Harry Macklowe’s $2 billion condo conversion of the former Irving Bank tower at One Wall Street has been a retail boon for Fidi — but his mostly unsold condos look like a lump of coal to Macklowe.
As the neighborhood cheers for the building’s beautiful restoration and welcomes the first U.S. location of luxury French department store Printemps this spring, real estate legend Macklowe is scrambling to sell luxury homes.
Since sales began in late 2021, deals have closed on just 112 of 566 apartments, a Post study of public records found. Deed transfers are listed on the city’s Finance Department’s ACRIS page.
Macklowe has said in the past that he was taking the long view and did not expect One Wall Street to sell overnight. However, the snail’s pace of sales prompted one FiDi faux market watcher to quip: “They’re not moving like tube socks at a street fair.”
Although one large unit sold for $6.17 million, most purchases were in the $800.00-$2 million range. Their total value of about $230 million represents just 14% of an estimated sale of $1.7 billion — which doesn’t include a triple-decker penthouse that has yet to be appraised.
Despite 100,000 square feet of resident amenities, including a private dining room and a 75-foot pool, early sales were so slow that Macklowe needed a $300 million “inventory” loan from Deutsche Bank last year to covered unsold apartments.
Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal and research firm Miller Samuel, told The Post this week: “While the area is a prime office-to-residential opportunity, the limited amount of sales above the $2 million threshold and large discounts from demand are seen in many sales suggest that the price is disconnected from what the market can absorb.”
The area below Chambers Street has more than 220,000 apartment units, not far below the 262,000 rentals, according to the Downtown Alliance. Thousands are unsold, including in brand new buildings like 125 Greenwich St. where recently 272 units went up for grabs.
The median price for FiDi and Battery Park City apartments fell from $1.275 million in the second quarter of 2023 to $985,000 in the third quarter of this year, the Alliance reported.
Although One Wall Street is often portrayed as part of downtown’s family-friendly residential renaissance, more than half of the buyers identified on ACRIS are in the names of apparently foreign-based buyers from Japan, China, India and Russia , who are likely to buy apartments as investments. Some are already rented.
The most recent purchase recorded was in November. 4 of Unit 1810, a 753-square-foot one-bedroom, sold for $1.4 million by an entity called Thirdwave Corp. Fictitious name Thirdwave Japan.”
One Wall Street consists of the original 50-story 1931 building designed by Ralph Walker, an Art Deco masterpiece, and a 35-story annex at the south end added from 1963-1965. Macklowe bought the then-vacant property on the corner of Broadway in 2014 and later spent five years painstakingly restoring it.
It lured a Whole Foods mass market and a 75,000-square-foot Life Time Wellness Center. Printemps will be the crown jewel, with five restaurants and the recently landmarked restored “Red Room”, a former bank lobby that was off-limits to the public.
Macklowe dumped two sales brokerages, Core Real Estate and Compass, and is now marketing the units with his own team — which a project spokesman said is accelerating the pace of sales.
The representative said: “With twelve contracts signed in the last eight weeks, with four more now, and more interest and offers every day, we are very pleased with the speed of sales.”
The representative added, “In the last 90 days, we have released contracts that include a mix of units ranging from about $1 million to over $9 million. Many recent buyers have been local and even hyperlocal.”
Macklowe, meanwhile, is dealing with a lawsuit over alleged defects in the apartments at 432 Park Ave. and with an effort by Fortress Investment Group to foreclose on the East Midtown properties he hoped to redevelop.
But Macklowe has shown a Houdini-like ability to pull himself out of trouble. “Never think that Harry is unhappy about the count,” said a great merchant.
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