Tribeca on the Rebound

I've lived in Tribeca for more than 14 years, which in the eyes of those self-righteous pioneers who settled in the once-barren neighborhood in the late 70s means I'm an arriviste.

Tough toenails.

As the years have passed, those artists who're still bitter over the rise of commerce here, objecting to the restaurants and basic services like a supermarket, have been dwarfed by a community of families who take advantage of one small part of Manhattan where you can walk around without being jostled every two feet. And aside from the occasional political argument?Tribecans, even those whose net worth contains lots of zeroes, rival the diehard Nation and Times devotees on the Upper West Side for their simplistic equation of Republicans as evil, while Democrats champion "the people"?it's an extraordinary place to live. Not because it's "v. hot," as Talk's former editor would say, but for the relative quiet, the views of the Hudson and easy accessibility to other parts of the city.

Unlike most people who move to New York, I've had a string of good luck in renting and buying homes. Coming from Baltimore, I was warned by any number of friends that typically it takes a solid, and intensely irritating, month to locate an apartment. There was no reason to doubt this universal complaint. One of my brothers, for example, migrated to the city in 1980, relocating from Rochester, spending all day waiting on line with 75 other people for the privilege of inspecting an overpriced sixth-floor walk-up. The first night he and his wife were here, staying on the couch of friends, their pickup truck was broken into, with the thief cleaning out the contents. "Welcome to New York," was the nonchalant reaction they received the next morning.

In contrast, in December of 1987, just off the plane from Berlin, I found a loft at Hudson and Vestry Sts., a 1900-square-foot space for the now unimaginable price of $1900/month. I'd read the Times real estate section that morning?which happened to be Christmas Eve, obviously a slow day in the business?and within four hours had signed a lease. A year later, with the help of the Corcoran Group's Monica Rittersporn?a broker who has encyclopedic knowledge of every building in Tribeca?I bought a loft four blocks south, conveniently across the street from a Citibank.

Months later, I met my wife around the corner at Riverrun?which opened in '78 and was finally driven from the neighborhood by rising rents last year?and three years later we were married at El Teddy's on W. Broadway. Shortly after, our two sons were born, and we joined the brigade of parents at Washington Market Park, shooting the breeze on the benches while watching the kids play in the sandbox or negotiate a rather complicated jungle gym. Calendar pages flipped, and our Saturdays were spent on the field at Stuyvesant High, seeing the boys play soccer and baseball, and fending off competitive adults who invested more passion in the games than did their offspring.

Meanwhile, Tribeca flourished?despite the protests of "open space" advocates like former councilwoman Kathryn Freed, one of the worst public servants I've ever seen?with Robert De Niro's string of restaurants, the opening of King's, an actual full-service pharmacy, galleries, boutiques and finally a Starbucks.

Business stories across the country, almost weekly it seemed, hailed Tribeca as downtown's equivalent of the Upper East Side, without all the poodles, snooty senior citizens and cookie-cutter apartments. Celebrities flocked to the neighborhood, buying second or third homes, and aside from the macabre procession of tourists clogging Hudson and N. Moore Sts. after John F. Kennedy Jr. died in 1999, there was a what-me-worry attitude that prevailed.

All of that changed on Sept. 11.

In a Sept. 27 Times article, Tracie Rozhon wrote: "Only a week before the Trade Center disaster, real estate agents were ferociously waging the war of the amenities in TriBeCa's newest loft condominiums, dueling with Sub-Zero refrigerators and cherry wood floors installed in former warehouses and factories. The market had already started deteriorating. Many believed too many million-dollar lofts had been carved out in a neighborhood still lacking in basic services.

"But now TriBeCa is a series of dusty street corners, almost as bleak as the financial district at night. Whether it will recover its elan, and its million-dollar price tags, is anybody's guess, and many are predicting it won't. Other real estate executives hope that TriBeCa is not dead. Landlords and condo developers, they say, will just have to reduce their prices."

Almost eight months later, that pessimism is no longer prevalent. Sure, some of the antiques shops on Duane St., say, are suffering?although even before the attack, I'd always wondered how they remained in business selling $10,000 chairs?and residents are still recovering from the cold-blooded massacre that'll be embedded in our minds forever. But life is getting back to normal.

Last week, I spoke with Steven Hauser, a vice president at the Corcoran group, about the current state of real estate downtown. Hauser, a native New Yorker, who's been in the business since 1988, was upbeat.

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In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, what did you anticipate? As a homeowner I feared the worst, but have been surprised at how durable the market's been.

I anticipated seeing many new listings coming on the market in Tribeca and Soho at discounted prices. Much to my surprise, there were the same amount of listings as always, and the ones which were listed after that were not at reduced prices. I saw little negotiations, if any, on properties as a result of Sept. 11.

What do you foresee in the downtown market during the remainder of 2002? An uptick? Flat prices?

What I'm seeing every day is purchasers paying the asking price and sometimes above, for desirable, well-finished homes in "A" buildings. No-financing contingency contracts are not uncommon.

Last fall, did you have a rush of people wanting to leave downtown?

My business returned to normal by the end of the year. There was no "rush" at all of people wanting to sell their homes.

Has the city government's financial incentives for people to move downtown had any effect?

People ask about it, and I refer the information to them [www.empire.state.ny.us], but it doesn't seem to compel them either way.

What's the most rewarding aspect of your job?

One of them is the great variety of interesting people I get to meet, many of whom I've become friendly with. Quite recently, I sold two lofts on White St. I liked both buyers a lot, and set them up on a blind date. It was love at first sight, I'm told, and I went to their wedding last August at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa?an amazing place [www.chinati.org]. They moved to London recently and she's having a baby. See, it pays to be nice to your broker!

Despite the city's financial shortfall, do you find people optimistic about New York and happy to live here?

People who are buying in the city are almost always passionate about it. They love it!

Often, real estate brokers are held in low esteem?although not as much as trial lawyers, journalists and politicians?and seen as pushy and too eager to make a sale. Do you think this is a fair characterization?

Considering the fact that just about everything I've sold during the period of 1988-2000 has increased in value anywhere from 300-400 percent, I believe that people should jump at the opportunity to put their money into such a lucrative investment. You get to enjoy the benefits of living in a beautiful home. You receive a great tax advantage. And your investment, historically, only increases in value.

Besides, I never "push" people into anything. This is a myth and it's something you can't do anyway. Who can "push" someone into signing a $2 million contract? It's a decision the buyer makes. If I guide someone toward buying a place that they end up loving for many years and then make a bundle of money on it too, what's so bad about that?

Is it easier to work with clients who are New Yorkers, or with out-of-towners looking to move here?

Obviously, New Yorkers know their way around better. Sometimes they have set ideas about where they want to be. But people from another part of the country are more open to the possibility of looking in different neighborhoods, and they're really excited about their move. Often, these clients enjoy a walking tour of downtown areas, and appreciate being shown the history, architecture, restaurants, schools and galleries.