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Aptsandlofts.com takes over marketing, relaunches sales at Crown Heights condo
[Updated at 6:20 p.m., with comments from Aguayo and Huebener] After two years on and off the market with Aguayo and Huebener, aptsandlofts.com has taken over marketing and relaunched sales at the 21-unit 904 Pacific Street in Crown Heights, said aptsandlofts.com President David Maundrell.
The condominium was last on the market in May for two months before an aptsandlofts.com team led by Steven Laurelli, director of on-site sales, became the new exclusive marketing and sales team around Aug. 8.
The building, dubbed “The Collection,” was originally developed by Eli Karp’s Supreme Builders and Developers, as part of its Hello Living series of Brooklyn apartment buildings, which includes condos at 916, 925, 935, 957 and 1311 Pacific Street and 802 Dean Street in addition to 904 Pacific Street.
While the other buildings have mostly sold out, 904 Pacific Street has spent the last two years going on and off the market without a sale. Recently, the landowners, a group of investors hidden behind an LLC called Supreme 904 Pacific, removed Karp and took on the development responsibility on their own, something they had previously done at 542 Saint Marks Place. They hired aptsandlofts.com to market both buildings, but could not be reached for comment.
Brendan Aguayo, head of business development at Aguayo and Huebener, said the firm decided to drop the project in June. “We had presented offers for about 40 percent of the apartments,” he said, “but the owners were completely unwilling to negotiate with the buyers.”
Combine those issues with certain challenges within the building that the owners weren’t willing to address at the time, he said, and the Brooklyn brokerage felt it was best not to devote its resources to the project.
The building has gone through two developers, two marketers, and at least two name changes — from “Dakota” to “Salon” and, finally, “The Collection.” But Maundrell stressed the brokerage change has nothing to do with the quality of the apartments. “I don’t want people to think that because it’s changed hands there’s a problem with the building.”
Since taking over marketing duties, aptsandlofts.com has slashed prices. Several larger units have been reduced by more than $100,000, including a two-bedroom, 1,360-square-foot unit listed for $899,000 in May that is now asking just $750,000, according to Streeteasy.com. Meanwhile, a 785-square-foot, one-bedroom unit previously listed at $449,000 is down just $9,000 with aptsandlofts.com.
“People are price sensitive today,” Maundrell said. Aptsandlofts.com held its first open house at the building this past Sunday and had 18 appointments the same day. “These are value shoppers who want to live here for the next five or seven years… and realize it’s probably cheaper than renting today.” The building is eligible for Federal Housing Authority loans, Maundrell said, meaning buyers can put down as little as 3.5 percent.
The “extremely modern-looking” building, Maundrell noted, is L-shaped to form an outside courtyard. It has parking and an indoor pool and fitness center in the building that it shares with residents of other buildings in the Hello Living series. The building has its certificate of occupancy and move-ins can begin immediately.