Houses of the Day: St. Marks Beauty Contest
Both of these houses on St. Marks Place between Carlton and 6th seem pricey to us, but the one on the left (#126, we think) seems like a relative bargain at $2.3 million when lined up against the $2.99 million asking price of the one on the right (#144). The $2.3 million 2-family house is…
Both of these houses on St. Marks Place between Carlton and 6th seem pricey to us, but the one on the left (#126, we think) seems like a relative bargain at $2.3 million when lined up against the $2.99 million asking price of the one on the right (#144). The $2.3 million 2-family house is quite lovely inside, with oodles of walnut paneling and origingal plaster moldings; were it on the other side of the tracks (Flatbush, that is) it would seem attractively priced to us. Regardless, it’s a beautiful place that someone may fall in love with and buy for close to the ask. Number 144, however, is a complete joke: $2.99 million for a house that’s chopped up into 8 co-op apartments (which, we gather, are also on the market at the same time); add to this the fact that the property needs a significant amount of work. What are they thinking?
126 (?) St. Marks Avenue [Brooklyn Properties]
144 St. Marks Avenue [Citi-Habitats] GMAP P*Shark
Hi rinaph,
I’m considering buying in this building, and just came across your post. Can you tell me anything more about the building, owners, co-op board? I’ve lived in Prospect Heights before and loved it. Thanks so much.
Betsy – Thinking about Prospect Heights, and this building (144 St. Marks) 20 years ago and today is like comparing apples to oranges. I live on the same block as this building and in 2006 (when all these commenters wrote) the units did sell quickly for the asking prices and a young, energetic new group of owners seem to have put a lot of sweat into fixing up the place and creating a functioning co-op board. I’ve been inside a few times and seen a couple of the apartments and they look beautiful. As a neighbor I am thrilled that they have resurrected this old charming brownstone.
Nearly 20 years ago I lived in 2 different apts at 144 St. Marks Ave. At that time, I was offered a prosptectus to buy my apartment (the largest in the building) for 78K. NONE of the tenants who lived in the building at that time seriously considered buying their units. The landlord (whom I assume continues to own the building) did NOTHING to improve the property during the entire six years I lived there and the building was perpetually overrun with rodents. The landlord claimed he couldn’t/wouldn’t make improvements to the property because the building was rent stabilized and he was not getting ANY return on his investment due to the low rents we were paying. For the life of me, I can not believe that anyone would even THINK about paying 300K for a co-op in this building. The units are TINY and the property is dismal!
“Don’t go all PLG on us”
LOL Anon. 6:28 AM
BUT, as you can see, its not only us PLG people who can be a bit thin-skinned about their nabes 🙂
Saw the apartments at 144 several months ago. Thought they were twice the price of what they ought to be. Owner cooped the building several years ago but didn’t put a dime into it. The building looks like it needs some serious updating and the apartments were also unrenovated. (think 1950’s kitchens) For $2.9mil you can get a nice townhouse in Park Slope.
Sorry, 5:50, a question was posted at 1:59 and we’re just responding to that. Don’t go all PLG on us! ; )
C train is the Clinton Hill line to Manhattan. Unless you are living closer to the North side of the nabe near Myrtle, it’s not a long walk. I’m close to the Clinton Washington C stop, work near Wall Street, and it takes me literally 20 minutes door to door. If you have to walk to Atlantic Avenue Station for one of the many trains there from the center of Ft. Greene, it is a comparable walk as what most in CH do for the C train. I’ve lived in FG and CH and never had transportation complaints. I also lived for years in Carroll Gardens. The F train was very slow, hated it.
the houses at 144 definitely got a huge price chop, btw. still seem overpriced to me!
PH valuations rise/fall in relation to PS the prime brownstone blocks in PH — St. Marks, Prospect, Park, Sterling are more convenient to transportation, the Park museum, library and even commercial district of PS than most of PS. Historically, the ratio is .66 – .75, so with 20′ 4 story bldgs on 7-8 and 8-PPW blocks selling (yes selling, not only asking) for 2.8 – 3.6, 1.85 – 2.7 is the correct range. With Vanderbilt and Washington Aves exploding, the ratio is only going to favor PH