« Greenspan: Housing Boom Is An Imbalance Open House Picks »
August 26, 2005
A True Gut Renovation in Clinton Hill
A certain celebrity neighbor of ours is taking his demolition pretty seriously. He must have quite an entourage of workers gutting the place!
Comments
You can't tease like that. Who is the neighbor? Oh..."entourage...got it.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 10:34 AM
Right, it's time for the biweekly installment of "Celebrity Neighbor." What will follow next is an outpouring of "What's Entourage?" and "Who's that?" and "What street is he on?" and then "Why do we have to talk about celebrities on this blog?" and "Get a life people" and pretty soon someone will chime in about Jennifer Connelly or Heath Ledger. At about the 10th post, someone with less money will get jealous because this celebrity neighbor can afford to renovate. It'll be mentioned again that his mom is a Corcoran broker and someone will cry foul.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 10:58 AM
.. and then it hits us: if this were Manhattan, these celebrities wouldn't even be worth a mention.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 11:13 AM
Hey, the gaping holes in the wall would be noteworthy in their own right.
Posted by: Brownstoner at August 26, 2005 11:16 AM
Yeah, right, Anon. No one you know that lives in manhattan would ever let it drop that so-and-so lives in their building or on the block.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 12:18 PM
I'm actually concerned with the policy of being so liberal about posting people's addresses in terms of security concerns. If I remember correctly, someone posted the exact address of this house the last time it was mentioned. It seems so not cool to do this. I notice you understandably haven't posted your own address on here, Brownstoner. Remember last week's long thread on security? I think you should have policy against posting people's exact addresses (not including open houses, it's not the same). If you don't feel comfortable giving out your own, you shouldn't publish other people's.
Posted by: renogirl at August 26, 2005 12:42 PM
We do have that policy. We didn't post the address of this house, did we?
Posted by: Brownstoner at August 26, 2005 12:57 PM
Yes, someone posted it (in re: to looking up propshark info or something).
Posted by: renogirl at August 26, 2005 12:59 PM
This is pretty rude. Have some respect for people's privacy.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 1:06 PM
oh get over it. it should just been taken at face value which was brownstoners bragging and boasting that he has a "celebrity" neighbor. nothing out of the ordinary here - just bighead brownstoner at work.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 1:40 PM
You all come here for news & info on brownstones in brooklyn provided in a very efficient and courteous manner by mr. brownstoner. If entourage guy is knocking a hole in the wall of a brooklyn brownstone, I'd say that's newsworthy!
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 2:07 PM
"Robert DeNiro lives in my building" is one thing. "That guy from Entourage lives 10 blocks over" is another.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 2:08 PM
To 2:07 anon, if you think the entourage guy breaking a hole in his wall is newsworthy, i'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're one of the schmucks that follow these people around looking for photo-ops. has he signed your "i heart brooklyn" tee shirt yet?
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 2:21 PM
Not that this is any of my business, but I took one look at that house he bought and decided his mom advised him to buy it as a flip for investment purposes (you can tell how I feel about brokers at this point). Not that I dont like Clinton Hill, I really like it and Grand Ave is nice (albeit a little rough around the edges). However, the house seemed to be in very poor condition and very close to Fulton on a stretch which could be nicer and may be nicer in the future.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 2:30 PM
Yikes man. Take a deep breath... what people view as "interesting" here is very relative. Remember this is a site where the fact that brownstoner sealed his bannisers is newsworthy. Take it easy!
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 2:34 PM
to anon at 2:34pm. totally agreed. if you don't like it, don't read the blog. simple as that. you obviously came here looking for stuff on bklyn brownstones, and you got it.
check out my blog. it's on ft greene. and a lot of it may be deemed ridiculous to the average joe, but you don't go to my blog looking to read about lindsay lohan and what bar she was seen at in meatpacking, do you?? so chill out 2:21pm.
Posted by: ltjbukem at August 26, 2005 2:45 PM
plus, 2:21, it obviously interested you enough for you to click on the comments to read them. so who's the schmuck now?
Posted by: ltjbukem at August 26, 2005 2:46 PM
i think brownstoner is probably sitting back and lol that he can still get your goat like this...am i right?
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 3:56 PM
I just passed the house in question (on my way to the laundromat) and wowie zowie landmark owners, how are they ever going to restore what they did to that house???
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 5:07 PM
I just passed it too, and it's incerdibly difficult for me to believe that a tv star is going to live on this end of the block. The house next door is falling down and covered in debris and psycho chalk graffitti, and a 100 feet away is the neighborhood thug hangout corner. I know HBO pays it's talent for shit, but...really? Looks like it could be a beautiful (and ENORMOUS) house, but I wouldn't want to live with that going on outside my front door. OK - outraged claims of "yuppie-classist-racist" - GO!
