John St. Chronicles: Vanishing Condos, PriceChops!

Updated 9:51 AM EST, Wed, Jul 29, 2009

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Financial District condo conversion 45 John has had a tough week, with that whole buyers-can-walk and foreclosure thing. But what of the building itself? EV Grieve reports that it seems to be retreating into its shell, with signage removed, doors blocked and empty carts keeping looters at bay. And as for the building's two-story penthouse addition, its current state—a "giant Tonka toy" in Grieve's words—is seen above. Meanwhile, a few doors down at 59 John Street, a fellow conversion given the name Five Nine John Lofts, a recent sale caught our eye.

Penthouse #2 in the 73-unit development stormed onto the market way back in November 2005, during the infancy of the Diaper District. Its asking price then? $2.55 million for for 2BRs, 2.5BAs, 1,600 square feet and a big wraparound terrace. It sat on the market for two years without selling, then got temporarily yanked. The listing suffered its first PriceChop in February '08, to $2.4 million, and then the craziness began. In fact, we interrupt your regularly scheduled Curbed programming to bring you the price history, via StreetEasy:

11/01/2005: Listed in StreetEasy by Prudential Elliman at $2,550,000.
10/12/2007: Listing is no longer available.
11/07/2007: Re-listed by Prudential Elliman.
02/08/2008: Price decreased by 6% to $2,400,000.
02/09/2008: Price decreased by 0% to $2,395,000.
05/04/2008: Delisted temporarily.
06/08/2008: Re-listed by Prudential Elliman.
06/08/2008: Price increased by 0% to $2,399,000.
07/10/2008: Price decreased by 9% to $2,195,000.
09/12/2008: Price decreased by 9% to $1,995,000.
01/14/2009: Price decreased by 20% to $1,600,000.
02/17/2009: Price decreased by 2% to $1,575,000.
03/22/2009: Listing entered contract.

Somewhere in that mess, the penthouse became the last sponsor unit in the building, making the developers quite motivated to unload the place. It closed this week for $1.35 million, or $837/sf, not including that terrace. That's 47% off the original asking price and, dare we say, a bargain?