The views from the South Street Seaport-area apartments at 275 Water Street (above) are pretty sweet?sweet enough to price this two-bedroom loft at $1.2 million. But as a Curbed reader points out, it's caveat emptor:
What none of the brokers will tell you is that these apartments won't have views for long. Barry Akrongold has bought 254 Front Street (where Jeremy's Ale House used to be), and plans to build a 7- or 8-story condo building on the lot. Which is fine under zoning restrictions: new buildings can have a base height of up to 85 feet, and can go up to 120 feet in total. (In fact, there's a MINIMUM base height of 60 feet for new buildings, so whatever he builds will certainly destroy the views from 273 Water.) And the FAR (remember that?) in a C6-2A zone is 6.02, and that block has the ability to buy development rights from elsewhere in the Historic District and raise that number as far as 8.02. In other words, it's only a matter of time until both apartments lose their views?and their unique selling point.Indeed, some Google action turns up a 35-page PDF detailing the developers' plans to build an eight-story building at 254 Front. Now, we can't confirm the views at 275 Water would be blocked by a new development?but it's a good reminder that in our special little city, today's vistas are often tomorrow's brick walls.
· Listing: 275 Water Street, 7th Floor [Halstead]
· 254 Front Street Business Plan [david-erik.com]