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
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Charles Rutenberg Realty
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New York, NY 10022

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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:

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:

Bid on the City yelps, bares teeth, doesn’t bite

Flickr image by spacecookypk

Raymond Villani, managing director of Bid on the City, has written a rebuttal to my post on the auction that I attended, according to the ever-resourceful Web site, Curbed.com, which said a copy had fallen into its hands yesterday.

Now it’s my turn (in boldface–hey, it’s my blog):

Bid on the City auction too little too late?

Leaning over a desk and blocking a small section at the left bottom of the big screen is the personable auctioneer and, left foreground, my hat.

A technologically impressive outfit called Bid on the City ventured into the Big Apple last spring, I think, with the auction by mouse, TV remote, telephone and live audience of two properties.  Yesterday, I decided it was high time to pay a visit.

My reaction to the sale of 10 Manhattan townhouses and apartments that went on the block was decidedly mixed. 

Times ‘year-ender’ views the Solaria uncritically

Although I’ve been quoted before, I was pretty pleased when a reporter from the New York Times called the other day to ask for details about the auction of 54 units of Riverdale’s Solaria development.

Naturally, I was disappointed when I unearthed the piece, buried as it was in the “New York” section of yesterday’s newspaper, and saw no mention of me. Those are the breaks, I know, from my long experience in journalism and public education.

That said, I was amazed that the publication omitted any sign of skepticism when it reported that 21 of the condos were sold at the Nov. 22 auction. Covering the bases, the reporter quoted the auction company (as I have in previous posts) as if REDC were a reliable source (as I have not). In addition, no mention was made of the abysmally low bids that were made.

Architect wins condop at 110 Central Park South

James Smiros with paddle in one hand, contract in the other.

James Smiros, an architect from Oyster Bay on Long Island, was the successful bidder Thursday evening for a 1026-square foot luxury apartment in the former Ritz Carlton facing Central Park.

Having been reduced by a third from its original price nearly two years ago, the one-bedroom unit went for $825,000 in a lackluster auction.  That sum was Smiros’s only bid, and the under-bidder dropped out although the increment was a mere $10,000 from a high of $50,000.

Solaria auction leaves some loose ends and claims

The press release just arrived, two days later than promised, and here it is verbatim (don’t worry, it’s not very long):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

REDC HOLDS NEW YORK CITY’S FIRST SUCCESSFUL

HIGH-RISE AUCTION FOR SOLARIA CONDOMINIUM

Close to 1,800 Pre-Registered and 550 in Attendance

New York, NY – November 23, 2009 – Real Estate Disposition, LLC (REDC), the nation’s largest real estate auction firm, conducted the first successful NYC luxury high-rise auction for the Solaria condominium on November 22, 2009, with the developer receiving bids and contracts on all homes.

“This auction was an incredible success,” said Robert Friedman, Chairman of REDC. “The buyers of these luxury condominiums got some amazing deals and the developer was able to sell many homes in just a few hours. We already have more than 21 contracts, with over $17 million in proceeds from auction day, and we expect to sell the building out over the next month in our post-auction effort.  We will announce the final sold amount once the program is complete. ”

Auction of Riverdale’s Solaria ends with a whimper

Don’t miss today’s update!

When the auction started at 1:22 p.m. this was the room.

When the auction ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Sheraton New York Hotel, the remaining hopeful bidders for one of 54 Solaria condos on the block seemed variously dispirited or stubborn despite discounts that averaged 45 percent off the listing prices.

But their mood hardly could have matched that of the condominium’s developer, Joseph Korff of ARC Development, or of the auctioneers, Real Estate Disposition (REDC).  By the anticlimactic close after nearly three and three-quarter hours, even the typically frantic hand gestures and shouts of the auctioneer’s floor personnel had waned to wan facial expressions.

This was the scene when the auction ended at 5:00 p.m.

 

Although people connected with REDC put a happy face on the results, noting how rare it was for a building to sell as many as 54 condos in a matter of hours, rather than years, “at prices within 5-10 percent of retail,” everyone on the sell side had to be disappointed.  Here’s why:

Solaria’s auctioneers fail to get it up very high

Please see today’s update on the auction.

Some 300 individuals showed up for the auction of 54 units at Riverdale’s troubled Solaria condominium for four hours of bidding today.

Although the results failed to impress either me or apparently the roughly 10 percent who were left by the end the auction at a mid-Manhattan hotel, people from the auction company, Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC), said they were pleased.