| Ever wanted to name your own price for a Madison Avenue residence? It's quite possible, thanks to an unconventional method that's mainstream outside the US—a developer auction. There hasn't been one for a Manhattan condo development in nearly 20 years, we're told, but that'll change Sunday when a block of six luxury units at M127 - 127 Madison Ave. go up for bid at The Roosevelt Hotel. We met with auction company Paramount Realty USA principals Scott Burman and Misha Haghani, who tell us that five of the six units are guaranteed to be sold absolute, regardless of price, and a 2.2k-SF duplex penthouse will be offered with reserve. This is different than traditional marketplace listings or single-unit auctions because it allows a building to sell all of its units in a day. |
| The auction is part of the building's relaunch, as the two-bedroom units and penthouse were closed to sale after the market dipped in '07. The units were originally priced as high as $1.9M each and the penthouse at $3.4M, but the respective suggested opening bids now start at $599k and $1.19M. The transparent auction will clearly reveal what the units are worth today, Misha notes, as it shows buyers what others are willing to pay (but you do have to buy a bidder's packagefirst). It also prioritizes the product—if you can't get one unit in the building, you can try for another instead. Over 500 parties have looked at the units in open houses, they say. |
| The SHoP Architects-designed building has sweeping views of Misha and Scott, and beyond them, the Madison and the Empire State Building, too. Each unit has keyed elevator access and a modernist design, and the penthouse has a bonus 338 SF hardwood terrace. If you lay on the bed in the penthouse master bedroom at night, the room is flooded with the Empire State Building's colored lights—but if you don't feel like red, white, and blue on July 4, you can always pull down the automatic light-blocking shades. The ground floor retail is home to Studio Mix, a high-end furnishing and design store. |
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