Developer Sells “Panoramic Manhattan Views” Knowing He’s Building a Condo That Blocks View

I seriously wouldn’t mind working in the developer business – with a position to repair and rebuild the industry’s reputation. It seems like one of those impossible opportunities with no chance of success. I would love that challenge. People like Jamie LeFrak of the huge New York The LeFrak Organization would make every moment exciting and challenging.

As an upstanding developer, he specifically marketed 16 luxury apartments in the Shore Club condominium as having panoramic views of Manhattan. He did this while fully aware that he’s building a 32 story building that will block the view.

A court case brought by the 16 purchasers has been ruled in their favor for false advertising. They group has been awarded 3.8 Million in damages, interest, and another one million to cover legal fees.

P.S. – For Feng shui reasons, the Shore Club has no 2nd, 4th, 13th, 14th, or 24th floor – which means if you buy on the 25th floor you are actually on the 20th. That seems awesome – now you can have that 25th floor experience even with your fear of heights over 20 floors! [sarcasm]

A Condo you will never be able to afford – $98.5 Million USD

The tag line is:

Not only do you live at the centre of the universe, you overlook it

And for that right person who feels that they live (nay, are) the centre of the universe, there is now a condominium in construction that will have enough square footage to hold every cranny of your massiveness. The one57.

There are actually two (2!) of these apartments at this price – the 75^th floor 13,554 ($7,267/sqf) square foot, and the (for the more refined) 90^th floor 10,923 ($9,018/sqf) square foot residence.

I can honestly say that I don’t have the funds to live there.

Buy Condos Where The Financial Districts Are

I’ve picked the wrong profession. Alas, if my mother only wanted me to be a banker and read to me the unabridged version of Scrooge (where he doesn’t feel remorse), I coulda shoulda woulda been rich.

It appears that the majority of the super-rich, the top 0.1% (or top 1/1000), has a propensity to be from the banking sector. This group forms the largest job based income generation of the super-rich. Indeed, it should be hard to be poor for even when you mess up people will still give you $20.3 billion dollars as a reward.

Taking a slightly different story line – both Toronto, Manhattan and Brooklyn have shown tremendous growth in condominium sales, both regular cost (which still can be half a million and more), and the ultra-expensive.

Which makes me think – if the richest group of people are from the banking sector, and they have collectively almost 40% of the nation’s wealth, and they like living near work; then the safest bet for finding condominiums values that will perform better in the overall economy (they still go down in poor times, just not as much) will be in their neighbourhood. This likely explains the current condominium craze in financial centres – where condo sales and cost per foot2/m2 is setting new records, while outside of financial areas condo prices remain stagnant or drop.

We’re entering a new consolidation of wealth – and it will reflect strongly in the housing in the next few years. Condominium prices will perform above average in the financial hearts of the nation.

Beautiful Roof Decks Of Manhattan

In an earlier post I pointed out two condominium owners that had leased some land their unit overlooks, and converted it into a park (and gorgeous).

Just tripped over this listing of 10 roof decks in Manhattan. Also amazing in scope and style.

Roof decks are another thing (if only I was a developer with money to see some of the vision through) that should be mandatory in today’s day and age. There is certainly no reasonable explanation why a multi-story building should be built without green-space use of the roof.

Certainly, the penthouse suite(s) might object if it is a public space, and maybe there would be a loss in top dollar value, but developed successfully I think it could still work. For a public space, it could be isolated to a corner with tall walls or other barriers that would ensure both privacy and security.

$76,050 Parking Units

Just a small disconnect between the cost of a condominium to house a senior citizen (see previous blog post) and your car, a Midtown Manhattan parking garage (attached as the base of a condominium complex) went for $5.4m USD recently, or about $450/sq. foot (the senior’s complex was running $30/sq. foot).

Sure, I totally give you that location means a lot in the valuation here 🙂