Hello,

Does anyone know the status of 140 bay street? Have the issues from 2010 been resolved? Are there any new issues arising?

Why don't you give The Warehouse Cafe a call I think they also rent a place in that building as well as their coffee joint.
(201) 420-8882

I am interested in a unit in 140 Bay Street. I understand there were some roof leaking issues in 2010. Does anyone know if this has been dealt with? Does anyone have any thoughts about purchasing in the building?

Thanks for the input

Quote:

It was the new construction built on top of the building that was "eff-ed" up. The re-habed portion was okay (but not perfect - it is almost a hundred year old warehouse) If the developer didn't try to build penthouses so cheaply - there wouldn't be all the issues that are getting fixed now.

i saw that one yesterday and thought i was getting it but the realtor told me a contract was already drawn.

There's a 900 square foot loft coming up at 140 Bay on November 1st. It's $1,750 per month, and allows a small dog or cat if you are a pet owner.

Hi I am trying to rent a space at 140 bay st (not 150). If anyone who knows of an opening please post on here! thanks so much.

I'd check out Waldo Lofts - it's loft living, but without the pain of a renovated / rehabbed building. New construction from ground up (built in 2006, 2007?) and the president of the development group who built Waldo Lofts (Fields Development) lives in one of the penthouse units... obviously no penthouse roof leaks there ;)

But yeah, it's right around the corner from 140 Bay -- might be worth checking out.

Quote:

+1. I recently got out of a condo in such a building. I think it's also worth pointing out that during this period, the Buildings Dept. was asleep at the wheel (or taking bribes, who knows?). Inspectors basically rubber stamped everything that came their way, and in some cases, you have to wonder if they actually physically visited the building. I will never again consider owning a rehabbed building - not in JC anyway. Life is too short to have one of these basket-case buildings drain your time, energy and savings. Also, Xerxes in a post above is absolutely right: if they effed up the roof in such a manner, the odds are better than even that they arsed up other things in the building, too. They just haven't been discovered yet.

From a purely selfish point of view, I am extremely thankful there seems to be no shortage of starry-eyed would-be buyers around, even in the current market climate.

a-and-e - Good Luck bro! Your quote - "Why would I necessarily trust denizens of a message board over a real estate agent? Why would I trust either? Isn't it wise to try to seek out more information?"

Prior to that you write - "If you can, my e mail is listed under my profile, or PMs work well. We would greatly, greatly appreciate information from anyone close to negotiations who could shed light on what is going on."

You just totally contradict yourself!! The point is that these message boards give some info (might be true or not), but they raise valid points and opinions. It's your job to get the correct info - but I doubt you'll get it from YOUR real estate agent because he/she just wants to make a sale quickly in a slow market so they can collect a commission.

I doubt people are pulling stuff out of thin air w/ regards to the leaks at 140 Bay, so the fact that several people know about it and your realtor confirms that there was at least a problem should be enough to run from this place. Realize that when 140 Bay was being built/rehabbed, so were hundreds of other places in JC/Hoboken so the quality of work was not good (as at many other "developments"), and any schmoe was calling himself a "developer".

Quote:
a-and-e you should go directly to the unit owners and the board for clarification, a message board info is hearsay and the RE agent has his own interests (his commission). If the building owners and board don't give you clear and concise answers then this is the red flag to run away.

JC_Man -- Why in the world would you think I haven't read all the posts in the thread?

If you read closely -- and I suggest you haven't -- there are a number of accusations coming from people who don't actually live at 140 Bay or have anything to do with the building.

Why would I necessarily trust denizens of a message board over a real estate agent? Why would I trust either? Isn't it wise to try to seek out more information?

Thanks.

a-and-e - lesson #1 - a real estate agent is going to tell you what you WANT to hear - they're just greasing your chain and not always telling the truth (the truth hurts sometimes also). Please go back and read all of the prior posts on this topic.

Hello all -- my wife and I are interested in a unit in this building. We want to still be interested, despite fair warnings throughout, and certainly want to do our diligence. Our real estate agent is claiming the problem has been handled and has just sold another unit in the place. Granted, everyone has their own best interest in mind more often than not and it is hard to know who to trust.

If you can, my e mail is listed under my profile, or PMs work well. We would greatly, greatly appreciate information from anyone close to negotiations who could shed light on what is going on.

as someone that loves 140 Bay but also purchased in a loft building with an almost identical situation, i'd have to agree with everyone that's telling you to walk away. if i could go back in time & NOT buy my loft, i would in a heartbeat. we also have water infiltration from the roof which leads down the front/back of the building. the penthouses flood. everything floods. we were assessed for $1 million to cover repairs to the roof, facade & terraces. we have been in litigation with our sponsor for several years now. we are now in arbitration (court ordered) with our sponsor. i sense we'll never see a dime of the money we are suing them for and ultimately the $1 million in repairs will be chalked up to just one more cost we owners have had to absorb. it's not worth it, the money in escrow will never cover the mental aggravation of being in the position you will be in. i wish someone had told me this.

Why would someone CHOOSE to buy into a building with a leaky roof that one strongly suspects will cost a million or more to repair and the WHO of responmsibility is not settled?
There HAS to be more product out there in better condition.


If they made a pigs' breakfast out of rooftop additions, one might suspect MANY other foul-ups to be found later.

Sounds like walking away has a lot going for it.

First if anyone feels more comfortable talking off the forum please shoot me a PM I would love to meet up or talk to you over the phone.

