HOTD: Rip-Off Under the Gowanus Expressway

If last Wednesday's small brick house on Bergen Street in Park Slope was overpriced at $2.15 million, this place in Carroll Gardens (barely) is a joke. It also makes the Clinton Hill carriage house we discussed last Monday look like a bargain. Though marketed as a carriage house, this building which is asking an astounding $1.995 million, retains none of the charm that one would accompany such a description. Besides a solid looking old cornice, just about all original detail appears to have been purged, with a rather unappealing contemporary aesthetic put in its place. The listing says that there are some buildable air rights, which just might give you enough height to watch the traffic go by on the nearby Gowanus Expressway. Get real.
Carroll Gardens Carriage House [Piazza Realty] GMAP

Comments

I dunno if it justifies the price, but it sure would help to have some interior pictures - from the description, it sounds like there might be something interesting behind the facade.

Posted by: Halden at July 5, 2005 11:35 AM

ha! people are in an increasingly desperate rush to cash in while they can -- if you own a two-story on the gowanus that you bought for $100k a decade ago, why not try to get some sucker to give you a $2m capital gain? naysayers beware: friends of mine just went to see a 2 bedroom condo with outdoor space on clinton and pacific for $790k, with the price recently reduced by $60k. more and more reductions, if you look for them. and last-ditch desperate attempts to cash out, like this two-story.

Posted by: Sloper at July 5, 2005 11:40 AM

Over priced no doubt, but it is no where near the Gowanus Expressway. It is Carrol Gardens bordering on Cobble Hill. It is on lovely block of Sackett St. between Court St. and Smith St. I've walked by it daily when out with my dog. I think it was the victim of some unfortunate "updating" a couple of decades ago and has little of the historical detail most "brownstoners" would be looking for.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 5, 2005 11:54 AM

We looked at this house. It is in Carroll Gardens, not near any highway. It would take alot of money to correct past "updating", and is way over priced. It is a neat space though.

Posted by: dt at July 5, 2005 11:58 AM

The reason you thought this was under the BQE is because the mapping software, lacking a street address, used the center of zip code 11231.

It's still an outrageous price unless it's remarkably nice inside, in which case it's merely a high price.

Posted by: Tim at July 5, 2005 12:03 PM

This is the place that I called out a few months back as being Corcoroned by Piazza Realty. This originally listing a year back for much lower ($1.2 million?)

Posted by: bksqueeze at July 5, 2005 12:07 PM

yeah - this is from the April 13th discussion.
And hasnt really budged on price.
But again not near BQE or canal. Great block and expensive area.
And again not a known or big realtor in area.
Seller wasting time or realtor is the seller.

Posted by: Anonymous at July 5, 2005 12:21 PM

The property is actually located on DeGraw between Court and Smith, on the north side of the street. I think the dog-walker is a bit confused.

The nicest feature as far as I can tell, is the garage. The building is completely undistinguished - no stoop, no visible exterior details, and includes a small commercial/gallery space - and therefore the price seems out of line.

Renovated brick or browstone houses on this block would sell in the $1.5 million plus range. Hard to know what the thinking here is.

Posted by: bored at work at July 5, 2005 1:12 PM

oops! You're correct it is DeGraw, the next block over.

Posted by: dog walker at July 5, 2005 4:06 PM

I agree it's overpriced. However, it looks like an extra-wide property -- 4 windows across is unusual. On 2nd Place a developer paid something like 1.5 million for a very modern house (but on a 33-foot lot) which was promptly gutted and a 7-story building is going up!!! I wonder how wide the property is and how high it can be built up?

Posted by: Anonymous at July 5, 2005 5:04 PM

bored at work makes a good point about the garage. anyone out there have any idea what kind of value a garage like that has/adds? is is 200K? i know i'd pay up for one or some other off street car storage.

Posted by: also bored at July 6, 2005 10:06 AM

maybe these are pics of the place?
http://realtycollective.com/index.cfm?action=Sales&subaction=detail&AptID=280964&aptpub=13016

Posted by: mrpeabody at July 7, 2005 1:16 AM

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July 5, 2005

HOTD: Rip-Off Under the Gowanus Expressway

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