Serious Dumpster Action on Clinton Avenue

Finally. The Baptist church needs some serious divine (and financially solvent) intervention. It is in the saddest, spookiest state . . . . good luck, whoever you are developing it. And please don't gut complete like the Washington Ave condos.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 11:43 AM

The entire neighborhood of Clinton Hill was landmarked in 1983. Here is a map of the landmarked area:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/maps/clinton_hill.pdf

405 Clinton Avenue is one of the most beautiful buildings in the neighborhood.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 11:52 AM

405 Clinton Ave is a great story. The owner is Steven Fong who is a half Latino-Asian guy who inherited the property from a old Jewish lady who lived in Brooklyn Heights back in the '70s. The guy is home equity rich but very cash poor. He once thought about selling the house back in the '70s for $200k but held off. Over the last 30 years he's received numerous offers, the highest being $5mm (so he says).

According to Steven, he's not selling just yet because the house represents his only lottery ticket and he's going to ride it out a little longer. Can you blame him? He's received offers for $1mm in the '80s and he didn't sell. $3mm in the '90s and he didn't sell. Now over $5mm this century and he's still not selling. He's is either a very very smart guy or too stupid to realize that the market is probably now at a peak for a few years. The guy can barely pay his real estate taxes and has done absolutely no capital improvements in 30 years. You would think he'd be desperate but he's not.

In any event, God bless him! He's playing the only hand that he's ever been dealt like it's his last! Probably is....

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 12:23 PM

Demo by neglect, seems more like it.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 12:32 PM

I'm of the opinion that minimal upkeep it necessary. If an owner cannot keep a place from rotting around them, they should sell. The owner of 405 should sell. He could do very well financially and be set for the rest of his life. The place is absolutely enormous and beautiful from the outside (maybe the inside too), but it looks to be deteriorating quickly from many years of complete neglect. It would be a shame if it got to be in such a state of direpair than original details that would otherwise be salvagable were lost.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 12:38 PM

Steven inherited the property while still a teenager. The Jewish lady was a philanthropist and helped out troubled kids in downtown Brooklyn. She took a liking to him and bequeathed him the property. He's not well educated or a professional. He's simply doing his thing and allowing time to go by and living on subsistence. IMHO, I think that's unfortunate. I would've sold years ago and truly lived off my windfall. If he waits much longer he may be too old to enjoy all that money when he eventually sells. Unless he's simply thinking about his family and generation to come. Then waiting is not a real bad idea.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 12:58 PM

Well maybe he needs some good financial advice because, at this point, waiting longer will not necessarily be good for him, and it definitely will not be good for the house which is a real treasure to be preserved, not neglected.

It is nice the old woman bequeathed it to him. He should now take care of himself and his family, if he has any, and sell it so another grand mansion can be restored before it falls into complete ruin. If anyone knows Steven, they should tell him to strike while the iron is hot and make sure he gets good advice/representation.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 2:36 PM

"405 Clinton, a real wreck, was built by Charles A. Schieren, the mayor of Brooklyn from 1894 to 1896. A leather manufacturer, Schieren put up this Queen Anne cube of rich red brick, brownstone and tile in 1889; note the robust, fish-scale tile roof, apparently unaltered since the 1880's, with the top-floor dormer, trimmed with copper in a rivet-head design."

From NY Times StreetScapes 8/22/2004.

Steven was pissed that NYT interviewed him and then called his house a wreck. So he's not very trusting when it comes to "well intentioned" samaritans. As far as he's concerned everyone is trying to steal his property from him. With respect to getting him "good representation" for a possible sale, this is not a novel idea. People have been trying to do this for 30 years. He's not moving....not yet anyway.

You go boy! Sock it to the man!! LOL! :-)

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 3:37 PM

Seems to me like this is a typical example of why no one should be handed anything. They have no appreciation for it, no sense of value. They feel entitled, paranoid (for good reason -- they feel guilty for never actually having earned it), and in some ways I think they resent the very thing that is supposedly their saving grace.

I guess it's his business to do whatever he wants with this building. I'm a big defender of the kooks in our city having the same rights to live here as we do.

But it does show up the real tragedy of the good samaritans (starting with the old jewish woman) whose good deeds go so very much punished.

The punishment being suffered by a building that deserves more than one little crazy man's paranoiac greed.

GET A JOB, SLOB! Let people who work hard and love the fruits of that labor take care of this one-of-a-kind treasure.

(Any other old ladies out there who want to donate an ugly mcmansion to this guy? Maybe he'd be willing to move to jersey . . . )

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 3:45 PM

I agree, and the only "man" that Fong in Sticking it to is himself and the community. I think that in cases of extreme disrepair and neglect, fines and levies on properties- beyond tax liens - and eventual forced sale by the City, would be most appropriate.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 3:52 PM

I guess I can kind of see how hard it must be for this guy to let it go. it's probably the only remarkable, interesting thing in his life.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 3:56 PM

Brooklyn is full of whack-jobs and super-whack-jobs who have inherited real estate. I have dealt with a varity of these folks from Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope. Its the Grey Gardens syndrome.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 4:34 PM

It's really distressing to read the comments about Steve Fong. I know him well (I live very nearby) and those of you who've commented have gotten nearly every detail wrong, including his ethnicity. I'm glad that he's not a brownstoner visitor. I think he would be upset by the comments, especially those berating him to get a job. His life is complex, and his choices may not make sense to the rest of us. I would urge the critics out there to view him and his situation compassionately, especially since you know nothing about him and his life.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 5:22 PM

OKAY, so could you ask him, if you're such close neighbors, to view the building that is in his custody a little compassionately too? It's in his charge, under his power. Why does he abuse it so?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 5:40 PM

5:22PM, I'm calling your bluff! You know nothing of this man. I challenge you to present the facts as they truly exist! I'm waiting....

He's been weaving and telling his story of "rags to riches" to everyone within earshot for decades (unless he lied to me and everyone else I know). Yeah, