrain a buyer's grander ambitions. Closets and bathrooms will probably get the most immediate attention. The side-by-side LR and DR can be merged into an open entertaining space. Opening the kitchen would be a daunting project, and would largely undo the one major piece of renovation that has already been completed. Financial: The same agent sold #10A for $2.6MM in a bidding war this spring. That sale seems to have emboldened the owners of #12A. Aside from higher-end finishes in the kitchen, I don't think #12A shows much better. So the asking price of $3.195MM, would represent a dramatic leap, especially with the rise in interest rates since the #10A sale. [less]