Actually I inquired about the apt when they had the old sales and marketing firm in there. I just recently got a call from the original Rockrose sales person that leased me my current apt in EC1. He told me that they were doing a poor job and they are in the process of revamping the sales and marketing initiative including a new firm. But he asked me to come back and wanted to know if I was still interested that he'd me more then happy to help. So who knows. But I will tell you this much, the last company did a horrible job and Eastcoast needs to up the amenities. Because all the other places going up around here have top of the line appliances, floors and cabinetry. EC is looking for more money and cheap crappy finishing.

I have said that from the beginning. The amenities stink for the building. The gym and garage are in the rental building and the subway is 8 blocks away. Perhaps it wasn't the sales team,  in the best market, those prices are way to high. Now that market has changed and demand is almost non-existant , it will have a very tough time selling even at $650 sq ft.

I agree. I just read an article in the Queens Chronicle and the selling price of homes went down by 7% in the last quarter. Hopefully it'll become a buyers market.

As aside - you can't put much stock in "average" sales price info in this market because most of the sales are not your average home (meaning most of them are likely distressed sales in neighborhoods that you probably don't want to live in).  My guess is that nice homes, well maintained, in good area have seen little or no price declines.  But I digress..

I went to see The View last week and I was seriously underwhelmed.  I mean the views are amazing, and the finishes, while more modern than I would prefer, are high end and I'm sure when the units are finished they will look very nice.  But the pricing is off the chart expensive for Queens.  Basically it's the same price as your generic (meaning not super luxury) Manhattan new product pricing, but located in Queens.  Now I grew up in Astoria and lived in LIC for 10 years, so I'm not bashing LIC...but it's Queens and not Manhattan and even with the views it should trade at a material discount to most areas of Manhattan.  I thought the units were very small, even for units that were claimed to be 1,100sf, they looked and felt much smaller than my 2BR/2 bath unit in Citilights.  The master bedrooms, by their measurements, were smaller than my 2nd bedroom at Citilights.

The other thing that was a disappointment is that lack of parking and amenities IN THE BUILDING (as someone previously mentioned).  I mean, imagine I just paid $1.4MM for a 2BR unit with terrace, I come back from shopping with a bag full of groceries and I need to drop them off at the building, drive across the street, park my car in an unreserved space (remember where it is), then walk back across to my building and get my groceries up stairs.  Oh damn...I forgot something...back down, across street, find car, etc.  Same thing for the roof deck and gym and pool at the rental building, plus the annoyance of having to share the amenities with 800+ tenants who are not owners.  I mean if I want to rent I'll rent, but buying generally you get a little more privacy and peace and quiet, no disrespect to the renters at East Coast.  To me, the entire set up just doesn't cut it for those prices.

John Doe's crazy about the $650/sf, I would buy 4 units at that price.  Personally, I think about $850 or 900/sf sounds about right to start, working up from there.  But I really hope they get $1200/sf and up b/c if they do they will drag up the values of the units at Citilights.

Chris

"John Doe's crazy about the $650/sf, I would buy 4 units at that price.  Personally, I think about $850 or 900/sf sounds about right to start, working up from there."

My guess is that in today's credit climate you would have a tough time  being approved to buy one unit ( as a second property to your CL unit )  of course I know you were talking tongue and cheek. Trust me I understand what you mean. I'm just pointing out the difficulties that face RE today.

In 2006 or 2007 perhaps $800-900 would have been attainable, however you stated it yourself, that the units are small. My guess is if you do the measurements yourself, you will find that a 2/bed 1200 sq ft. unit is more like 950. This would make paying even $900 sq ft grossly over priced. If the unit is really $900X950 sq ft =$855,000. Now take their calculations for the same apartment at $900X1200 sq ft. = 1,080,000 . That's $225,000 EXTRA because you actually believe what they tell you. See what I mean, even at $900 sq ft the price is way to high.

Chris- How much would it cost to rent at EC1 or 2 a similar unit. My guess is $4000/month (3,800 at the Avalon). so do the math at $4000.  A  $1.2M unit is 25x's the cost of renting a similar unit. Not to mention the rental unit is the one one with all the amenities. Even at $1M you're still 20x. ( ideally you should be 12X ) I'll give you 16x. Here is what it should cost to make it almost worth buying. $48,000 (yr rent at $4,000) / $800,000 gives you 16.6. Now take the $800,000 and / 1200 sq ft which equals $666 sq ft. That it, and I assumed an 16X rent ratio.

There is no building selling for that kind of money in LIC today or tomorrow. I can give you a dozen reasons. I'm quite sure you can as well. I also thing that $700 is a stretch in this climate and will get worse by the month. I wouldn't even look at the building at those prices.

Take a look at 5 SL they still have 20 units for sale and all over the $700 sq ft price. They can't move them at this level. The market will set the bar much lower all over the city in the next 12 months.

EC3 doesn't have a shot in the world at selling out at those prices. Garage, Pool, and Gym in the rental building across the street. Who ever thought of that should be fired. Not to mention the 8 block walk to the subway and no bus service. Great planning.