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June 5, 2007

Condos of the Day: Side-by-Side in The Slope

If you had a little under $1.2 million to spend on a condo in Park Slope which of these places would you prefer? The 1,440-square-foot three-bedroom at the Ansonia on 12th Street for $1,190,000 (at left) or the 1,290-square-foot two-bedroom at 145 Park Place for $1,161,000 (at right)? We're pretty sure which way we'd go, but we'll wait until later in the day to give our opinion. Let's hear yours first.
438 12th Street [Corcoran] GMAP
145 Park Place [Corcoran] GMAP

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Comments

Park Place definately has better transportation options, but I would definately go with 12th street.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 12:50 PM

speaking from living around the corner to the park place spot, I'd take ansonia. It is hella noisy around here. Pimp my car stereo, trucks doing weird things (last night at 1am a truck decided to idle loudly outside our windows for an hour) cops racing up and down flatbush and pan handlers buzzing the door with stories designed to extract a few bucks.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 12:58 PM

The Park Place unit seems nicer to me. The double-height portion with the stair to the roof terrace is a big plus.
Neither one is "to die".
I'ld rather buy a house in Bay Ridge for this money.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:00 PM

Have to go with 12th Street. I still can't figure out how you arrange living room and dining room furniture in the Park Place apartment, given those weird angles, the support pillar, the two doorways AND the two accessways (front door and kitchen) that feed off the room.

Posted by: zeebee at June 5, 2007 1:03 PM

wow, 12:58, you must be super sensitive cause i live right by here also and it's not even close to being as bad as you describe. i think either you're a competing broker or someone who isn't meant for city life. or maybe right around the corner means farther than i think.

there are very few, if any panhandlers on flatbush and 7th avenue. only one i see regularly is the one outside the Q train stop at 7th ave and he's a riot.

love the ansonia place though although it would be a tough choice as the transportation isn't great down there. bound by the F train at 7th or 15th streets.

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 1:05 PM

I'm with 1pm. This is exactly why people are buying houses in areas others insult and turn their noses up about. No mystery, really.

The first thing we looked at were Park Slope condos. We knew we wouldn't get as much space as a house, for a million in PS. But we liked PS, wanted to stay, and I'm not against modern buildings. However the layouts, the details (or huge lack thereof, in the case of the Ansonia) was simply depressing. I really dislike a row of bedrooms where not even the master BR is separated from the other BR's. And wose yet, all the bedrooms open directly onto the public rooms.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:08 PM

Not sure which corner you live around. I live on that block at Park Place. I think it's one of the nicest blocks in the slope by far. That block drew us back out of Manhattan. It's a tree filled, mostly intact landmark block. The corner with the new building is just fine. It's a quiet block. The Flatbush noise does not spill over, but the 2/3 and Q trains are nicely near. There are no idling trucks, except around dinner time when the Fresh Direct trucks deliver. That building is not the coolest in terms of design, but the spaces are pretty nice, and the doorman seems like a nice guy. The block association is really nice and pretty tight knit, and the new residents at 145 have been participating in it. We had our block party last weekend. Nice, mellow fun.

Prospect Place around the corner, which is a shorter block is a little noisier. 7th Ave is plenty noisy, but Park Place seems to remain quiet.

The ansonia spaces are nicer probably, and the building (depending on which) has more charm, but that whole complex is a little old, the parking around there is just as hard, the transportation options suck, and all the carpets in those building halls smell like a generation of park slope babies and strollers.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:09 PM

Park Place certainly looks dark in the photos.

Posted by: anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:14 PM

Put me down for Park Place.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:14 PM

neither. both are overpriced and lacking in details and originality. for that price i would buy a house in prospect hghts

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 1:16 PM

1:16 PM If you can find me a nice house in Prospect Heights for under 1.2, I'm with you. Unfortunately, the only thing I've seen recently is that shell that for 900K on Bergen that used to have the dog guy, and the broker there says he already has many offers way above 900K...and that place only has a floors on the staircase, and no roof. Someone else has a gut job at 43 Park Place for sale these days for 1.8. It's crazy. Doesn't make the condos worth it. You could buy a morningside heights condo for probably the same or less...

