Surreal estate: 1.3M for studio
BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
So you have $1.3 million to spend and you're looking for a place to live. Maybe a charming brownstone or a Victorian mini-mansion?
Or maybe a studio apartment with an alley view?
That's right: A super-trendy West Village apartment building is selling three 700-square-foot studios for about $1.3 million each.
"$1.3 million for a studio? That's insane," said Jeff Grandis, a Fillmore Real Estate broker for 17 years.
For that price, Grandis will sell you a huge, newly remodeled house in Brooklyn's Madison neighborhood with central air, a big yard and a two-car garage.
"I cannot imagine where that apartment must be or what the layout or square-footage must be to command that kind of a price," he said. "We hope some folks from Manhattan will come to their senses and move out to Brooklyn."
The $1.3 million studios are in a shimmering glass-faced building under construction on Charles St. at West St., designed by the famed architect Richard Meier.
The second- and third-floor apartments look onto a cobblestone alley and a hodgepodge of older buildings.
"There are no services in this neighborhood," said Sharon Smith, 53, who has lived nearby for 28 years, as she peered up at the 16-story tower. "To even get a taxicab you have to walk. There are no dry cleaners, no grocery stores. It's a place to have everything delivered, and to have other people do all your work for you."
Presumably, though, the buyers care more about having a prestigious address and having actress Natalie Portman as a neighbor than about being close to the subway.
Two of the studios are under contract and a third is being negotiated, a spokeswoman for the building said yesterday, though she wouldn't divulge the well-heeled buyers' names.
With their $1.3 million, they could have bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with an outdoor patio a few blocks away on Jane St.
Or they could take a ride out to Rego Park, Queens, and buy a four-bedroom house on a sprawling corner lot, where owner Lucy Estreich comfortably raised a family for 20 years.
"It's a nice neighborhood, very quiet," she said. "It's just the opposite of Manhattan."
Originally published on September 13, 2004
