The dream of owning a million-dollar apartment is out of reach for most New Yorkers, so how about a $900,000 apartment! A pair of new-to-market East Village listings priced just shy of $1 million have caught our eye for their similarities as well as their differences. Both are condos on 13th Street, a quiet street (for the East Village, anyway) dominated by walk-up rental buildings. Both have balconies and 1.5 bathrooms. One is a shiny new 1BR (with a small home office) in the notorious A Building between First Avenue and Avenue A, priced at $972,000. It sold for $906k back in 2008. The other is a 2BR duplex in the slightly odd townhouse/not-townhouse building at 509 East 13th Street just one block east of the A Building, asking $925,000. The seller tried to get $1.3 million for the place back in 2008. So which has the edge?
We're surprised that, even with the A Building's gym, pool, full-time doorman and insurance against drunken idiots falling off the roof, maintenance on the A Building unit is only about $100 more per month than the largely amenities-free place at 509 East 13th. And that's offset by the A Building's tax abatement, at least until the A Building gets a serious hike in common charges down the line.
But that's not to say that the duplex doesn't have its advantages. It has a kitchen that's not floating in some living/dining room no man's land, a private entrance (some people prefer avoiding the judgmental eyes of a doorman, right?) and an amazingly chipper walk-through video in its listing?which, by the way, begins with a shot of a building that's not 509 East 13th Street. Hey, it's war out there, and we don't mind people playing dirty. Both floorplans below. So, which neighbor is more deserving of (nearly) a million bucks?
Click to expand!
· Listing: 425 East 13th Street [Corcoran]
· Listing: 509 East 13th Street [Elliman]
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