That block of Park Place is really nice though.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:23 PM

I've looked at both buildings and don't really care for either. Ansonia has the nice courtyard (except it's always eerily empty) and some of the apartments are nice and have private outdoor space, but most of them feel surprisingly cramped (and are often dark) despite the high ceilings. Plus the location with poor transportation options isn't ideal. Park Place is ideally located for shopping and transportation, but has the layout problems that zeebee mentioned, PLUS the annoying, huge, ugly heating/cooling units that stick at least a foot out of the wall under several of the windows and must be four to five feet wide, again severely limiting options for arranging furniture in any logical or liveable way.

I also went with a condo in Park Slope (didn't have the cash for a house, or the assets for a co-op) and found a condo apartment in a converted brownstone in the North Slope that gives me the best of everything: the feeling of living in a house (with my own garden), neighbors to share building maintenance with (but without the restrictions normally associated with a co-op), and the quiet, tree-lined street that is the essence of Brownstone Brooklyn living. (Most apartment like mine are co-ops, but there are some that are condos, so I lucked out.)

Posted by: Park Sloper at June 5, 2007 1:25 PM

"sensitive" second poster here.
I'm sitting right now, in a ground floor sublet of the 2nd last block of 6th avenue before flatbush, and I'm hearing the afternoon car horn symphony as I type this. There is a pan handler who comes to our gate and presumably others and spins some crap about others he has seen exiting or entering the building ("saw your friend, the one with the red jacket, she helped me with something this morning, got a broom? I'm gonna sweep the pavement" then hits you up for as much cash as he can get). The traffic gets backed up around here in all directions and i can only imagine how bad it will get when AY is finished.

None of this is an issue in the south slope: further south you have windsor terrace, east you have the park, west you have nothing much and north you have center slope. I wouldn't bail someone out of ansonia for a million, I think they have appreciated about as far as they deserve, but location wise I'd take south slope if you like peace, any day! others may still be thinking park place is quieter than union square, fair enough.. I don't disagree.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 1:28 PM

"sensitive" second poster here. I'm sitting right now, in a ground floor sublet of the 2nd last block of 6th avenue before flatbush, and I'm hearing the afternoon car horn symphony as I type this.

i appreciate this, but you don't live on the lovely tree-lined street that is park place, closer to 7th avenue. so how would said panhandler ringing your bell affect this doorman building that the post refers to? i'm confused as to the correlation between where you live and your comments on this particular property other than that you live in the same neighborhood.

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 1:46 PM

Careful of anything in the Ansonia. I had an accepted bid on an apartment there some time ago and was advised while getting ready to sign the contract of an imminent maintenance hike due to ongoing problems and disputes between the tenants and the devleoper. If you're going to have headaches and uncertainty like that, you might as well own your own townhouse.

Posted by: Anon at June 5, 2007 1:55 PM

Park Place, lovely block, lovely location, but weird space and frumpy fixtures. Cheap per square foot, though, for the location and for being a condo. I'd pick it over the Ansonia, but only because I don't like venturing below Ninth, which I'll grant you is hardly logical.

Posted by: Gari N. Corp at June 5, 2007 2:05 PM

I lived on Park Place for four months. They are pretty blocks and the trains are great but boy was it noisy. Cars speed up the street to Flatbush and 7th Avenue and in the morning rush it can take 10 minutes just to drive on Park Place from 5th Avenue to 7th Avenue in a car, which means the cars are sitting on the streets long between lights. Also, there's a church that rings its bells on the hour, which I also find to be noise pollutions. I live further South now and it's much quieter in comparison.

Posted by: anonymously at June 5, 2007 2:18 PM

145 Park Place is a rehab, new bulk over old structure. New tax year is almost here and no J-51 in place. I analyzed the offering plan for apt. 4E where taxes were promised at about $100 per month. 2007-08 tax bill will be $14,400!!!! Those who bought will get the shock of their life. Offering plan shows sponsor's engineer estimating annual electric bill in excess of $4,500 for a two bedroom. This is electric heat and a.c. The A.C. boxes protrude about 12 inches into the apt. which is a cheap motel system. Casement windows open inward with no screens! This building is cheap crap. Buyer beware as they say. Anyone interested in my four page analysis of the offering plan write me at: mgold218@yahoo.com

Posted by: Marion at June 5, 2007 2:19 PM

I'd take Park Place with the roof terrace.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 2:33 PM

Is neither an option?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 2:54 PM

The Ansonia is very nice if you have kids. The zoned school is better too. Despite being dependent on the F line, I much prefer this end of the slope to the north or center slope -- much quieter and less pretentious.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 3:07 PM

1.2mm for a 2 bedroom? I'll find one in Brooklyn Heights for that.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 3:07 PM

I'd take that block of Park Place over a lot of the North Slope and most of the South Slope. Not that building though. There was recently a coop listed in a brownstone with a garden that seemed like a much better bet.

