The coverage of the Apthorp's many scandals over the past few years has been a wild and crazy ride, but visually dull. The stories are always accompanied by photos of the Upper West Side landmark's limestone facade, or arched gates, or serene interior courtyard. Pretty, but tired. What about the apartments?the sprawling, pre-war masterpieces that stretch to double-digit rooms and have attracted the likes Al Pacino, Conan O'Brien, Nora Ephron and more over a century of serving as the city's most storied rental? Now, with the ownership feud having been settled, and the September deadline to sell 25 units in order to make the conversion's condo plan effective looming, the Apthorp is finally showing off the goods. "We're not hiding the fact that we need to make deals," Elliman's Harlan Goldberg tells us. And how!
As reported in the Times over the weekend, the Apthorp's race to 25 is creating the first high-end fire sale in recent memory. Previous PriceChops are apparently not enough, and Josh Barbanel writes that the developers are even considering one low-ball offer of $1,500-per-square-foot in a blockbuster condo conversion that was expected to fetch twice that amount. In addition to spelling out to the world how low they'll go, the celebrity namedropping (Alec Baldwin! SJP! Tommy Mottola!) by Elliman boss Howard Lorber proves just how motivated the developers and brokers are to make this thing happen. Or maybe they're hoping the promise of new celebrity neighbors will appease any ill-tempered remaining rent-stabilized tenants.
Above are two finished model units being shown to prospective buyers. The first in the above gallery is #10L, a 4BR, 3BA apartment just under 3,000 square feet that is being sold as-is, cleaned up and staged but not fully renovated and restored. Of course, at the Apthorp, "as-is" still means mosaic-tiled foyers, hand-carved plasterwork (though in some cases covered by layers of white paint added over the years) and tons of gorgeous original details. The asking price is $5.75 million, but it's clear asking prices don't mean much right now.
For around $500-per-square-foot more, there are units like #6J, the other model, which has been fully touched-up and upgraded (especially in the kitchen). The asking price on that 3,069-square-foot beast is $7.5 million. Famously, no two of the Apthorp's 160+ units are exactly the same, but the above should serve as a good visual aid to Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker and whatever other bargain-hunting celebrities are out there reading Curbed. Hi guys!
· The Apthorp [Official Site]
· All Apthorp coverage [Curbed]
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