building at 240 West End Avenue

scargo: I take it the conversion is moving at a snail's pace.

Get it? A SNAIL's pace?

I'm here all week, folks. Be sure to tip your server.

e?t?

scargo: thanks for specific comments on 240 West End...any updates on the progress of renovation and are the same plumbers still employed?!? The listed 2 bedroom is offering everything I'm looking for with regards to layout, location and fireplace but am wondering what kind of light, in any, makes it inside when one is located on the second floor. I assume there is no view to speak of from that level as well. Any thoughts? Regards, UWSbuyer

UWSbuyer: keep in mind that there're always going to be problems in converting a rental building, and in-place tenants are duty-bound to complain. Since the plumber is working with the existing plumbing stacks, the water has to be shut off when a renovated bath or kitchen has its fixtures hooked up. The plumbers may be good or bad, of course.

The elevators can't be made bigger than they were to begin with.

Lots of non-buying tenants won't make the common charges higher. If anything, the sponsor will try to keep running costs low, since they're paying their proportional share of them.

In a conversion, the original plumbing stacks can't be moved, because in-place tenants can't be moved. The original layouts were quite efficient. Messing with them gets messy. E.g., the two-bedroom line originally had one bath. The space for the second bath and the washer-dryer came from closets (no more linen closet) and from the bedrooms. Looking at the living room, where's your furniture going to go? The door to the bedroom is now in the middle of the long wall instead of its inside end.

The fireplaces are decorative, not wood-burning.

That line faces north and west, so sun at that level.

Great location.

It's early days yet as the conversion goes, so no rush. In the meantime, note the size of 1C across the street at 246 WEA (also second floor, also NW exposure, 2br/2ba) and what it sold for earlier this year.

Oops, no sun at that level.

nwt,

i'm not sure 'great location' is entirely accurate. west end is unquestionably very nice north of 72nd street, but that little stretch from 72nd south to 69th is sort of marginal. there is a lot of traffic, and you are sort of hemmed in by the mega-developments of trump place and lincoln towers. i think above 73rd street should command significantly higher prices.

I'd say south of 70th has the LT/Trump effect, but I'm biased, and tend to focus north to 72nd with the diner and deli. North of 74th you get rid of the Schwab House effect, but then it's further to the train. 71st is certainly convenient.

uws buyer:
Some updated info: There are now 2 renovated apartments, a 1-bedrm and a 2-bedrm. The location really is great. Traffic on WEA at rush hour can be heavy, but usually only briefly. Light is pretty good even on lower floors. The elevators, especially the service elevator, were definitely bigger prior to the re-do. A Queen-sized bed will get into the elevator, but nothing bigger. As NWT noted above, the 2-bedrm originally had only 1 bath, and the addition of a 2nd bath necessarily reduced closet space. The building next door (246 WEA) is a much finer building, so price comparisons are difficult.

scargo, do you know how they vented that new interior bath? They couldn't have run an exhaust line all the way up to the roof, so it must be vented horizontally in the hung ceiling, out to 71st.

This project is interesting in that they brought in a banker to the open house. The bank is willing to finance for 20% down and better rates at 25% down.

Any new info on this building? Anyone hearing anything?

The traffic on this corner is a nighmare during rush hour for a few hours and everytime it so much as spits. The honking can drive you insane. There are no signs to prohibit honking like there are on broadway. The only way out of Lincoln Towers and all the Trump buildings on Riverside are up 70th street. Combine that with all the traffic getting on the drive and it's a nightmare.

I visit this conversion occasionally. The elevators are small, but that's a legacy thing. I can't attest to the quality or lack thereof of the plumbers. I've visited floors with construction going on and at least the public hallways are clean and don't look too bad. It's not the gold coast of WEA, and certainly you don't want to look

Hi all - any more information on how this project is progressing? scargo, you around here much any more?

Thanks in advance all,

Lp

LP, it's hard to know what's going on -- the owners say they've "sold" 5 apts, but SE lists only 2 "in contract". Also mysterious is that the "sales" occurred after prices were raised (!?!).

update -- Dec 09: sponsors have 9 buyers and have filed to declare the building a condominium.

It seems sponsor pulled some of the listings, any info on when they will be put back on market?

Any news on this building?

overpriced, rent-stabilized building....conversion is not moving much at all....sponsor still owns 60%!

The sponsor sold 41.6%, all they had available to sell. For that they got $20M, only $5M less than they paid for the whole thing.

Less than 20,000 ft² of renovation, so figure that cost them $5M.

The immediate money doesn't matter, though. The point was, post-conversion the sponsor's apartments become decontrolled/destabilized when vacated. Judging by what the resales have gone for, the sponsor will do pretty well as the remaining apartments become vacant and sell. Or the sponsor might want to tart them up and rent them at market rate, if that's better at the time.

Could you suggest a better condo conversion of a pre war building on the UWS?

Can someone who has bought a Unit in this building chime in and help please! Do you know if the sponsor controls the board or are there other Unit owners who are involved in decision making regarding common charges and up keep of building? I visited the Units available and really liked them but I am scared to move forward because not sure how financially strong the sponsor is and what his goal is with the building since there are a lot of rent stabilized tenants in place. Is the sponsor nice and easy to work with?