Also- was someone really just complaining on this board about the noise from St. Augustine's Church Bells? That's like the most charming feature of the block. The toll Xmas tunes every year. It really a nice deep full tone, and it's goes off with one tone on the half hour, and then a complicated vesper at Noon and Six. I can't believe that would be a turn off. It's not window piercing loud- you need to be outside to hear it.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 3:12 PM

Neither seems like a good option.....

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 3:19 PM

You can still get a house in South Slope or Windesor Terrace for the same amount of money. It'd be more work, but worht it.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 3:23 PM

i think both are overpriced and they will have a hard time seling the. i think 1.2mm for either of these is a rip off.

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 3:57 PM

much nice house and much friendlier neighbors, the F train is always runing and wonderful schools. Don't forget the shopping and restaurants / bars in the part of the Slope.

http://corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=967586

Posted by: A J at June 5, 2007 4:23 PM

The condos on 4th Ave in Park Slope, Novo, which aren't completed yet have 3BR units that are less expensive than these ones and have better layouts IMO.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 4:52 PM

The Park Place building is a pimple on the face of PS. Look at it from up the block on Flatbush - all the weird angles and and the stucco face kind of bolted on one side. And it is not really on Park Place, the majority of it faces Flatbush. There are windows that face the back of the large billboard on top of the Duane Reade building next to it. It is truly an eyesore and the inside isn't much better. It doesn't even have central heating.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 5:03 PM

South Slope is definitely great, but I don't know that you can find a house for 1.2 million in that neighborhood. A brownstone on 14th street between 6th and 7th, that needed to be *entirely* gutted, just went for 1.3 a few weeks ago.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 5:04 PM

it's not stucco, it's metal so you are talking about the wrong building.

Posted by: anon at June 5, 2007 5:18 PM

I went to an open house at Park Place and could not believe what they were asking for these total pieces of crap. Even for Corcoran, this was ballsy.

Noise and panhandlers aside, there's no central a/c, institutional windows that will turn the Flatbush-facing apartments into greenhouses, cheap bathroom finishes (plastic 'stone' counters, and cheap tiling).

And as 2:19 mentioned, the a/c's protrusion into the room kills one wall for furniture.

But the absolute killer was that for over a million (can't remember the unit), almost the entire view was barbed wire on the neighboring building roofs and the spray-painted back of the billboard (Kronoh, I believe, was the tagger). I'm sure they will find their suckers eventually, though.

Posted by: Anonamoose at June 5, 2007 5:36 PM

I complained about the church bells and I could indeed hear them inside my apartment and actually didn't even notice them when I was outside. I found them horrible to listen to all day long and I work at home. If it were just once a day and then on Sunday, I wouldn't mind but all day every day is too much and an intrusion on my privacy!

Posted by: anonymously at June 5, 2007 7:28 PM

Hey Gari N. Corp 2:05 -
Read the crime blotter in the local papers. Almost ALL of the muggings, burgleries, assults, etc happen in beautiful North Slope - rarely do you see any of the locations in scary South Slope.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 9:32 PM

Anon, the stucco, or brownstone facade, or whatever it is, was applied to the Park Place side of the building to meet landmarking requirements, as that street is landmarked. The rest is shiniest silver whatever. Altogether it is a visual trainwreck.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 5, 2007 9:53 PM

Neither. They both seem overpriced. over 1 mil for a 2br in that location with low ceilings and boring layout. No thanks! I'll stay put in my 2 br in BH.

Posted by: Joe at June 5, 2007 11:59 PM

the park place building is a piece of crap and the broker pacelli is a deutsch bag

Posted by: enlightened brooklynite at June 6, 2007 1:10 AM

Is this what's passed off as "luxury"???

Both are nice, but for a mill you have sooo many better options in ALL the prime neighnorhoods in BK.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 6, 2007 10:09 AM

Who developed the park place building and are they from the eastern bloc? I bet the developer drives a Cadiallac escalade and wears a tracksuit.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 6, 2007 10:25 AM

Cadillac is great car!

Posted by: Anon at June 8, 2007 8:17 PM