Hipness on Horizon for Staten Island
After last week’s rousing debate on the pros and cons of Staten Island as a viable alternative for would-be Brownstoners priced out of Brooklyn’s red-hot market, we were interested to see this weekend’s The Hunt column. The article (and accompanying slide show–not to be missed) details how a Park Slope couple looked for, and ultimately…
After last week’s rousing debate on the pros and cons of Staten Island as a viable alternative for would-be Brownstoners priced out of Brooklyn’s red-hot market, we were interested to see this weekend’s The Hunt column. The article (and accompanying slide show–not to be missed) details how a Park Slope couple looked for, and ultimately found, their dream house. (According to the article, Brownstoner.com and Forgotten-ny.com were both key tools in the couple’s search.) After passing on two houses in Ditmas Park and one in Jersey City, the artist and musician couple ultimately fell in love with a 1929 Mediterranean-style spread at 22 Fort Hill Circle in the St. George section of Staten Island. Personally, we preferred the 3 other houses they looked at first, but we can certainly see the appeal of this rambling back yard. And it’s hard to argue with the price–$655,000 for 2,500 square feet. The couple is so gung-ho on SI that they are creating a web site called Prodicalborough.com:
Because of the real estate crunch, Staten Island is being welcomed back to the fold and being recognized as an underrated and extraordinary place to live. Everyplace else has a cool Web presence, but there is no hipster stuff for Staten Island – just Yellow Page listings.
It’s only a matter of time before Babs Corcoran is putting out a press release desribing her latest purchase within walking distance of the ferry, we’re sure.
Looking for a House and a Turret [NY Times]
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SI isn’t clean. It is hard to get to yet still plenty of people drive through it and traffic is a mess. The main problem is the horrible zoning and the fact that one road (Richmond Parkway) never got built as far as it was intended to. SI isn’t inexpensive either only compared to the rest of the city (which has access to the subway). It is expensive considering commuting is easier from places as far as Stamford, CT!
Interesting stuff here, vis-a-vis SI living. As a lifelong Islander who moved to Ridgewood, Queeens in 2005 (with various stops in other boros and San Diego over the years!), I sometimes miss the VERY quirky charms of Staten Island. St. George should be the next Hoboken, but then who wants to live in a very expensive frat-house ‘hood, where old-timers are anyone who has lived there for 3 years and way over-priced homes? The commute to/from SI can be rough (trust me), but the fact that SI is hard to get to w/o a car is what keeps it relatively inexpensive, clean, safe and un-hip. Islanders, for the most part, are nice (if not a bit weird and insular), which is also a plus. I barely know my neighbors in Ridgewood, and thruthfully don’t want to! If I were to move back to SI (and am seriously considering it), I’d pick Dongan Hills/Grant City/New Dorp corridor, as it has lots of shopping, places to park my little hoopdie safely, and numerous express bus routes to midtown Manhattan that run nights and weekends.
I normally do not key in or write blogs because I am 2 busy, but this time I had 2 write in. I currently live in the prestigious and almighty Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens area and quite frankly am getting fed up. Its become Manhattan and thats not a good thing. Population boom and car boom, not to mention development/oversized building boom is sure to ruin this area soon. What I thought was once the best place to live is now getting on my nerves. You cannot walk one block in peace. People everywhere and way to many kids (not that I dislike them but they take up the remaining space). Smith street is over rated and the prices have become outrageous!!! Although I own a expensive property I am going to bail out while the market is still good. I think over development is going to drive prices down and continue to overpopulate the area which once was brooklyn best kept secret. Sorry if this offends anyone but if you take a step back you will agree. I think I am Staten Island bound. There is definately room from improvement there but at least there is some elbow room.
St. George renaissance hah! It is still a big ugly ghetto. Have you been to Hoboken? Newport in Jersey City? St. George hasn’t been through 1/70th of the renaisance of Hoboken. The cargo cafe is an ugly restaurant with decent food that is a good value. I don’t see how that makes a whole neighborhood revitalized. Staten Island attracts almost no new residents from anywhere other thanBrooklyn possibly one of few places that has areas uglier than it. You don’t see someone move from NJ or Chicago or Westchester to Staten and its for a reason.