Yesterday a few things happened. ?First I finally got the minutes which didn't have much in them other then an agreement about taking out a loan for the building. Second I got an E-mail from the realtor stating that they reached out to the seller who said they are more then comfortable with covering any future assessments that involve the roof, so currently my attorney is working on putting that into writing and I'm going to ask for an escrow.

Jaded, my realtor knew about the roof and told me about it, but everyone seems to think this will be covered by the onetime assessment and whatever money is received from the litigation. As far as the cost of the repairs the HOA did have engineers and architects come out to give the estimate of the repairs which not only include work on the roof but also the side of the building which is contributing to the leaking problem.

This all sounds suspicious - I believe by law they have to have minutes of condo meetings but I'm not sure if they have to provide it to a potential buyer - if they don't though, that's a big, red flag, they're trying to hide something. Also, over $1 MM for a new roof seems very high - unless it is made of wood, then there would be much more damage to the penthouse units - I'd steer clear of all of this, it sounds too messy. With the market supply the way it is, I'd look elsewhere.

YOU really need to talk to the seller and the building's management company. They should clear this all up for you. All I will say in this forum is a plan is in motion. Work has been happening this summer (and will continue until it's complete), there is an assessment, and long-term payment plan options are in place.

Around October of last year, when I first moved into 150 Bay, I went to the Warehouse for the first time and there was a very heated 140 tenant's meeting going on. Talked to one of the tenants for a while and they mentioned this stuff about the penthouses leaking and how it was #OOPS#ing over everybody else in the building because everybody had to pony up to pay for it. Needless to say nobody was happy. Count the months since last October to today and I would doubt you're looking at this getting a resolved quickly.

If you proceed with this purchase, I suggest you push the seller to either give you credit or leave funds in escrow - by a generous margin - to deal with this. Several things bother me based on what you've described so far. First of all, there's the fact that there's been so little disclosure and that you have to resort to a public online forum to seek information. The seller, should be upfront about this and offering either a credit or funds left in escrow (without even being asked), especially in the current market climate. This leaves me wondering what else is being hidden. If neither the seller, nor HOA is forthcoming about this, that tells me existing owners are downplaying this to preserve property values over the short-term because others are probably looking to jump a sinking ship.

Also, where is your attorney and real-estate agent in all of this? The real-estate professionals' community in Hudson County isn't that big, and everyone is pretty much plugged into the grapvine. They KNOW all the problems with all the big and mid-sized buildings (140 Bay Street doesn't strike me as a small building.) Earlier in the summer, when I expressed some interest in a waterfront building in Weehawken because the pricing was a bargain, both my agent and mortgage broker chimed in and warned that a couple of buildings on the Weehawken waterfront were so poorly engineered that they're actually slowly sinking into the Hudson. As it turned out, this indeed was one of the buildings. I had even googled the address and couldn't find any issues discussed online. Developers and realtors go to great trouble to scrub this stuff off the Internets, so it's crucial that you have an attorney and agent who are very plugged in and actually in your corner (and not just looking to make a quick fee).

Finally, how recently was this problem discovered? The 10K assessment could just be the tip of the iceberg. What often happens with fixing a complex problem like this is that as the work proceeds, more problems/issues are discovered that drive up the cost. It's very much like peeling back the layers of an onion. Do you know if the 10K at this stage is going towards just the litigation? Has an architect, engineer or contractor even been hired? Since the matter is still in litigation, at this stage no one knows how much the contractor will be responsible for, so there's no way of knowing the burden the unit owners will ultimately bear.

Don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but I've learned the hard way that you can't be paranoid enough or ask too many annoying questions when buying real estate, especially in Hudson County.

Thanks Jaded. The 10k was just for the apartment I'm looking at which happens to be one of the smaller ones. In some cases I believe it was over 20k.

I'd get out while I still can. JC seems to have a rich history of badly built penthouses on top of older buildings, leading to ruinous assessments on unit owners, litigation, you name it. I could be wrong, but weren't the water intrusion problems at the infamous Park Hamilton caused by newer penthouses improperly built on top of old construction? Given that most builders can't seem to do it right, I'd avoid any old building with new penthouse buildings added to the roof. Also, from what I've heard about the costs and engineering involved to fix such a problem, you'd be extremely lucky your assessment was just 10K!

What I know thus far is that the HOA is suing the company that built the rooftop penthouses because they leak. The HOA estimates the damages at 1.8mm and the builder was offering 400k so the HOA went back with a unknown counter offer and in the meantime had an assement that raised close to a million.

I just want to figure out where repairs are at and if more money is going to be needed. I really don't want to buy a place and then have a 10k assesment.

I'd really apprecaite that.

This is second hand information, so please take it for that.
A good friend of mine just withdrew his offer on an extremely well priced unit there.

According to him both the listing broker and his buyers broker trivialized the fact that the Home owners association has a lawsuit filed against either sponsor or management company. I get fuzzy on the details.

This information must be disclosed. But he said everyone was acting shady.

This happens all the time, the biggest drawback in today's mortgage market, it may prevent you from getting one.
Talk to your attorney and broker.

I can ask my friend if he is open to talking to you if you wish.

My apologies for not being more specific in my last post. I'm currently looking to buy in the building and wanted to discuss this past years assesement and if there is anything major being discussed in current meetings.

I'm in legal review and asked for the minutes a week ago and have yet to see anything which is making me a bit nervous.

If you have any information please feel free to either post it here, or even better, PM your phone number so that we could chat. Thank you.