When it comes to obstructed exposures, it takes all kinds.
There are those where all you can see out the windows is forbidding blank brick walls mere feet away, often in courtyards.
Other more distant exposures may tower so high that the only way to glimpse the sky is to stick your head out the window.
Others may consist of buildings some distance away, perhaps half a block, where it is impossible to see anything worth seeing — not a skyline, not a river, nothing of interest and nothing particularly offensive.
Then there are those exposures like the one in the photo that are partly blocked by buildings across the way, letting in a modicum of light but permitting nothing like a view. What they offer is a patch of blue.
The apartment from which I took this photo is a one-bedroom co-op on Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights.
Chopped from a much larger unit in the 1907 pet-friendly doorman building with a garage, the apartment is not without appeal — for example, a retained expanse of windows topped by stained glass in the onetime dining room.
The apartment has a galley kitchen that has been decently improved. By “decently,” consider that there are two stone countertops — one blue and one white, as if the seller couldn’t manage to bring everything up to date. But the space is otherwise attractive enough, with newer cabinets and appliances.
Room proportions are about average for the Upper West Side, floors are in poor condition and the ceilings rise 10 feet.
As for its reduced asking price of $498,000 with maintenance of $947 per month, the unit should sell for $25,000-35,000 less.
Below are some of the other apartments that other brokers have listed and that I have visited:
- A lovely 1,350-sf condo with two split bedrooms and two baths in the mid 80s in a Riverside Park block. Facing north over a wide street in a 1909 pet-friendly building with part-time doorman and roof deck, the apartment numbers among its features stylish finishes, lovely cherry floors and built-ins. The square-shaped kitchen is open to a dining foyer, and there are plenty of closets. The listing price of $1.595 million (reduced from $1.65 million) with monthly common charges of $1,291 and real estate taxes of $884 obviously is on target: The unit went under contract last week.
- On Broadway in the very high 60s, a pleasing one-bedroom co-op with open exposures west to other buildings. The 699-sf unit is in very good shape with its newer maple floors, updated interior kitchen, somewhat improved bath and closet space that is a little above average. Although the asking price of $549,000 with high monthly maintenance of $1,514 in a 1977 full-service building that permits pets, pieds-à-terre and washer/dryers bears no relation to the sold price of $450,000 a little over a year ago, the apartment found a buyer two weeks ago.
- A wonderfully renovated classic-six co-op on West End Avenue in the mid 90s. On a high floor of a 1920 doorman mid-rise with great river views from every room but, unfortunately, the living room, this apartment has a superb center-island kitchen in white, two and a half exceptionally stylish baths, a dining room with banquette, built-in desk and wainscoting, thoughtful touches throughout, washer/dryer, ample closet space, great room proportions and a price to match the unit’s quality: $1.95 million with maintenance per month of $2,457. It went to contract last month.
- In the mid 70s between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, a 700-sf apartment with an uninviting small terrace in a canyon and accessed through the lone bedroom. With a tiny dated bath squeezed between the living room and bedroom, cramped kitchen with laminate countertops and cabinets, and an exposed brick wall in the living room, this place on a low floor of a 1920 pet-averse doorman building is hardly worth the offering price of $599,000 with maintenance of $1,556 a month.
Tomorrow: Rough out there
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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
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Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
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