The Upper West Side's most exclusive slum is apparently The Apthorp, where over 20 apartments have now closed for prices as high as $6.8 million and one guy even went back for seconds and thirds. With complaints from longtime rent-stabilized tenants about the state of the building's renovation piling up, The Observer's Chloe Malle took a tour of the city's most controversial conversion. What cruelties await the buyers? Underwhelming laundry facilities! We hope those foyers have basins to collect their tears.
In the catacomb-reminiscent basement, a fire hose lies sadly on the floor detached from its wall fixture, and the recently relocated laundry machines line a narrow hallway with a makeshift sink and barely enough room to unload the dryer (the assumption is that converted condos will house their own washer-dryer system). The apartments are being marketed as is, with buyers accepting the responsibility and cost (roughly $1,000 per square foot) of renovation. Tenants say the building's manager has not instituted any construction protocol. That has led many to wonder what perils face them next when renovations begin in earnest on the recently purchased apartments, and lead and asbestos exposure becomes dangerously high—not to mention that "anytime the construction starts," the resident said, "the mice start scurrying." Perhaps that explain the high price tag slapped on the first Apthorp flipper. Maybe the mice have scurried to the other side of the building?
· Of Mice and Men at Work [NYO]
· The Apthorp coverage [Curbed]
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