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 5:14 PM
It's ok Anon at 5:14...I'm only offended by one comment, where you call the celeb in question a "star."
Ha!
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 5:20 PM
Those thugs are a problem. Should call the cops on them. They deal on that corner regularly and just genrally like to hang out and intimidate. Bunch of lowlifes.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 26, 2005 5:22 PM
So petty.
Posted by: Brownstoner at August 26, 2005 6:41 PM
I really enjoy the stories posted on the main page of Brownstoner, but a lot of the comments have been getting really nasty and personal lately. Sigh.
Posted by: DN at August 26, 2005 7:03 PM
Agreed. Don't know what to do about it either. It seems like people are saving on their therapy bills and letting all their rage and frustration out on the Brownstoner site lately. Surely there are more important things to worry about than whether you don't particularly want to read this post. Geesh!
Posted by: Brownstoner at August 26, 2005 7:12 PM
if we just ignore them, maybe they'll go away.
Posted by: browngirl at August 26, 2005 10:34 PM
If it's any consolation, B'stoner, I've noticed that the comments are getting less civil and less relevant to the post at hand on other popular blogs as well. So don't take it too personally (if you were, that is).
Posted by: JC at August 27, 2005 1:08 AM
Most likely his mother is in charge of the renovation and it'll be flipped when it's finished. My bet is he won't sleep there a single night.
He could have a beautiful condo with a river view in Greenwich Village. Since he's in LA most of the time anyways, why would he want a place like that far from the action in Manhattan?
Posted by: Anonymous at August 27, 2005 9:58 PM
my question is, if his parents are so wealthy, what is he doing flipping a gut-renovated brownstone? i mean, at most he'll make $1 mio on the sale. surely, he's worth more than that. seems like a lot of blood sweat and tears for someone who's already got some serious cash flow.
Posted by: ltjbukem at August 28, 2005 12:56 AM
It's all about the mother. He's helping her make some money.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2005 11:01 AM
He probably said, "Hey, mom. Wanna invest some of my money?"
She probably answered, "Sure, the real estate market is super hot in Brooklyn. I'll buy an old house for you, renovate it, and sell it. We'll both make money."
He probably replied, "Thanks, mom. You're so smart."
Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2005 11:04 AM
Anon at 9:58 p.m. said: "He could have a beautiful condo with a river view in Greenwich Village. Since he's in LA most of the time anyways, why would he want a place like that far from the action in Manhattan?"
Maybe he doesn't like Manhattan? Maybe he likes living in Brooklyn on a nice block (with its problems, sure, but it's not like his house is in the lobby of the troubled buildings on the corner) with a variety of people including newcoming yuppies, struggling families and hangers-out? Maybe he likes a street where kids can play on the sidewalk? Where he'll be able to have a lot of room and a real back yard and a driveway to park his car? In a real neighborhood?
I have lived in the Village (Horatio and Washington; 7th Ave. South; 10th St. between 5th and 6th Aves.) and I've lived in Park Slope (Garfield Pl.; 11th St.) and I've lived in Clinton Hill, a block from the house in question and there's no doubt that I like this place the best. Maybe I'm not the only one?
If he does flip the house, I hope he sells it to someone who really wants to live there.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 28, 2005 4:19 PM
its public record where vince and his mom bought there home just as it is public record for anybody else who buys a home or a property in brooklyn or nyc, you just have to know how to access the records through nyc.gov. And these records should be public, if my real estate information is available to everyone, it shouldn't matter that no one cares about it, vince's info should be just as public. fu#@! vince if he wants special security, get the hell out of Brooklyn. Speaking of Jennifer Connelly or Heath Ledger, they moved in right at the top of my block, Carroll Street, into a house that required no rennovations or improvements with a wonderful Prospect Park view. buying a home in mint condition hasn't stopped its value from going through the roof.
y'ala
Posted by: y'ala at August 29, 2005 2:16 PM
If I were a movie star who could pick chicks up and lay pipe at the drop of a hat, I would definitely prefer to live in Soho or the Village. Don't even try to argue that chicks in Brooklyn compare to chicks in downtown Manhattan. There's no comparison. Never was. Never will be.
Brooklyn's great for families or couples looking for space, but not for players. Anyone who says otherwise has a serious fat fetish.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 29, 2005 8:54 PM
lol
Posted by: Anonymous at August 30, 2005 3:41 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.