Discussing 'Can $3,000 for 2br/2ba be achieved in Battery Park City?'

Yes it is:

http://www.nybits.com/apartmentlistings/adcada4812ac685477d25e8e6d4c2d15.html

The worst building in bpc

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/1143-gateway-plaza

in these tough economic times LLs are willing to do a lot..pay broker's fee, free months rent, etc. It's in your hands, your the boss.

Yes it is lowest quality in BPC, but easily the best bargain. By far.

We have many friends there. It is well known management is crooked and unresponsive, everything smells like dog pee and the elevator doors routinely smash into kids. They run the place like a housing project and with 1200 apts it baffles me how this Bulgarian govt style arrangement is allowed to continue (shouldnt 311 be getting hundreds of complaints?). If you amortize the cost of higher quality staff over 1200 apts its even maddening b/c change would be so cheap

But its a LeFrak special; bubble gum fixes and the *bare* minimum put into anything that needs fixing thats the bigger issue. Loser staff delivering the public housing style service level is just an insult on injury

The house of horrors described on the referenced post above refers no doubt to an unrenovated apt. They are truly scary and should be priced 30% below going rate, not 10% below. Recall this was supposed to be Mitchell Lama housing, and is rent stabilized etc. All rent stabilization produces is a crappy apt that isnt fixed up for 20 years and higher housing costs for everyone else

The market is so bad now, they arent even bothering to renovate unrenovated units....but recall, for 2950-3350 you have the option of like a dozen true 2br/2ba apts (which are enormous for the neighborhood)....no alcove studio marketed as a flex 3 w/ 2 pressure walls broker BS here. Old school 2BR

I wonder if the other ~$3,300/mo units come with OPs.... {=o Anybody know? I bet you could get someone in here for 2500/mo if they offered to pre-pay 6 or 12 months. 2500/mo would be sick. Like 1994 pricing ($24 PSF)

Damn Julia, I actually like a lot of your posts because they are delightfully, unintentionally obtuse but this time you've completely missed the plot.

BPC is full of new highrises, all the newer ones being premium green, LEED certified buildings with correspondingly high rents. Admittedly rents are being discounted now as they were a few years ago but the point is, it is difficult to find cheap apts in that area unless you go to the oldest, rent stabilized, most run down building complex - which is, of course, Gateway Plaza.

This place is known as the only affordable place to live in bpc and the reason is that it is rent stabilized with new tenants being charged market rates but with future rent increases tied to the rent guidelines board raises. The LeFrak organization has basically been held hostage by Sheldon Silver two times in the past when it tried to destabilize (unsuccessfully because they had to go through some gov office that Shelly had power over to refinance their bonds) and this time he is doing it again because they want to negotiate their ground lease that comes up for renewal in about 10 years time. This means that LeFrak is not exactly incentivized to maintain the apts, hence the state of the apts as described in the link and by the OP.

So using Gateway as an example of a place in bpc where you can find rents at a 50% discount to the current going rate is disingenuous.

BTW demosthenes, I have friends living in the Solaire, Tribeca Green, 22 River Terrace and the 2BRs in Gateway are not enormous for the area. They are average. Larger than most people would be used to, granted, but bpc apts tend to be larger than the norm.

Floorplans can be found here:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mpaenvironment/pages/projects/GREENReport.pdf
Pretty good floorplans but you should see the floorplans in the newer bpc buildings which are run like very slick operations (professional, helpful and responsive staff, efficient maintenance, garbage and recycling etc - like living in a high end hotel) which also have more built in closet space than Gateway and other places.

As most know I live in Tribeca proper but, if it were not for the fact that I want to stay in the ps234 zone I would live in one of the newer buildings in bpc in a heartbeat and would not mind paying up to &8000 for a big apt. Of course now I would not have to pay that much but the point is - you could not pay me to live in Gateway Plaza.

BTW, don't get me wrong, I have friends in Gateway too and I would hate for them to be priced out of their home despite my dislike for the way Shelly works and my preference for a better way to provide affordable housing. Bp city's original aim which is only recently being fulfilled - surplus funds being used to finance bonds to create and maintain affordable housing - is a better method then RS and RC for example.

Like living in a high end hotel - I fully realize that that makes me sound like a Lexus driving baby boomer who has been hoodwinked into buying into cliched definition of what constitutes "luxury" (Rufus comes to mind) but this does describe the experience fairly well.

divvie...a concession of one-two months and LL paying broker's fee has become standard in high end or any apartment. Rockrose is giving two months free rent..they're not lowering the rent they're adding two additional months onto the lease.

divvie -

great link. thanks for that. intersting read, too

you are right, the floorplans are not enormous, but the 200 SF masters, etc...Id say the room dimensions are 1-3' better than the overall stock in BPC north and south, *price* (not quality) adjusted. So a $3500 2br in Gateways units has room dimensions 1-3' better than 3500 2BR elsewhere (and 3500 3BR havent really existed for a few years here and still dont except for the odd 2br at 22 RT). Weve lived in BPC north for 5 years at the LEED buildings; nice but still pricing the 10% green premium and as of last week I hear unwilling to negotiate. I know vacancies are piling up here so that may change, but Carlos keeps such a lid on what inventory goes out to market, you never really know the situation (18 vacancies at Solaire; 14 at Verdesian; both offering OPs)

Any yes, Gateway is unique. I wouldnt draw any inference from it other than you get what you pay for. Traditionally the best deals are from the condo owners....but now its getting crazy and I get nervous when the rent pmt is 50% or less of owner's carry (maint mortgage).....the owner is totally upside down which could unwind badly for the tenant