No End in Gravesend
  Clockwise from top left   459 Avenue S $5 million   2,500 s.f. house sitting vacant   450 Avenue S $11 million   teardown plus lot   replaced with 10,400 s.f. house   469 Avenue S $2.5 million   teardown, new 8,700 s.f. house We knew there was some crazy $#!% going on out…
  Clockwise from top left
  459 Avenue S $5 million
  2,500 s.f. house sitting vacant
  450 Avenue S $11 million
  teardown plus lot
  replaced with 10,400 s.f. house
  469 Avenue S $2.5 million
  teardown, new 8,700 s.f. house
We knew there was some crazy $#!% going on out in Gravesend but, man, this is something else. In the end, it’s just a microcosm, albeit an exaggerated one, of the forces of supply and demand that have driven up prices of real estate across New York City over the past decade. With a limited number of lots and a rising prosperity among the largely Syrian Jewish community, Gravesend has seen per square foot prices approach what only the best Manhattan nabes could command. “This market is not dictated by interest rates or the price of real estate as a whole,” said Frank Lupi, the president of Wolf Properties, a real estate agency in Gravesend. “The houses over here, they sell very quickly, and you’re almost naming your price at this point.” While the aesthetic wouldn’t fly in most of brownstone Brooklyn, we’ re unaware of any local movements promoting a down-zoning of the area. Not being familiar with the area, we’re curious as to whether there are any pockets of older architecture that are threatened by the McMansion trend sweeping the area. Or is it just unremarkable houses from the last thirty or forty years being torn down and replaced with larger monstrosities?
Paying Any Price to Live Here [NY Times] GMAP
OK, here’s the deal on that nabe. If you are a part of that sephardic community, you will HAVE TO walk to the synagogue. No driving allowed on fri nights/saturday. You MUST live within a reasonable walking distance no matter what the price. The few folks left that are not a part of that community are able to name whatever price they want and it will likely be honored.
If houses are blowing up and falling down–and they are, it’s in the newspapers every few weeks–then they are being produced with shoddy construction methods and not according to code. Period. I have seen the houses. I live among them. The bizarre poster who keeps talking about brownstones is nuts. This is a low-rise, small-lot area, with some large lots. Some new houses are nice and sensitive but, my friends, there are a lot of really ugly buildings. Pure aesthetics–except that many violate zoning re: light and space, height and FAR. Scam, scam, scam. And that is not nothing that is something. New York City rules should apply to all New Yorkers, not just those lacking the money and connections to flaunt them. And yes there are a lot of fires resulting from non-code work.
Actually, a “McMansion” or whatever blew up in Midwood fairly recently, while the owners were illegally having a mikvah (ritual bath) installed in the home.
I am the poster who said that some of these houses are not sympathetic to the lots (too tall and narrow), and that some others, on much larger lots closer to Midwood, employ the med. style exceptionally well. The horizontality of those houses is why they work – med. houses are supposed to sprawl, not look like skyscrapers packed together like sardines. I won’t argue against the statement that a lot of money goes into the materials used in these renovations and for the most part are well built, but it comes down to a question of lot size and architectural vocabulary.
I’ve had the rare opportunity to enter some of these homes. Magnificent! Exquisitely constructed. No doubt this is a group that has $$$$$$. They all have servants with uniforms(light blue apron)of the latina persuasion. I would give up my brownstone any day to own one…but for now, I’ll just enjoy with what I’ve been blessed with.
I think this thread is clearly split between those who have seen the houses in question and those just talking out of their a$$. the poster claiming con ed and the fire dept has lots of trouble there also has no idea what he is talking about. I am would bet that all of the newly built houses in question far exceed nyc safety guidelines
You people have no idea of the diversity of Brooklyn. These are not McMansions at all. This is a beautiful close-knit Sephardic neighborhood with incredible homes. Newly built, as you call them, “McMansions” are not out of scale here. The homes that are torn down to erect these–not to worry–are not your beloved brownstones.
If the home is not an old brownstone, then it is awful? Many of you are very narrowminded and really have no clue about Brooklyn at large. Including, to my surprise, Brownstoner. You are very off on this one.
Some of these houses are ugly and out of scale, a few, on larger lots can pull it off.
McMansions are crap put up by people with no taste who just want whatever their naighbor has but bigger. These are McMansions. Spending a lot of money doesn’t protect you from tacky design or shoddy construction. And manicured lawns are soulless and bland, like these oversized vulgar droppings.
these buildings look beautiful, stately, and tasteful on the outside ( i have not seen the inside)
one of a kind designs.
by the way, they are on nice sized lots, with carefully manicured lawns. ( whoever says otherwise is misinformed)
they are not mcmansions*
*Mcmansion= ostentatious, poorly designed/built sham mansions>>often frame.
*Mcmansion by definition>> think “McDonald’s” mass production “cookie cutter” type designs