95% of Manhattan, Brooklyn condo buildings lack 13th floor

From left: Izak Senbahar, 56 Leonard Street, Gary Barnett and unlucky 13
From left: Izak Senbahar, 56 Leonard Street, Gary Barnett and unlucky 13

New Yorkers aren’t thought of as being particularly superstitious, but developers don’t want to take any chances. Less than 5 percent of mid- and high-rise residential condominium buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn have a designated 13th floor, according to an analysis of 1,500 condo declarations by real estate listings site and data provider CityRealty.

At Alexico Group’s 56 Leonard Street, for example, developer Izak Senbahar told the Wall Street Journal that opting out of unlucky 13 was a “no brainer. “You don’t want to preclude anyone, a buyer who happens to be superstitious,” Senbahar said. “It boils down to that.”

Extell Development left out the 13th floor at the Aldyn and the Rushmore, and did so again at One57. Stephen Ross isn’t trying his luck with the number at Hudson Yards either, and neither is Harry Macklowe at 432 Park Avenue.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Kevin Maloney, principal at Property Markets Group, told the newspaper that omitting the floor “also makes a building seem a little bit taller, which is important in New York.”

When, however, 13th-floor condo units do hit the market, they aren’t a hassle to sell. Brown Harris Stevens’ Lisa Lippman recently sold a two-bedroom apartment at an Upper West Side co-op for about $4.2 million, just a shade under the asking price.

No one mentioned the 13th floor during the deal, Lippman told the newspaper. [WSJ]Hiten Samtani