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Open House Picks
Park Slope
349 13th Street
Rutenberg
Sunday 12:00-1:00
$1,800,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
707 Union Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 1:00-3:00
$1,425,000
GMAP P*Shark
Clinton Hill
411 Classon Avenue
Corcoran
Saturday 12:30-1:30
$1,150,000
GMAP P*Shark
Crown Heights
1142 Dean Street
Corley Realty
Saturday 1:00-2:30
$985,000
GMAP P*Shark
p.s. This is the last post of the day–let the long weekend begin!
05/25/2012 1:00 PM
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Don’t Forget to Get Your Garden Fix
Just because it’s a long weekend doesn’t mean you won’t have a reason to check back with Brownstoner. The Outsider, the urban gardening column that Cara Greenberg started writing earlier this month, will run as usual on Sunday morning. (Recent posts here, here and here.) This week’s topic: Outdoor Living Rooms (like the one above). And speaking of gardens, you might want to check out Gardenista, the new blog from the interiors geniuses at Remodelista.
05/25/2012 12:30 PM
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Brooklyn Well-Represented in List of Indie Boutiques
Shopping blog Racked came out with its list of the 38 Top Independent Boutiques in New York City this week and Brooklyn appears to have held its own. Thirteen Brooklyn spots made the cut, with the lion’s share of those being in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. In addition to North Brooklyn staples like Bird and In God We Trust, Fort Greene stalwart Stuart & Wright were highlighted as well as a handful of places on Smith Street like Epaulet and Dear Fieldbinder.
05/25/2012 11:45 AM
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Energy-Neutral Test House in Carroll Gardens Nears Completion, Park Slope Rental to Follow
Last month we showed you some renderings of a renovation underway on a brownstone at 367 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. The eco-friendly project by developer Voltaic Solaire will be entirely solar-powered, with the cost of all utilities included in the rent for all six rental units in the building. While it’ll be some time still until the 5th Avenue building is complete, the New York Times reports that the developer is putting the finishing touches on a “test house” on a small triangular plot at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Ninth Street in Carroll Gardens. “If we can obtain sustainability at this location, it can be obtained anywhere,” Ronald F. Faia, Voltaic Solaire’s CFO, said of the site’s location in the shadows of the BQE. To get to energy-neutral from just plain old green, the developer is installing LED lighting and insulated pipes along with energy-efficient appliances and windows. (The windows cost 15 percent more than regular ones.)
Off-the-Grid Living in Brooklyn [NY Times]
Visions of Park Slope’s Green Machine [Brownstoner]
Building Powered by Sun and Wind Will Rise in Park Slope [Brownstoner]
05/25/2012 10:30 AM
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Beasties Park Naming Effort Moves South
In the aftermath of the death of Beastie Boys member and Brooklyn native Adam Yauch earlier this month, a group of fans began a Facebook campaign to rename Squibb Park at the northern end of Brooklyn Heights after the famous rapper. That effort, which has attracted over 2,000 ‘Likes’ to date, recently took a turn, though, when wife of one of the surviving members of the band contacted the organizers via Facebook earlier this week to try to get everyone on the same page with an alternate plan: “I just wanted to let you know that Adam ‘Adrock’ Horovitz has already begun working with the Parks Commissioner to fix up and rename State Street Park where Yauch actually played as a kid to Adam Yauch Park. It would be great to get people behind THIS idea as it won’t hurt the Squibb family.” The State Street Park in question is at the southern end of Brooklyn Heights in Willowtown and actually already has a name–Palmetto Playground–though Park officials did confirm to Fox 5 News that they were looking into the request. State Senator Daniel Squadron has already honored Yauch with a resolution on the Senate floor.
Adam Yauch Park Closer to Reality [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
05/25/2012 10:01 AM
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Signs of Pre-Construction at Gowanus Whole Foods Site
A reader just sent in this photo along with the following email: “Was riding my bike past the 3rd and 3rd site this morning and noticed a trailer and mobile office in the Whole Foods lot. Could it be that construction might actually begin?” After eight years of planning and three months since the project was officially green-lighted, that appears to be the case. Big stuff!
05/25/2012 9:30 AM
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Over 20 Percent of NYC Metro Area Mortgage Holders Underwater, But Brownstone Brooklyn Largely Spared
The headline pretty much says it all: The percentage of mortgage holders in New York City and environs who have negative equity ticked up slightly from 20.1 in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 21.3 in the first quarter of 2012. As you can see from the map (from Zillow via The Real Deal), however, much of the pain was felt in New Jersey and Queens. Brooklyn, especially Brownstone Brooklyn, looks largely unscathed. And compared to the rest of the country, where almost one-third of homeowners are still underwater, New York isn’t doing too badly.
One-fifth of NYC-area Borrowers Are Underwater [The Real Deal]
05/25/2012 9:00 AM
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House of the Day: 41 Jefferson Avenue
This brownstone at 41 Jefferson Avenue just came on the market with a price tag of $1,299,000. It’s scale (20 feet wide with high ceilings), historic details and attractive renovation are bound to generate some interest–enough, we bet, to make this price viable despite the Bed Stuy location. What do you think?
41 Jefferson Avenue [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
05/24/2012 1:29 PM
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Please ‘Like’ Us on Facebook
Gone are the days of the Brownstoner Facebook Page being just a place where all the blog posts are reposted. We’re now supplementing with additional commentary, photos and the occasional ill-advised rant. So won’t you please follow along by Liking the page? Click here.
05/24/2012 1:26 PM
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Condo of the Day: 60 Broadway, #8M
This eighth-floor unit at the Gretsch at 60 Broadway is one of the less sexy units we’ve seen in this building but it’s still a large, attractive one-bedroom in an increasingly popular section of Williamsburg. There may be no outdoor space but there are great views along with high ceilings and attractive, modern finishes in the bathroom and kitchen. Asking price for the 979-square-foot pad? $750,000. For context, it sold back when the building went condo in 2005 for $640,479.
