Gotta feel sorry for 10 WEA!

Unless they have terminal cancer with only few months to live!
In five years, they will be most grateful with "the biggest mistake" having gone up triple the price.

So far, prices at 10 WEA seem to be holding up reasonably well, considering all the obvious negatives.

As for feeling sorry for buyers, I can think of people who deserve more sympathy. They knew they were gambling on a very marginal location and a crappy school catchment. If it doesn't work out, tough luck. It could be worse - at least they get to live in their crummy investment. If they had put the money in financial stocks, they'd have a bigger loss and a less useful (though more liquid) asset.

Why doesn't the Govt bail them out? They took a gamble, it didn't pan out... is it because they didn't take big enough of a gamble to the point where they'd have to foreclose?

What garbage that is... did they visit the location in advance? The school district isn't news. They could have spent a few hours at various times of the week at the location to check out the noise and traffic (if I were spending $1MM on something, I'd do a bit of private detective work), and investigated the reputation of the developer (which in all fairness I think is a good reputation). And Costco ... suck it up, or next time think about buying in a protected area or out of NYC.

TrainSpotter, your sister-in-law and husband should thank you for this post. Now, anyone doing research on 10 WEA trying to decide if they should buy here will see this thread. Surely all of the feedback on the building will help them sell their unit faster and for a better price. If you were my brother-in-law, I would throw you out of my 10 WEA window.

I sold 10WEA short last year and used the proceeds to go long in 15CPW - boy am I happy!!

JuiceMan: I think there might be a bit of schadenfreude going on there. "Awwwww... my spouse's loudmouth sister and her idiot husband are screwed. I feel soooooo baaaaaaad. Hey, maybe if I post their mistake on the Internet, it will make me feel batter!"

So now the rule is you can't say someplace is shoddily built or overrun by traffic or that there's going to be a Costco next door?

What can we say? Sunshine blankets Manhattan real estate in warmth and light, as prices increase astronomically forever and buildings are built to world-class standards?

1. What's this about Costco. Where's it going to be built? Might be nice to have one of those in Manhattan.

2. I'm not sure the pessimism about that area is warranted. That area has already changed a lot. I've been looking a lot there. It's close to Central park, close to all the restaurants and bars of clinton, close to time warner center and the happenings of columbus circle, easy access to the west side highway to go north or south or get out of town. I don't know how the prices will hold up but so far, I don't see evidence on streeteasy of price declines in those buildings, if fact streeteasy data seems to show prices have gone up in those buildings.

3. It does sound like there have been complaints about the contruction in 10 WEA. Does anyone know about quality of the other buildings, Element, Adagio, Hudson which are all on the same street as 10 WEA?

Costco's great - if you have a car. Otherwise, how the heck are you going to carry all those #10 cans of catsup home?

Besides how much #10 cans weigh, where is the costco going to be located?

Costco's far from a done deal.
http://www.nysun.com/new-york/costco-eyes-a-manhattan-site-but-draws-political/82797/

"So now the rule is you can't say someplace is shoddily built or overrun by traffic or that there's going to be a Costco next door?"

Sure you can say it steve, I could care less. I just wouldn't start a thread about it if one of my family members was trying to figure out a way to sell a unit in the building.

"I just wouldn't start a thread about it if one of my family members was trying to figure out a way to sell a unit in the building."

I might not either, but I doubt enough people read this to affect the perception of the building (which I've never seen), especially if it really is so readily apparent when you see the place.

Truck and bus traffic noise is not news to New Yorkers living on Broadway or 1st Ave or 5th ave etc. The school district is definitely lousy.
But what are the contruction problems with 10 WEA?

I think a Costco would be a great addition. This is Manhattan, everything can be delivered. I've even seen McDonald's delivery.

I agree hsw9001, a Target would be nice as well. Taking trips to NJ to buy kitty litter is a drag.

