Yesterday our friends at Eater suspended the DeathWatch for the simple reason that, in these times of economic hardship, every restaurant is on the DeathWatch. Is not the same true of our beloved PriceChopper? Created during a time of unbridled market success, the PriceChopper was a way to keep hubris and over-ambition in check—a spotlight on those rare and begrudging admissions of defeat during a time when failure was never an option. Those days, of course, are long gone. What apartment isn't a potential (or actual) PriceChopper nowadays? How long can the game go on before it's not fun anymore? Has the PriceChopper run its course? Folks, we wrestle with these questions every day. We'd love to hear your take, and while you ponder it over, an update now on our old friend 40 Bond. The Ian Schrager/Herzog & de Meuron Noho Coke bottle has lost that new building smell, especially with H&dM setting up shop across town. And so, after a year on the market, the two most expensive current resales in the building have taken a hit.
The buyers of Townhouse #5, one of the ground-level homes with a private entrance carved out of 40 Bond's graffiti gate, closed in October '07 for $7.95 million, then relisted the place two days later for an astounding $12.2M. We're no experts, but this doesn't look like 15 Central Park West. The 3,750-square-foot triplex, with its own patch of grillin' & chillin' space, is down to an asking price of $9.95 million after the latest $950K cut.
Meanwhile, up on the ninth floor, a 2BR unit sized at 2,076sqft was purchased in September '07 for $5.35 million. It was re-listed the next day for $7.2 million. Here we are, nearing the end of 2008, and the asking price is now $6.5 million following a second pricechop. Meanwhile, the Schrage himself has yet to move into 40 Bond's penthouse, but all signs point to his inhabiting it eventually. That's the townhouse in the gallery above, though both PriceChopper floorplans are included. SAD.
· Listing: 40 Bond Street #T5 [Corcoran]
· Listing: 40 Bond Street #9B [Corcoran]
· 40 Bond coverage [Curbed]For more stories from Curbed, go to curbed.com.
