NEW YORKKells carpenter Kenny Timmons invested on Wall Street last summer. Now the falling dollar makes prices at 75 Wall even cheaper, writes Frances O'Rourke
KENNY TIMMONS, a carpenter from Co Meath, is happy with the way his Wall Street investment is coming along: "I was in the property last week and it's nearly ready for painting - I expect to get it by mid to end July."
Not that he plans to live in 75 Wall, the 43-storey 349-unit apartment development a minute's walk from Ground Zero "and 30 seconds from the New York Stock Exchange". The studio apartment he bought off plans for $760,000 (then €558,823) last summer is one of a handful of overseas investments he's made in recent years.
This one is particularly attractive because it is tax free for the first 10 years and Timmons is confident that it won't be devalued by the US property crash. "New York has its own economy." Better still, he's now hoping to get even more rent than he anticipated when he was interviewed by the New York Timeslast November. Then, he thought it would be around $3,000 (€1,907) a month.
Now he's told he should get $3,500-$4,000 (€2,224-$2,542) because his over 46sq m (500sq ft) studio has a home office space that could be used as a bedroom, as it's quite cut off from the living area.
Timmons, 33, who lives in Fordstown, near Kells, Co Meath, handled the carpentry for around 1,000 houses built by Hollioake Homes (around Meath, Mullingar and Lucan, where the latest phase of one of those schemes, Tullyhall, is being launched this week); he also built 12 houses in the Meath/Cavan area himself.
He read about 75 Wall when it was launched to Irish buyers last summer, checked it out and bought it (through agent Kyle Thomason in Remax in Lucan) "sight unseen", becoming one of the earliest buyers, says New York agent Larry Kruysman.
He was interviewed by the New York Timesas part of a feature on how foreign buyers are taking Manhattan, one condo at a time. One market researcher quoted reckoned that foreign buyers - from Ireland to Australia, Russia to Korea - bought about one-third of the condominiums sold in Manhattan in the 18 months to the end of 2007.
Now a new phase of 75 Wall is being launched here by MPS Global: agent Chris O'Driscoll says it has sold six or seven units in the scheme since it started to market them in December. He expects that the strength of the euro against the dollar will attract buyers. What is on offer are studio and "studio lofts" (twice the size of studios) and one to three-bedroom apartments.
Prices (down in euro by about 12.5 per cent on last summer, because of the fall in the value of the dollar) range from $615,000 to $770,000 (€390,979-€490,000) for 41-62sq m (439-668sq ft) studio apartments; 100sq m (1,071sq ft) open-plan studio lofts cost $980,000 (€621,842); 76sq m (816sq ft) one-beds cost $940,000 (€596,429) and 358sq m (3,854sq ft) four-bed four-bath duplex penthouses cost $7.75 million (€4.92m).
The building was formerly the city HQ of JP Morgan Chase Bank and it's being refurbished as a hotel as well as a condominium development. The Hyatt Hotel group will have 251 suites on lower floors, with the 349 condos on floors 19 to 43. Maintenance fees range from $498 to $3,400 (€315-€2,156) per month.
Fit-out is smart, with condos having oak floors and contemporary kitchens and bathrooms. There will be a gym and rooftop party room and apartment residents can avail of hotel facilities like room service, housekeeping and valet parking.
MPS Global, 1890 350450