I am a grade student in psychology from a NJ suburb 20 miles west of New York City. I am very familiar with most of the suburbs of the New York metro area since real estate is a huge hobby of mine. Due to having a girlfriend there, I go to Staten Island often. I’ve seen the nicest parts of town Todt Hill, Nicalosi Drive. Anyway given this I’d have to say that there are a few nice houses in Staten, but overall its one of the worst places to live in America. 95% of the island is absolutely disgusting. It is probably the ugliest county in America. It also has a higher cancer rate than even the rest of metro new york because of all the industry around it. It has some of the meanest people I’ve ever met. It is urban yet residents there enjoy none of the benefits of urban life (e.g. major cultural destinations nearby, good public transportation) and all the problems (e.g. crowds, noise, pollution, traffic). I really don’t understand why anyone would want to live there. There are 4 bridges out–they cost $6, $6, $6, and $9! The schools are absolutely horrible.
that’s an amazing home. i know that block, i used to park my car up there (my SI Ferry- park and ride). great choice.. and the price is right.
St. George is experiencing a renaissance.. the Cargo Cafe has been the strong man in leading that movement.. with its everchanging murial-facade.
I am a real estate agent, a native staten islander, and someone who has lived around the north shore my entire life…I would be very happy to speak with anyone interested in staten island, especially the north shore..i showed the house on fort hill circle and loved it, as did my buyers – didnt come up high enough with their offer – still kicking themselves!…contact me at FLV351@aol.com
We live in a beautiful historic district on SI…we have a historic home that is on the market and we would love to find owners that are interested in lovingly preserving it as we have…
here is our craig’s list link…open house 9/25
http://newyork.craigslist.org/stn/rfs/98474244.html
Hello from Russell’s girlfriend Cynthia! I did the majority of the online searching for our “castle” so let me know if you have any questions.
We looked at over 50 houses, bid on a dozen, had accepted offers on 3, and ultimately chose the 4 story villa that you see in this article. (That is the back view through the garden by they way). As Russell mentioned the square footage was incorrect in the sale listing. The house, with the tower/finished attic and finished basement, is at least 3200 square feet. Additionally the yard is an about 5000 square feet. So we got approximately 8200 square feet in NYC for under a million dollars. Way under a million dollars! That is pretty amazing. In addition, the house is in perfect shape. All I need to do is paint all of the walls. We are already listed with 5 location scouts for film and photo shoots so we might even make a little money off it so we can buy some furniture. The street we are on is very pretty to look at. It was a British fort during the revolutionary war so that is why it is such a steep hill. Our house is on the higher side of the circle and we are surrounded by beautiful tudor houses below us across the street. (My purple Victorian house in Boston was across from ugly triple deckers. They had a nice view but I did not!) Staten Island has the lowest crime rate in all of NYC. In Staten Island we found a perfect combination of affordable, safe, unique, and size.
That gorgeous blue Victorian house we considered was just on the far edge of Ditmas Park. In fact, I’m not sure if that side of the street qualifies as Ditmas at all. It would have been a very long walk to the subway. Still, we were considering it but the owner took the house off the market because their kids wanted to keep it. I don’t blame them. The green house in Ditmas is probably still on the market. It had potential inside but it needed at least 400K in work. It looked as if somone had set the kitchen on fire. It also has aluminum siding. Aluminum siding is wrong, very wrong. The Jersey City brick mansion was my favorite (other than the one we chose). As you all know there is a lot that goes into your consideration for a house. Neighborhoods, safety, transportation, restoration, and what is immediately surrounding the house. It doesn’t mention in the article that the owner would only sell us the house with the small side yard and garage for 1.2 million. He was offering us the house alone for $800,000. He planned to build a monstronsity right up against the house. No deal there. However, I was torn as I was told that he would possibly demolish this beauty. Sadly, the house is not landmarked. Later we found out from another couple who almost bought it that he bought it only 2 months previously for $700,000 and he was trying to turn it around and make $500,000 on it. This is not close to the subway and it is a transitional neighorhood. We felt a little better about losing it when the couple also told us that it had a decaying oil tank leaking under it (you’ll see in the picture an oil tank repair sign in the yard) and termite damage so bad that the tower was pulling away from the structure. It also smelled pretty awful. I think a cat hoarder had lived there. Hence, the kittens left behind after they moved. In addition, the little old cranky lady who sold it to him was still living there on the first floor! She wouldn’t even let us see the whole first floor even though we had an appointment which we made weeks before. So, what comes around goes around.
Maybe he’d sell it for a lot less now. It certainly deserves to be saved. We just couldn’t afford to do so.
If any of you have questions about places where you can get something special and large for under a million let me know. We really did our legwork all over the place (Staten Island, Jersey City, City Island, Vinegar Hill, Rhinebeck, Rhinecliff, Peekskill NJ, Plainfield NJ, Hoboken, Long Island City, Red Hook, Gowanus, Dobbs Ferry, Yonkers, etc…..) and I’d be happy to share our findings with you. Cheers, Cynthia