As Bushwick Booms, Tenants Being Evicted, New Owner Adds Story, Doubles Units

Tenants in two buildings on Bushwick Avenue are being evicted to make way for a renovation, according to a tipster. “Although they tried to fight it the tenants are getting evicted,” she told us. “Construction is set to start in a month.”

We checked into permits at 735 and 737 Bushwick Avenue, and sure enough, the owner is planning to add a fourth floor to each building and increase the number of units. (One will go from three to seven units, and the other from three to six.) The plans were filed this month but have not yet been approved.

This is one example of change taking place all up and down Bushwick Avenue and throughout the neighborhood. We have noted many townhouses being gut renovated, spruced up, enlarged with top-story additions, and even being demolished and replaced by larger apartment buildings over the last year or so. 

The existing units are quite large. According to Property Shark the three story buildings are 20 feet by 75 feet, making each floor 1,500 square feet. Right now there is one unit per floor in each building. The plans for 735 call for putting two units on each of floors one through three and adding a fourth story with a single unit in it. Plans for 737  call for having a single unit on the bottom floor, two units on each subsequent floor and then adding a fourth floor with a single unit.

The building were bought separately — 735 Bushwick Avenue in March of this year for $1,200,000 and 737 Bushwick Avenue in March of 2014 for $715,000. The disparity in price shows the overwhelming increase in demand for properties in this part of Brooklyn over the last year.

They are both owned by the same LLC which bought them from separate owners. According to Acris, the buildings each now have mortgages for $1,260,000 — far above the purchase price of 737 Bushwick Avenue and more than the price that 735 Bushwick Avenue was bought for just a few months ago.

Developers have been flocking to Bushwick over the last few years. One developer, Cayuga Capital, has two separate projects underway just several blocks from these buildings that will result in over 160 new units of housing. The massive Rheingold Brewery project will bring nearly 1,000 units to the neighborhood and smaller buildings sites are being developed across the the area.

At one point in time both of these buildings must have had the same owner as they were painted in unusual matching black and white horizontal stripes as can be seen in these old tax photos.

Most Unlikely House Gets Makeover as Bushwick Booms With Construction [Brownstoner]
Apartment Building Will Replace Early 20th Century Garage on Bushwick Avenue [Brownstoner]
Addition Tops out at Cayuga’s Block-Long Bushwick Avenue Church Complex [Brownstoner]
Developer Rabsky, Community Clash on Affordable Housing at Rheingold in Bushwick [Brownstoner]
Three 19th Century Houses on Bushwick Avenue to Become Two Apartment Buildings [Brownstoner]
Bushwick Coverage [Brownstoner]
Top photo by Christopher Bride for PropertyShark
Tax photos by Department of Finance via PropertyShark