What is wrong with this UWS APT?

It's a horrible, dark, hole that's still priced above 2007 comps.

On the positive side, there's an elevator, which is a big plus for a ground-floor apartment.

West81st,

Whats your general opinion on 'park block' apartments along 70's to 80's ?

The area certainly appears quaint, but I just feel its easier for crime to return to this area (somewhat dark at night, using the park as a easy get-away) lack of doormen to keep on eye on the block.. etc etc

I know the same could be said of the upper east-side park block, but the feel seems completely different for some reason

bugelrex: I really don't know about crime. I agree that some of the park blocks get a bit creepy at night; but the cops are pretty active around here. I do know those blocks offer some of the most beautiful and sought-after townhouses on the UWS, as well as some lovely medium-sized mid-block coops.

Historically, the 100 block (Amsterdam-Columbus) was a much bigger trouble spot, and it remains far less gentrified, though I think Rudy cleared out all the crack dens.

This apartment is overpriced, although not obscenely so.

This is a building with very few transfers (none, in fact, in the whole of 2008, and only one in 2007). What few sales do exist show that an apartment roughly the same size (a touch smaller) and on a higher floor traded for $331K in April of '06. Pictures show that that apartment was in better shape, with a far better renovated kitchen (this one's is cheap.) Both units are about 500 sf (or so the brokers, who are generally notorious for exaggerating) claim. That hardly constitutes a 1-BR, no matter how the walls are constructed. It's more accurate to call it a glorified studio.

In addition, the building is UGLY and really not on a 'park block', insofar as it's really on the corner of Columbus and 84th, with an entrance barely to the east of that (hence the 66 W 84th St. address, rather than a Columbus Ave. one). As a lifelong Upper West Sider, let me tell ya - there is no block I'd want to be on less than 84th and Columbus. There is a ginormous high-school that takes up half a block on 84th and 85th between Columbus and Amsterdam (main entrance on 84th) and its students have a reputation for rowdiness. And on the west side of Columbus Ave. between 84th and 85th sits another huge middle school. Couple all that with the fact that you're only two - six blocks south of where chic Columbus Ave. shops and cafes convert to high-rise Mitchell-Lamas, an Auto Body shop, a check cashing place, and two huge housing projects, and this address is hardly Upper West Side prime prime prime.

^^^ Absolutely correct--the location itself is not great. Plus, the apartment is on the first floor, clearly on the back, with brick walls for views--fine if you like that my-home-is-my-prison feeling. The reno appears tacky and cheap, and the space itself is tiny.

I cannot imagine anyone wanting to live there.