livin' in the subway (terminal building)

I've been getting lots of hits for various loft/conversion/new construction projects around town so I have decided that in the coming weekends I will visit as many of them as I can and report back on my findings. That being said, this past weekend I was Downtown doing a tour and bumped into Jim as I was finishing up. After he came to his senses and decided to have lunch with me, we decided to check out Metro 417 aka the Subway Terminal Building. I've had a long love affair with the building as it is one of the highlights on my tour and in the past few years I've variously been able to get into the old waiting room lobby and subway tunnels. My ultimate goal is to occupy the penthouse suite on the southeast side however that probably won't happen anytime soon as I'm in the buying mood and these are rentals....among other factors.

We looked at 3 units of varying size and price. And no, we are not planning on moving in together, this was strictly for information purposes.

The first unit we viewed was 2 bedroom, 2 bath and approximately 1031 SQ FT. It was located mid-wing on the 5th floor and the view was of the wing across the way. All of the interiors were extremely well done, I forget the interior architect but if I took the time to look through my paperwork I'm sure I could scrounge up a name. This unit averaged out at $2.29 SQ FT.

The next unit was a 1 bedroom, 1 bath and was approximately 773 SQ FT. This one was located higher up on the 8th floor and had a partial view of Pershing Square - the Title Guarantee & Trust is located on the corner of 5th and Hill so you get a view of the backside of that building as well. This end unit gets TONS of afternoon light and averages out at $2.94 SQ FT.

Finally we saw another 1 bedroom, 1 bath that was a little bit bigger at 788 SQ FT. It was on the 8th floor too however it was located on the opposite side of the building and afforded views of Angels Flight and Grand Central Market area. This unit averaged $2.84 SQ FT.

Afterwards we got to see the rooftop jacuzzi area and the 2nd floor which houses the billiards room, private screening room (where a few people were watching the USC/Notre Dame game), workout room, kitchen and conference room.

Overall this conversion was very nicely done. If you can afford it and pass their Economic Criteria (combined household income before taxes must be at least 3x the monthly gross scheduled rent that is the portion of the rent to be paid by applicant household) then by all means consider Metro 417 as a rental option.

Oh and "technically" these aren't considered lofts, rather they are "apartment homes."

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Comments

[jim]

they should list the apartments by required gross annual income: $84,996, $81,814, and $80,565 by my calculations.

i don't have the paperwork any more, but i think the old bank district had a similar requirement in their application.

count me in on any future explorations.

(wow, a flat denial. i'm crushed!)

[shannon]

true. that's for single occupancy. so if you shack up with someone then each have to make at least half that. but still...

[Jay]

I think that if you ever own a home in your lifetime that you ever decide to rent out to someone, I'm sure you will want to know that they are financially qualified to pay the rent, won’t you?

Or are you one of those people who are soo nice you rent to anyone who looks like a nice person? It takes 2 months to evict someone for non payment of rent in the state of California, so I hope when you buy your home and rent it to that “nice” person with no income documentation you have enough money sitting around to pay their rent while you evict them and pay for the attorny fees...

I have never heard of a building that doesn't have some kind of income requirements. Even no so nice properties look for 2.5 times the rent as income.