By Patrick Hedlund
Condos up, co-ops down
The median price of co-op units Downtown dropped by 13 percent over the past year, while the price of condos grew by 12 percent, according to a year-end residential market report from the Corcoran Group.
Downtown, defined as the residential properties below 34th St., saw the median price of co-ops decrease from $650,000 to $564,000 from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009. Over that same period, the median price of condos increased by 12 percent — from $1.12 million to $1.25 million.
The median prices of the four unit types covered in the report — studios through three-bedrooms — slipped across the board for co-ops, declining by 11 percent, 13 percent, 1 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
Three-bedroom co-ops experienced the greatest change year over year, sliding from $2.25 million at the end of 2008 to $1.51 million currently. Three-bedroom condos saw similar drop-offs, with the median price falling from $3.1 million to $2.4 million in a year’s time.
Not her style
Quite possibly the most famous name in fashion has joined the chorus of voices demanding that a proposed Bleecker St. building be reduced in size to protect the area’s historic character.
Vogue editor and longtime Village resident Anna Wintour penned a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, stating that the intended eight-story project represents “unwelcome intrusion” into the neighborhood, according to the New York Post.
The Department of Buildings recently stated its intentions to revoke permits for the proposed structure at 178 Bleecker St., which would back up to the landmark MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District, bounded by Bleecker, MacDougal, Sullivan and Houston Sts.
Wintour, reportedly writing on Vogue letterhead, called the project “a totally out-of-scale, inappropriate” development for the block, and she has also reached out to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to express her displeasure.
The MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District is surrounded by 22 townhouses, including Wintour’s, that provide exclusive access to the tree-filled backyard retreat.
Preservationists rallied unsuccessfully last year to prevent the demolition of the former building at the site, a five-story row house there since 1861.
mixeduse@communitymediallc.com
