32 Gramercy Park South
Two-bed, two-bath, 1,450-square-foot co-op.
Asking: $899,000. Selling: $925,000.
Charges: $1,850; 54 percent tax deductible.
Time on the market: one month.

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? A couple left the suburbs for the superb downtown views they found in this building, on Gramercy Park South and Third Avenue. The building is not one of the gothic or colonial Gramercy Park mainstays. It’s an 18-story red-brick number, built in 1956, with a full-time doorman, a concierge and large picture windows–especially from this high-floor apartment. Still, when they made their first bid, the couple discovered that even at a not-prime Gramercy address and in a supposedly sagging market, they had serious competitors; only by bidding $25,000 more than the asking price did they secure the apartment. And "it was a pretty little apartment," said Liz Dworkin, vice president and broker at the downtown brokerage firm Eychner Associates, who represented the sellers. Which brings us back to the views: From inside this apartment, the views of the surrounding buildings are a big part of the appeal.