Midtown West
$955,000
425 West 53rd Street
1-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom, 898 sf condo in a new elevator building; doorman; concierge; south-facing unit has floor-to-ceiling windows, marble bath with radiant heat floor, open kitchen and washer/dryer; building has garage, private storage and courtyard; common charges $732 per month; taxes $138 per month; asking price $1.035 million; five weeks on the market. (Brokers: the Corcoran Group; Thomas Beczynski, City Connections Realty)
“The buyer was a jewelry designer in her mid-40s who had been living on the Upper West Side for 20 years and wanted something a little more vibrant and modern. The deal actually closed the day after a big blizzard, but she really pushed for everyone to be there because her attorney was leaving for a trip to South America the next day and wasn’t coming back for two weeks. Even on our team, people were trying to figure out ways to get out of it, but she was pretty gung-ho. The streets were a mess that day, so this was the only thing I did for work. I’m not even sure if the office was open.”
— Thomas Beczynski, City Connections Realty
Morningside Heights
$440,000
200 West 108th Street
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 700 sf co-op in a prewar elevator building; part-time doorman; unit has custom copper molding and renovated kitchen and floors; building has storage; maintenance $869 per month; 26 percent tax-deductible; asking price $449,000; 14 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Jeffrey Schleider, Miron Properties; Myrel Glick, Prudential Douglas Elliman)
“The seller is a single guy who adopted a baby, so he had to move to a bigger space. He moved to a rental temporarily, but we’re looking for an investment property right now [for him]. He’s like a saint — a great dad. The market in the northern part of the Upper West Side has taken longer to come back, but I think we’ve definitely caught into that trajectory. Volume is up. I wouldn’t say ‘recovered,’ but ‘recovering,’ maybe. The buyer had been living right on the same block.” — Jeffrey Schleider, Miron Properties
Upper East Side
$1.35 million
515 East 72nd Street
2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1,081 sf condo in postwar elevator building; 24-hour doorman; concierge; unit has windowed kitchen, washer/dryer and wraparound terrace with open city views; building has health club, pool, sauna, spa services, private garden, garage; common charges $1,148 per month; taxes $1,641 per month; asking price $1.35 million; 11 weeks on the market. (Brokers: Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group; Fiona Higgins, A.C. Lawrence & Company)
“I lived in the building myself when it was a rental back in the 1990s, so it was nice to go back there and actually do a deal now that it’s a condo. The developers have had a bit of a sticky situation with selling the apartments — for various reasons — but my clients have moved in and so far they’re just loving it. It was right around the time they were looking that the news came out that Miraval Living [the former name of the building] was no longer going to operate the spa, but they’re very easygoing people. It was also a trial getting the mortgage, just because the building didn’t meet all of the requirements nowadays for percentage sold and owner occupied and all of that. But they went in with their eyes open and they knew what they wanted, so ultimately it did work out.” — Fiona Higgins, A.C. Lawrence & Company
Interviews conducted and condensed by Sarabeth Sanders