GRAMERCY

245 East 24th St.
Studio cooperative, 1 bedroom
Asking price: $289,000
Selling price: $302,000
Monthly cost: $512
Time on the market: one week

QUICK SALE This 450-square-foot co-op studio on the northwest corner of Second Avenue in the 17-story Tracy Towers sparked a bidding war after just one day on the market. “The seller was amazed,” said Earl Blasi of Citi-Habitats, who represented the buyer in the transaction. “On the first day, I had 40 people in to see it, and on the second, I had 27 appointments.”There were nine offers for the studio in the first day.

Most of the interested buyers were from New Jersey, said Mr. Blasi. But the final buyer lived on 18th Street and works for a major liquor-distribution company.

“He’s a single guy,” said Mr. Blasi. “And he goes out to clubs at night to promote the new beverages.” The buyer’s lease on 18th Street is up June 1, and he’s a first-time property owner, the broker added.

The postwar brick building has a renovated laundry room and a newly landscaped roof deck.

Though the studio has hardwood floors, it “needs $50,000 of work easily,” said Mr. Blasi. “It was never updated.” The seller had owned the property for about 20 years and rented it out to his sister for the past 12 or 13 years. His father recently passed away, so the seller decided to “thin out his inventory,” the broker said, selling a house in Florida, his motorcycle, and the Gramercy apartment. He planned to use the money to renovate his home, a “gorgeous house in Oceanside,” according to Mr. Blasi.

Despite the potential renovation costs, the broker said the buyer had gotten a good value.

“I’m seeing a spike in studios in Gramercy,” he said.”The studio market there is phenomenal.”

Mary Murphy-Owens of Citi-Habitats represented the seller in the transaction.

MURRAY HILL

116-118 East 31st St.
Two 4-story brownstones
Asking price: $3.5 million
Selling price: $3.33 million
Time on the market: 10 to 12 weeks

GOOD INVESTMENT This mixed-use property, on the south side of 31st Street between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue, sold for slightly under its list price to a Brooklyn investor in an all-cash transaction. The two brownstones, with 13 apartments between them and a sushi restaurant on the ground floor of one, were “a good deal” for the buyer, said Brock Emmetsberger, an associate to James Nelson, a partner at Massey Knakal who represented the seller with CEO John Ciraulo.

“It’s a very nice location to have two joined buildings,” Mr. Emmetsberger said, adding that the buyer “was able to claim 40 feet of frontage,” which is a valuable asset.

The brownstones have tenants in place, he said, and the mixed free-market and stabilized rental units are “very livable,” with the free-market spaces bringing in market rents – $2,200 a month for the one-bedrooms.

The Brooklyn investor is in the construction business, according to Massey Knakal, and plans to renovate and upgrade the property. Mr. Emmetsberger said the buyer “owns several buildings in the city and is an experienced real estate investor.”

Massey Knakal was the sole broker in the transaction.