A Target next to the Costco would be a great idea. There is nothing out there in Riverside Blvd currently and it would give more reason to have other retail in that area. I think if they do put in a Costco, they should also have an exit from the Westside Hwy. Right now you'll have to go via WEA which is filled with potholes.

Costco could be the hub of a little commercial area that would change that area for the better. Extell isn't stupid. They're building 2-3 more luxury residential towers that they want to sell for big money. They're going to build up the area in a way that they think (hope) will improve property values.

Walmart, Ikea, BJs, Sams Club....bring them all in!

I'm on record as owning here so discount my comments as you wish, but I second West81st's comments. The area and the inferior school district are nothing new so why exactly is that a complaint now? As for the shoddy construction - anything specific? My only issue has been the floors, while very nice and apparently expensive, scratch and dent way too easily. What has the developer and management company been unresponsive with? I'm certainly not thrilled about the prospect of a Costco across the street, but these are the issues that you deal with when you live in the City.

As for selling at a significant loss - 7H went into contract and closed a few weeks ago. I had initially posted a thread about this and despite stevejhx's prognostication that the unit should trade for about $600k, it went for $1.54m a few weeks ago. And notice how 3B went into contract after three weeks on the market. Who knows what the final number is, but it was listed at $1.45m. 7H maybe ended up even after closing costs, maybe down a bit, but nobody took a bath here. So TrainSpotter, why do you think they'd take a significant loss?

3B is not in contract according to this link

http://www.prudentialelliman.com/1000493

surdy - you're right. Streeteasy had showed it in contract as recently as yesterday or the day before.

Looks like somebody might be playing games with the listing.

It was for rent too, for exactly 3 days on the market before the rental listing got pulled.

well the school district may not be good, as was well known, but what is wrong with a costco? They would not have the same retail mix that they have in the burbs no doubt, but their food quality is quite good. This was even said by Julia Child years ago. It may not be Whole Foods or Graces Marketplace, or Balduccis but for the money it is great. Also no one is complaining about Trader Joes in Union Square. Why be such a snob? Having a Costco would help the retail in the area expand.

I sometimes kick myself for not buying in 10WEA or Element. I saw them going up from the beginning and very different prices than what is going on now. The new listings in Element on high floors are asking upwards of $1700-1800 per foot!!

Speaking for no one but myself - I think Costco is great. What I'm concerned about is all the traffic that it would generate. I think the Sun article mentioned that it would be 150k sf so that's way to big to pretend that it's only geared to those that live in the neighborhood. I can't imagine people shopping there and lugging all their goods to the subway. It's a bit of a hike from here w/o carrying anything so clearly this will be geared to shoppers with cars. Where will all the cars go? The existing parking lot will eventually be gone with the Extell development (the Costco is supposed to be underground) and in the evening traffic gets backed up going South on 11th Ave b/c of the tunnel.

^^^
What's wrong with a delivery service as I proposed above? Whole Foods and Fairway have it. It's the Manhattan way of life. Besides how many people in Manhattan have cars? I don't think the folks in the outer bourghs or NJ would bother driving in. I think the 2000+ parking spaces Costco is asking for is probably optimistic.

skippy222, I've seen 10 WEA, but have you been in the element? what are those apts like. Why so expensive? When I went to the sales office a while ago, they weren't letting anyone see the units. What about Adagio across the street, have you seen those?

hsw9001 - Whole Foods and Fairway restrict delivery to the nearby areas, the area that Costco would presumably serve is far wider than that. Plus, given the sheer bulkiness of the nature of Costco purchases, the size and number of vehicles that a delivery service would be pretty massive. I can't imagine Costco would want to introduce this new logistical element to the business.