60 Broadway, #8M [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
05/24/2012 12:57 PM
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House of the Day: 159 Underhill Avenue
This brownstone at 159 Underhill Avenue is reasonably nice but lacking in the kind of historic charm we were hoping for when we clicked on the listing. The kitchen cabinets are pretty middle of the road and the parlor floor has very little original detail. That said, the house appears to be in good shape, it’s in a convenient location in Prospect Heights and there’s ample outdoor space. Plus, the asking price of $1,799,000 would surely be higher if this were a real show-stopper so it could be viewed as an opportunity to get a piece of the rock in this part of town for under $2 million.
159 Underhill Avenue [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
05/23/2012 1:28 PM
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Co-op of the Day: 15 Clark Street, #4C
There’s something very pleasing about the almost perfectly rectangular layout of this three-bedroom co-op at 15 Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights. The fourth-floor apartment is organized around a center hall and features a stand-alone dining room in addition to three bedrooms and three baths. While some of the interior decoration is a little distracting, the place clearly has good prewar bones along with an attractively renovated kitchen. That kind of line-up doesn’t come cheap in The Heights: The asking price is $1,899,000.
15 Clark Street, #4C [Sotheby's] GMAP P*Shark
05/23/2012 12:57 PM
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PANYL Kitchen Make-Over Complete
When we last left off, we were preparing to upgrade our kitchen cabinets from the off-the-rack Ikea finish with some help from PANYL, a new company whose mission is to help spruce up standard Ikea units with a proprietary self-adhesive vinyl application. As you may recall, the Park Slope-based start-up offered to give us a free makeover to demonstrate its proprietary approach to IKEA hacking. We’d installed IKEA kitchen cabinets when we were renovating back in 2005 and had grown tired of the faux-wood finish. Mrs. B ended up selecting an orange for the upper units and went with a dark gray for the lowers. We were a little nervous about the bold call but gotta say we’re loving the result. For the fainter of heart, there are lots of other colors and finishes to choose from on the company’s website. The materials for our makeover would have come out to about $650 had we actually had to pay for them retail. A few action shots of the installation on the jump…
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05/23/2012 10:54 AM
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House of the Day: 328 President Street
This new brownstone listing at 328 President Street in Carroll Gardens would have benefited from a little staging. It’s generally got good bones (along with a big front yard) but the combo unfortunate kitchens and dreary furnishings doesn’t help the cause. Still, given the location and the fact that there still’s a fair bit of original charm, the three-family house should still get some attention. Whether it’ll fetch the $2,650,000 asking price remains to be seen.
328 President Street [Town Real Estate] GMAP P*Shark
05/22/2012 1:28 PM
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Condo of the Day: 1 Main Street, #4A
This 2,200-square-foot loft at One Main Street in Dumbo has been on the market for a little over a month now with a the overly specific asking price of $2,497,500. It’s got a lot going for it–size, views, finishes, etc.–and is priced more than $800,000 cheaper than the same apartment on the 9th floor. We think that some more modern furnishings would help the sales cause a lot here. The current set-up is lacking in any sex appeal.
1 Main Street, #4A [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
05/22/2012 12:57 PM
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Design*Sponge Goes Inside a Greenpoint Loft
Yesterday was a fun day, despite all the rain. We went out to Roberta’s, which in addition to being one of the best restaurants in town also houses an Internet radio station, to be interviewed by Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney. You can hear the session here. Something else you might want to check out: This post on Design*Sponge yesterday about the Greenpoint loft of brother-design team Evan and Oliver Haslegrave. There’s one above and another of the bathroom on the jump. Check out the Design*Sponge post for lots more…
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05/22/2012 11:01 AM
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House of the Day: 778 Carroll Street
This house at 778 Carroll Street in Park Slope just hit the market with a price tag of $2,995,000. The centerpiece of the house is a grand center stair, enhanced, we would guess, by the recent renovation. The parlor floor has a nice open-plan loftiness to it that we bet’ll appeal to buyers. The bathrooms and kitchen of the owner’s triplex have also all be redone. The location, between 7th and 8th Avenues, is also very good. Think the price is right?
778 Carroll Street [Warren Lewis] GMAP P*Shark
778 Carroll Street [Aguayo & Huebener]
05/21/2012 1:26 PM
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Co-op of the Day: 90 Prospect Park West, #4L
This new listing at 90 Prospect Park West in Park Slope has some pretty impressive woodwork and other architectural detail, especially for a fourth floor apartment. In addition, the three-bedroom co-op has lovely views over the tops of Prospect Park’s trees. And despite the railroad-y format, the apartment actually lays out quite nicely. Only small gripe is that the main bathroom is down the hall from the master bedroom. Asking price: $1,400,000.
90 Prospect Park West [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
05/21/2012 12:57 PM
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In Case You Missed The Outsider Column…
…on Sunday, just scroll down the page to check out a rather unusual garden in Park Slope. Or just click here.
05/21/2012 9:33 AM
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Open House Picks
Park Slope
477 4th Street
Betancourt
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$3,495,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
488 13th Street
Corcoran
Sunday, 11:00-1:00
$2,650,000
GMAP P*Shark
Flatbush
194 Lennox Road
Barbara Ann Rogers/William B. May
Sunday, 1:00-3:00
$950,000
GMAP P*Shark
Ditmas Park
2109 Abelmarle Terrace
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday, 2:30-4:30
$839,000
GMAP P*Shark
05/18/2012 1:05 PM
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fexleycb
May 23, 2012 | 10:55 AM