Change Your Space, Keep Your Life

How to save hundreds per month by moving barely a block.

By S.Jhoanna Robledo
Published Jan 11, 2009

Swap This...	...For This	How They're Similar	Why The Price Difference?
200 Chambers St. · $1.799 million The Facts: Two-bedroom, 1,260-square-foot condo. Monthly Charges: $1,140. Agent: Chang Shin, Century 21 NY Metro.	101 Warren St. · $1.625 million The Facts: One-bedroom, 1,288-square-foot condo. Monthly Charges: $1,263. Agents: Elaine Schweninger and Rudolf Hanja, Prudential Douglas Elliman.	These Tribeca condos are practically equal in size, with high ceilings. Both are in high-profile, amenity-laden buildings.	Though there's certainly space for a second bedroom and bath at 101 Warren, it's configured as an expansive one-bedroom fit for entertaining—but not as family-friendly.
23 E. 22nd St. · $4.15 million The Facts: Two-bedroom, 1,560-square-foot condo. Monthly Charges: $1,175. Agents: Wendy Maitland/Wilbur Gonzalez/Susan Green, Brown Harris Stevens.	5 E. 22nd St. · $2.895 million The Facts: Two-bedroom, 1,561-square-foot condo. Monthly Charges: $2,428. Agents: Claudie Harari/Nan Shipley, Rand Realty.	Both face Madison Square Park and have outdoor spaces, too. Plus their square- footage is near-identical.	The giant new tower at 23 East 22nd, a.k.a. One Madison Park, will share its lobby and outsize list of amenities with the delightfully weird new tower by Rem Koolhaas; No. 5 is a better-than-average eighties tower sans name brand.
20 Henry St. · $580,000 The Facts: 530-square-foot studio condo. Maintenance: $510. Agent: Vince Rocco, Halstead Property Development Marketing.	111 Hicks St. · $319,000 The Facts: 500-square-foot studio co-op. Maintenance: $778. Agent: Zelda Josephs, Zelda Josephs Real Estate.	The straightforward layouts, the generous — for studios, anyway — square-footage. And they're both in interesting conversions: 111 Hicks was once the storied Hotel St. George, Brooklyn's best hostelry, and 20 Henry used to house the Peaks Mason Mints factory.	Twenty Henry Street is a brand-new condo with all the trimmings (fitness-center, bike room), plus a fifteen-year tax abatement; the Hicks Street apartment is in a co-op.
310 W. 52nd St., 29B · $2.395 million The Facts: Three-bedroom, 1,331-square-foot condo. Monthly Charges: $1,150. Agents: John Gasdaska/Jonathan Conlon, Corcoran.	310 W. 52nd St., 28B · $1.895 million The Facts: Two-bedroom, 1,331-square-foot condo. Monthly Charges: $1,151. Agents: Kathy McFarland/Curtis Rhine, Corcoran	Same line, same building, same views, same square-footage.	Apartment 29B has been reconstructed to have a better flow of rooms and a proper third bedroom, and it's finishes are quite a bit nicer. Yes, renovating the cheaper apartment to match will be a headache—but the $500,000 difference will buy a lot of Sheetrock and cherrywood.