Greenwich Titanic heads for the bottom

All ashore

Greenwich Free Press has a very well written article on the demise of the “Showboat”, the old pseudo-paddle wheeler that was parked for years in Greenwich Harbor.

I was a little reluctant to link to Greenwich Free Press’s writer/publisher’s web site, because although I’ve linked, favorably, to her publication over the years, she’s responded by calling me a Nazi misanthrope and even tried to shut down this blog, but what the heck, when she’s not publishing puff-pieces for her advertisers and squeaking hysterically about Trump and the horrible male sex, she can write well, and she did a good job on this story.

The Showboat was once an attraction at Freedomland, the short-lived amusement park located where Co-Op City now stands (in fact, speculation has it that the owner of the marshland where it was built, William Zeckendorf, was in cahoots with NYC’s mayor and allowed Freedomland to be built solely to prove that the land itself could be developed as a far more profitable housing project — given the corruption in that city, there’s no reason to doubt that). I don’t remember much of the place except that my friend Sandy Hamill’s father (also father of Sandy’s younger sister, the Olympic skater Dorothy), took a group of us Boy Scouts there when I was ten. The amusement park ceased operations soon thereafter, but I don’t believe our visit had anything to do with that.

Regardless, the Showboat Inn eventually joined Freedomland into failure, despite its reputation as the finest whorehouse in Greenwich*, and was demolished and replaced by the DelaMar (still reputed to have an active meat market, but I wouldn’t know — perhaps you could ask the Free Press’s publisher) and the boat itself was sold for peanuts to Bill Frenz, local musical legend, founder of Billy and the Showmen, a band dating back to 1963 which, ironically, was the year Freedomland opened, and Bill had the hulk towed over to Byram, where it served as an entertainment venue for years.

This year, Frenz auctioned off the Showboat for a thousand-bucks and it was supposed to be loaded on a cargo ship and transported to Korea (?!!!). As the Free Press [sic][ reports, things did not go well:

[Greenwich Harbor Master Ian MacMillan] said the weight of the boat had been underestimated and that the bow of the boat, which had been full of cement, had broken up in the wind this week.

“This is a screw up,” MacMillan said, as the crane lifted the boat a few inches from the water. Popping noises could be heard as the bottom of the boat began to buckle.

On Friday afternoon, MacMillan said the fate of the Showboat did not look good

• Possibly rivaled by Lucas’, now Gabriela’s — GPD Folk, help me out here.

Contract on Pintail

12 Pintail, still under construction, $2.795 million. Unusual construction, which is refreshing, after touring so many standard “colonials” — I don’t have to absolutely love a design to appreciate a break from the conventional — and though I’m surprised by the price, comps for new construction on Pintail support it. Quarter-acre lot.

Gosh.

Pending in Mid Country

8 Rockwood Lane Spur, latest asking price $2.895 million (started at $3.250 last February). Nice house, excellent location, good yard. Owners paid $3.350 for it in 2006, redid the kitchen and made some other improvements yet still came out with a loss. I’m not sure whether that’s a sign of the general market out there or just the unpopularity of 1958 homes. It would certainly work for me.

Hope springs eternal up on Conyers Farm

2018 vErsion

74 Upper Cross Road, which sold for $7.5 in September, 2017 (and $13.5 in 2012) is back again, now priced at $8.495.

The property, indeed the entire development, has a history of overly-aspirational pricing, and I suspect this time will prove no exception.

No noticeable changes have been made since it sold a year ago — heck, this new broker has even reused the pictures from the previous broker’s listing — and I’m unaware of any changes in the market that would justify a higher price.

The Gate, circa 2018

maybe the home theatre’s busted?

THIS POOR DEAD OCELOT IS STILL RESTING, A YEAR LATER

circa 2017

the gate was so nice in 2017, they kept it

same for the picture on the tv

2017: THIS GUY’S GOING NOWHERE, NOT EVEN HIS FLEAS

New Old Greenwich listing

18 Tait Road

18 Tait Road, new construction, priced at $3.590 million. That strikes me as high: recent sales on Tait have been in the high $1s, but 22 Tait, also new construction, sold in June of this year for $3.850, so I understand where the broker got his number from.

22 has the same size lot: one-third of an acre, though it claimed 5,970 square feet vs 18’s 4,222, but 18’s basement is unfinished, while 22’s was completed, so much of 22’s extra footage may be underground.

There’s also the possibility that the buyer of 22 overpaid — that’s something to be determined down the road.

22 Tait

Deer Park sale price reported

45 Midwood Road, discussed here previously when pending, has sold for $3.550 million, down considerably from its original march, 2016 ask of $4.750, but still ….

It’s a very nice house. The sellers paid $3.375 for it in 2012 and, as noted in its latest listing, “completely redesigned” it, and expanded it from 3,800 square feet to 5,500. Given Greenwich building costs, I suspect they lost money on the deal. They did, however, get to enjoy living in Deer Park, briefly (the owner, Jason Robard’s son Jake, an actor in his own right, decamped to LA in early 2016), and that’s always a pleasant bonus.

Another sale to boost our MLS's statistics on our robust real estate market

We have contract!

5 Sylvan Lane, Old Greenwich, is reported as under contract. Asking price was $5.195 million, and though the final negotiated price will doubtless be less than that, it’s still bound to be a substantial sale.

So that’s great news, for some, and a boon to local optimists, but from a glass-half-empty perspective, I’ll note that this spec house has been on the market since August, 2016, and started at $6.8 million.

True, “asking” is not often “getting”, but the listing agent is an experienced, highly-competent person, who certainly based that 2016 price on recent sales of comparable homes. If so, something has obviously happened to the higher end of our market.

Which is why I’m not as enthusiastic about real estate trends as so many of my peers, statistics notwithstanding.

And here's a kick in the butt

110 Shore Road, purchased for $3,919,318 in 2006, has resold for $2.575 million. I’ve written about this sorry saga before, but the final price was only reported today. 2006 was close to the height of our market, and 2018 isn’t, but that’s still a hit.

I’d say that the buyers got a huge deal here, but will I say that ten years from now? Stay tuned.

Another big sale reported

October contract, December closing. 156 Taconic Road (near its intersection with the northern terminus of Stanwich) has sold for $4.895 million. Not the $6 million it was looking for, but a substantial sum nonetheless.

A typical modern mansion: 14,000 sq. ft., though 4,000 of that is buried underground, stone facing in front, clapboard where they ran out of money on the sides and in the back, the listing claimed it was “ a top value for square foot in Greenwich”, and it sold, so I guess the agent knew her market.

Back in the glory days I sold some houses in the mid-to-high $7s up here, which seemed like good buys, considering that they’d started in the $10s, but those bargains aren’t looking so good right now.

13% depreciation: not such a bad hit, spread over 14 years

707 Lake Avenue has sold direct (non-MLS) for $8.655 million. It sold new, full price, for $9.995 in 2004, but given the current market, $8.6 ain’t bad. Certainly better than Conyers Farm, six miles north, has performed.

came with a pool