Administrator holds another lackluster auction

Building at 204 E. 7th St., where a studio apartment at auction received the most active bidding, selling finally for $194,000.

Only four of 10 properties offered at auction by Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin in Manhattan found buyers today.

Worse, the city collected just 26 percent of the minimum for all the properties.  The minimums totaled $2.921 million, but the amount sold reached only $746,000.

In the Surrogate’s Courthouse oppostie the Municipal Building in lower Manhattan, the event attracted an unusually large crowd of some 60 individuals, some of them merely accompanying the bidders.

The first property offered, a 304-sf co-op in poor condition at 204 E. 7th St., had 15-20 bidders jammed in front of a long conference table at which city officials and lawyers were seated as the sale of Unit 12 began.  Continue reading

City to auction off 8 co-ops, 1 condo, 1 house

View from the Castle Village complex of five buildings from 120 to 200 Cabrini Boulevard in Washington Heights. A one-bedroom unit at 180 Cabrini Boulevard is in the city's estate auction next month.

Two co-ops that bidders previously shunned and six newly available ones, plus a West Harlem condo, are scheduled to be auctioned from the estates of owners who left no wills by Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin in Manhattan on Dec. 8 at 11:30 a.m.

In a rare occurrence, a property outside of Manhattan also is to go on the block.  It is a single-family house in the East Hampton area with a minimum bid of $725,000.  The house has one and a half stories over a basement and a two-car garage with annual taxes of $5,800.  It can be inspected Nov. 20, Nov. 27 and Dec. 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Minimum bids for the apartments, which span Washington Heights and Chinatown, range from a low of Continue reading

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 Continue reading

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. Continue reading

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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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: Continue reading

City to auction off four co-ops and a condo

392 Central Park West is one of several buildings in Park West Village on the Upper West Side.

On March 11, as mentioned in my previous post immediately below, the Office of the Manhattan Public Administrator will dispose at an auction of co-ops and condos situated between Washington Heights and Chinatown.

The apartments are: Continue reading