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 a Sutton Place South co-op, which went from $950,000 to $1 million in $10,000 increments.
The only property that attracted anything remotely close to spirited bidding was the least expensive one, a $45,000 limited-income co-op for which there were nine bids until hammered down at $74,000.
I inspected that apartment on Saturday and was, unsurprisingly, astonished at its decrepitude and stench in a building with depressingly ugly lobby and hallways.
Continuing a familiar pattern for these auctions in New York County alone, the city achieved a mere 63.4 percent of the minimum bids (minus an Eldridge Street property that was previously withdrawn).
A similar auction in Queens last month garnered bids 40 percent higher than the total of the upset prices, while a Brooklyn event ended with just 69 percent of the combined minimum bids.
Below are the properties on the block along with their winning bids:
- 45 Sutton Place So., #5E, estate of Marilyn Gilpin, 1,665 square feet, two bedrooms, two baths, $2,968 plus $175 assessment, minimum $950,000/$1 million;
- 435 Convent Ave., #63, estate of Ruth Pugh, 1,366 square feet, two bedrooms, $1,084 maintenance plus $9o assessment, minimum bid $350,000/no bidders;
- 251 Seaman Ave., #2J, estate of Simone Trudo, 747 square feet, $611 maintenance plus $129 assessment, minimum $220,000/no bidders;
- 61 E. 86th St., #74, estate of Maria Leitner, 1,500 square feet, three bedrooms, $2,506 maintenance, minimum $950,000/$1 million;
- 128-130 W. 138th St., #2C, estate of Helen O’Garro, 499 square feet, $385 maintenance, income limited, minimum $45,000/$74,000;
- 140-142 West End Ave., #14W, estate of Gary Czekus, 581 square feet, studio, $924 maintenance plus $60 assessment, minimum $300,000/$300,000;
- 134 Eldridge St., #5, estate of Earl A. Patnode, 576 square feet, $600 maintenance, income limited, minimum $200,000/withdrawn;
- 550 Grand St., #H1C, estate of Mildred Keitelman, 948 square feet, two bedrooms, $949 maintenance, minimum bid $460,000/no bidders;
- 30 Macombs Place, #1C, estate of Jessie Byrd, 528 square feet, $550 maintenance, income limited, minimum bid $50,000/no bidders;
- 570 Grand Street, #H1004, estate of Ethel Mack, 714 square feet, one bedroom, $650 maintenance, minimum bid $450,000/no bidders.
Properties that go unsold are put on the block one more time and then go to a real estate broker in the event there is no successful bidder.
Tomorrow: My Con Ed bill gives me a charge
Subscribe by Email
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
I, on Cambodia 