Tribeca loft goes for $3.15 million in city auction

The Ice House, 27 N. Moore St. in Tribeca.

With only a single competitor, a Long Island man won a two-bedroom, two-bath condo at 27 N. Moore St. for the favorable price of $3.15 million at the city’s auction of nine apartments in Manhattan today.

Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin had set the minimum price at $3 million for the more than 2,000-sf loft, which had been owned by one Veronica Lee in a building called the Ice House.  According to Curbed.com, Lee paid $774,000 for the unit in 1999 and died owing JP Morgan Chase $1.9 million left on her mortgage.

“I feel good,” successful bidder Mario Montoya told me after the auction, adding that he had been prepared to offer “a little more.”

City to auction off $3 million condo, 8 other units

Condominium called the Ice House at 27 North Moore St. in Tribeca

The sale of a condo with a minimum bid of $3 million is the highlight of a new estate auction scheduled for June 28 by Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin.

Among the eight other apartments to go on the block starting at 11:30 a.m. are three income-limited units, a co-op in the Kips Bay neighborhood and one on the Upper West Side in the Lincoln Towers complex.

The $3 million unit is in the Ice House, at 27 North Moore St., in Tribeca.  It was owned by one Veronica Lee, but I have been unable to find verifiable information about her.

What I know is that

Co-ops in Manhattan auction draw limp bidding

The impossibly ornate Surrogate's Courthouse, where the auction was held.

Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin’s poorly attended estate auction of nine apartments Tuesday produced sales totaling only $2.374 million.

Five of the properties ranging in location from Chinatown to Washington Heights failed to attract even one bidder.  A co-op on West End Avenue in Lincoln Towers sold to a sole bidder for its minimum of $300,000.

There were just two bidders for

10 Manhattan co-ops to be auctioned Sept. 27

45 Sutton Place South

Update: The Eldridge Street property has been withdrawn from the auction.

In its first estate auction of Manhattan properties since March, the city is putting on the block 10 co-operative apartments to be sold Sept. 27.

New York Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin is offering units ranging from Chinatown to Washington Heights.  Among them are apartments on Sutton Place South, in the Lincoln Towers complex and on Carnegie Hill.

Minimum bids range from $45,000 for one of three limited-income co-ops to $950,000 for the ones on Sutton Place South and Carnegie Hill.

Officials set minimum auction bids different ways

Surrogate's Courthouse in Manhattan, site of public administrator auctions.

Auction aficionados are well aware that each of the public administrators in the city’s boroughs holds auctions usually three or four times a year to unload properties of owners who died without a will.

Every time I publish a post about an upcoming auction along with the minimum bids, I can count on Internet chatter to the effect that the apartments and townhouses going on the block don’t add up to bargains. To commenters, the minimum bids invariably seem too high.

I got to wondering how the public administrators decide on the minimum.

One is luckiest number at city estate auction

This is the best I ever can manage for a forbidden photo inside the impossibly lush Surrogate Courthouse.

Only a couple of dozen hopefuls turned out for the city’s estate auction in the Surrogate Courthouse yesterday, so two lone bidders ran away with co-ops at the minimum asking price.

Lawyer Glenn Ostrager was the sole bidder for the 825-sf apartment at 60 Sutton Place South, which he won for $580,000.  Paddle in hand, a second bidder dropped out before the auction even started after hearing the sale conditions read; among other things, the buyer is required to replace the metal-framed windows and the sliding glass door to the balcony.

Ostrager, who declined to be photographed or quoted much, said he lived in the area and planned to move into the new place.  That’s provided the board approves the sale.

Asked how he felt about succeeding with his bid, the lawyer responded by saying just this:

“I don’t have any reaction.”

Ostrager seemed like a nice enough guy, but let’s say that he wouldn’t be my first choice for a dinner companion.

No one showed up to bid on the units offered at

City schedules estate auction of one-bedroom Sutton Place South co-op plus 6 other apartments

60 Sutton Place South

Co-ops ranging from Sutton Place South to Washington Heights are scheduled for another of the city’s estate auctions on Aug. 26.

Among the units to be sold is an 825-sf apartment at 60 Sutton Place South, a 1953 building in which 11 of 357 co-ops are on the market with asking prices from $605,000 for a 750-sf residence to $2.495 million for one of 2,410 square feet.

Manhattan Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin will seek to dispose of the properties, which can be inspected Aug. 12, 17, 19 and 24  from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.  The following co-ops go on the block starting at 11:30 a.m. (usually later, however), and I expect to be there:

City’s estate auction nets $1.355 million

The city’s estate auction of five Manhattan condos and a co-op produced winning bids totaling $1.355 million.

However, three of the units went unsold at the event, which took place in the Surrogate Court’s building (left) starting at 11:30 a.m.

Following are the results, which I obtained (while supposedly on vacation) by telephone from Patricia Brown in the office of Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin of New York County:

• 570 Grand St., #H1305, co-op, 1,350 square feet, three bedrooms, one and a half baths with monthly maintenance of $1,009. Minimum bid: $540,000, reduced by $40,000. Winning bid: $540,000.
• 116 Pinehurst Ave., #F53, co-op, 1,094 square feet, two bedrooms, maintenance of $1,138.36 and assessment of $142.74 monthly. Minimum bid: $620,000, a $60,000 reduction. Did not sell for second time and will be assigned to a broker.
• 204-206 W. 10th St., Apt. 3, co-op, 345 square feet, one bedroom, $634 maintenance per month. Minimum: $325,000. Did not sell and will go on the block one more time at a date to be set.
• 270 W. 17th St., Apt. 3H, condo, 552 square feet, three rooms, monthly common charges of $550 and annual taxes of $6,300. Minimum: $475,000. Winning bid: $555,000.
  
• 550 Grand St., Apt. G12E, co-op, 780 square feet, three bedrooms, one and a half baths, $719 monthly maintenance. Minimum: $260,000. Winning bid: $260,000.
• 3 Hanover Sq., Apt. 9B, co-op, 562 square feet, $774 maintenance. Minimum: $310,000. Did not sell and will be auctioned again.

The sales of the co-ops are subject to approval by their boards of directors. If they reject the purchaser, deposits are returned and there is no penalty.

As for the turnout, Ms. Brown said there was an “adequate” number of bidders.

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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022

M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201

Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
Web site

City reduces BRs of co-op to be auctioned July 29

New information today on the city’s estate auction July 29 of five Manhattan co-ops and a condo corrects the number of bedrooms of one of the properties.

The change concerns Apt. G12E at 550 Grand St., which is listed with 780 square feet.  A number of readers questioned its original description, as did I, of having three bedrooms and one and a half baths.

Now, an advertisement from the office of Ethel J. Griffin, public administrator of New York County, indicates that the unit contains three rooms and a single bath.  The minimum bid remains $260,000.

Makes a lot more sense, no?

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Share This Post

Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022

M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201

Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
Web site

Get those certified checks to bid at city auction

3 Hanover Square

Bidders will have the opportunity on July 29 to win an apartment at the city’s estate auction of five co-ops and a condo ranging from the Financial District all the way up to Washington Heights.

Manhattan Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin will seek to dispose of the properties, which can be inspected July 13, 15, 19 and 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.

Two of the properties failed to sell at the last auction, and had the amount of their minimum bids cut, so this is your second chance.  (Should they go unsold this time, the apartment will be turned over to a real estate broker to market.)  They are: