Two New Records in 'Manhattan Pointe'

Regular readers know that MBC loves to check in on sales activity over at the "Manhattan Pointe" townhome development just east of Aviation Blvd. (Yes, that's still Manhattan Beach.)

We know the development well, have friends and clients with properties there, and find the development to be its own somewhat interesting barometer of the market. 

Prices for the "row house" style condos/townhomes are among the lowest for livable, newer homes in all of Manhattan Beach – a quirk of sorts that probably has people checking ZIP codes and probably asking ChatGPT for an explanation.

Though prices are lower, it's generally the case that you're going to see prices increasing over time, and that's happening – slowly – inside Manhattan Pointe.

With no sales activity for almost 18 months, suddenly we see two new closings that reset the high bar.

213 Aviation Place (3br/3ba, 1747 sqft.) is a rare, massively upgraded condo in a complex where every unit has essentially the same floorplan and few seem to have been really overhauled. 

When it was new to the MLS, we called it "hands-down the best-looking, most-remodeled and customized unit in the community ever to come to market."

It began at $1.525M, and has just closed for $1.480M.

That does beat the top sales in the complex, but not by a ton.

The two prior high sales were an off-market deal in Aug. 2024 at $1.400M (the sale was posted to the MLS), at 225 Aviation Place, and a closing just 3 weeks ago at 311 Aviation Place at $1.460M – briefly the top sale. (Pictured here.)

And so the upward march of prices in the Pointe, as elsewhere, continues. 

We were a bit taken aback by the lack of price differentiation for the newest sale, despite its far greater upgrades. 

It’s got a brand new kitchen, with new cabinetry and counters, with the counters feeling a little bigger than the standard-issue countertops you'll see in all the other units. 

They had new wide-plank flooring, with some carpet in the bedrooms. All the baths were very current in style – first time we'd seen a truly overhauled primary bath in Manhattan Pointe. We had called the work a "designer-level redo, maybe simple, but definitely pretty."

And that was only worth $20K more than a unit sold at almost the same time?

Someone could try to argue the merits of location within the complex as a factor in the two latest sales, but there's no obvious "better" location between these two, as we can see it. (We've heard the tradeoffs argued, and it's simply in the eye of the beholder/buyer.)

At the end of the day, Manhattan Pointe has a new high sale, with a recipe for how to try to match it. Just don't overspend on the remodel if it's just to boost the sale price.