Amazon's Arrival Helps Queens Waterfront Condo Reap Record
Days After Amazon Commits to Queens, Condo Sells for a Record
(Bloomberg) -- One of Long Island City’s most-expensive condos found a buyer last week at a record price after lingering on the market for six months -- all within days after Amazon.com Inc.’s announcement that it’s coming to the Queens neighborhood.
The two-bedroom unit at the waterfront complex called the View went into contract last week, after being listed for 189 days and getting a 9.1 percent price cut, according to StreetEasy. The buyer paid cash, and more than the $2.998 million the owner last sought, said Silvette Julian, the Compass broker who listed the property. At the listed price, the deal comes out to $2,077 a square foot -- a neighborhood record, Julian said.
The sale is a sign of the times in Long Island City, which flipped overnight from a buyers’ market to one that favors sellers, after Amazon’s Nov. 13 announcement, according to Patrick W. Smith, a Stribling & Associates broker who handles sales in the neighborhood.
“Almost every open house, we are overwhelmed with buyers,” he said. “Developers are not negotiating anymore. Now, it’s take it or leave it.”
The 1,443-square-foot (134-square-meter) apartment at the View, with an additional 716-square-foot terrace, was originally listed for $3.298 million in May, according to StreetEasy. The current owners purchased the property in 2014 for $2.53 million, according to property records.
Homebuyers are wasting no time casting bets on Long Island City’s property market in anticipation of the 25,000 new workers Amazon promises to bring to the area. The apartment at the View was one of 11 in the neighborhood that went into contract last week, the most for a seven-day period this year, according to Smith. In the week that included Thanksgiving last year, just one unit found a buyer.
To contact the reporter on this story: Oshrat Carmiel in New York at ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Debarati Roy at droy5@bloomberg.net, Rob Urban
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