[Image via Streeteasy]
A co-op on the fifth floor of 541 E. 12th St. went into contract for more than $1.9 million last month after a bidding war with seven offers topping the asking price less than three weeks after it was listed, The Wall Street Journal reported. (The article is behind the paper's paywall.)
According to data from Corcoran, this penthouse apartment at No. 541 between Avenue A and Avenue B is the third-highest priced sale for a walk-up on the fifth floor or above in the East Village. In addition, it is also the most expensive sale of a co-op unit, the Journal reported.
No. 541 was boarded up and abandoned in 1986 when the seller of the penthouse and a group of friends who lived in the neighborhood bought it from the city and turned it into a co-op. They paid $380,000 for the five-story building and spent about $600,000 renovating it and moved in.
The sellers will be moving to a second home they own on Long Island while the buyers already lived in the East Village, per the Journal. (Another co-op in the building is on the market for $1.15 million.)
Meanwhile, a duplex penthouse on the sixth floor of a walk-up at 211 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C "will test the limits of high-floor walk-ups" when the four-bedroom, four-bath residence hits the market for about $5.5 million.
The article notes that walk-ups are becoming more desirable:
Despite the stairs, higher floors often mean more light, less street noise, better views, a chance to keep fit, and a lower price per square foot, brokers say. And those apartments have become more palatable in the age of grocery delivery and e-commerce, as consumers shop more online and don’t have to lug items up the stairs.
