Saturday, August 09, 2008

Condos in Central Greenwich

A reader has asked about those condo's on the corner of Milbank and East Elm and about central Greenwich condominium prices in general. It's an odd mixture. The two condos on Milbank are not selling - they either sold privately and I missed it or they've been rented. They were originally priced as though they were part of Lily's Path across the street, which has almost sold out at astonishing ($5,000,000+) prices. But these two are much smaller and, although nicely built, lack a few rooms, have just one car garages and generally never seemed to attract buyers. Similarly, a cluster of condos on Idar Court, which is off of Field Point Road, south of Town Hall, seemed to miss the mark when it came to location and buyers balked at walking down (and up) hill to the Avenue. The builder/developer couln't move them at $4,000,000 and had the good sense and great fortune to unload them on an out-of-town buyer. That -"sucker" may be a bit harsh a term so - "guy" just sold one last week in the low $2's. I think that was a good price, for the new buyer.

Returning to Milbank and heading north, there are another couple of brand new units sitting unloved and unwanted at $5.9 million. I have no idea what they'll eventually sell for, but it appears that the developer is going to be disappointed - these have been on the market for over a year.

Other condo projects on the street range from $3.9 million down to the low $2's. I once rented a decrepit old Victorian (now a condominium, alas) on the street with two roommates and for a trio of young men just out of college, it was a terriffic location. We could walk to the Avenue for entertainment, two of our future wives (one each for two of us, not two wives for one) lived down the street, and if I hadn't packed up and headed for law school I might be there still. But much as I like the street, I think the condo developers got ahead of themselves in pricing their projects. I personally wouldn't pay $6,000,000 to live in a Greenwich town house and this seems to be a sentiment shared by a lot of potential buyers. It's mean to advise you to wait for the foreclosure sales but I do think that there's some room, now or in the future, for a bit of price negotiation.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re: The two 5.9M condos on Lenox and Milbank ... what I fail to understand is why anyone would pay that kind of money for 1)back yard views and sounds of Whole Foods parking lot 2)a home attached to another home 3)location on busy Milbank Avenue

I will never forget when a neighbor returned after dropping in on one of the umpteen open houses the broker has held. He said he asked what the offer price was and she told him 5.9M. He asked, for both? She said no, per condo.

Chris Fountain said...

I had the same reaction as your friend.

Anonymous said...

Chris: while you're on the subject of in-town living, there was a nice little house on Woodland Drive (#15, I think), that was recently sold and torn down. The lot is tiny, so I can't imagine what the buyer could possibly do there. Any idea what it went for and what the plans are?