street_easy - I checked out Element recently. The finishes/fixtures are definitely a notch higher than those that we have here at 10WEA, and the finishes/fixtures here are pretty good. Additionally, the amenities there are better than here. Squash court, basketball court, tenant lounge area, 3 pools, outside open space area, dance studio, etc. My thinking is that the additional amenities are nice, but how many people are going to play squash? Or basketball? I don't know. I saw a 2 bed/2 bath on a high floor and what shocked me was that the master bedroom had the same width as the second bedroom and the length was only 2 inches greater. Considering that the unit was north of $2m, I would have wanted a far more differentiated master bedroom. The sales agent has called me back 3 times asking me to come back and examine the common areas (I was there on a weekend and they couldn't/wouldn't show it to me then b/c of all the other people that were attending open houses (in fairness there were probably about 10 other people when I was there and only 3 agents). It seems to me that 10WEA is a good value compared to the Element because I haven't been able to figure out why the prices are so high there but then again, most of the building is sold out. Also a bit surprised to see the number of rentals there vs. here. The buildings target the same demographic but the rentals there outnumber those here by 2 or 3 to 1.

I haven't seen the Adagio.

I bought my unit first week of July. Stayed there till September while furnishing it for rental. 2 prospective tenant were competing to lease my unit. I ended up leasing it with one year rental advance the day I went home to Asia. There's an issue though with the finish of some of the balconies. The plaster is coming off. Management promised to fixed but but they have not scgeduled repair until now.

Migrant

migrant: Without getting into too much detail, does the rent cover your costs?

that whole area is a disaster. it's a long walk from anything remotely useful, lot of noise, and it's next to shady housing projects. i have no idea why people would buy in that area.

I suppose so more than I expected. We bought in this place because of the growth potential. The area is not yet developed it has good value for money compared to the 2 new development in the area plus it has the lowest monthly carrying cost for tax and common charges. There are 2 supermakets along 10 West End, an HSBC bank and a Duane Reade between Amsterdam and 59th. I checked units around broadway, not only are they expensive old and average a carrying cost of almost 3,000 for a 2 bedroom.

Migrant

Costco would be great in the neighborhood. What's all the bitching about? I can't think of any other business that would do well so far over. You know, other than a parking lot. Even the furniture place up on 64th have shut down. It's not like they're building Yankee Stadium there. Yeah, and tough doo doo about the school. Do they even have kids? Should have done a 30second check on google to find out the rating in the district.

The costco has been killed as part of the Extell project.

Source? What's going there instead?

They are still developing 5 buildings and park space and waterfront retail/restaurants. They indicated all of this in the community board meetings that took place I believe.

There was a presentation this evening by Extell. You're right 5 buildings in front

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/218127-condo-10-west-end-avenue-lincoln-square-new-york

From 1.65m to 1.25... still not moving... sigh

But then they offered it too high. If you check the history this was bought for 1.190 in 2007 and waned to sell at 1,65 2 years after

Not much recent discussion on this building. Here are a few comps.

There have been 8 closings of resales in 2010 to date. Three were above the original (2007) sponsor sale and five below, with a max gain of 8%, a max loss of 5.2% and an average gain of 0.4%, so the average seller got out whole on principal and lost transaction costs coming and going.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/building/10-west-end-avenue-new_york
Date Unit Sponsor Resale Change
7/7/2010 #11J $699 $755 8.0%
5/27/2010 #12C $928 $880 -5.2%
5/11/2010 #20D $1,514 $1,460 -3.6%
5/10/2010 #21D $1,555 $1,540 -1.0%
4/30/2010 #6D $825 $820 -0.6%
3/15/2010 #6G $873 $918 5.2%
3/12/2010 #9K $1,278 $1,295 1.3%
2/22/2010 #25A $1,568 $1,557 -0.7%
Average 0.4%

^^ formatting disaster on pasting and posting.

Columns are resale closing date, unit#, sponsor sale closing price, resales closing price, % change sponsor sale to resale

Were the closings in 2007? If so, were these pre-production contracts? When were the contracts actually signed? If these are '05-'06 prices then perhaps the only apartments that traded were the earlier values and they got out because they could get outwith most of the value.

what's the most current on sales in this bldg?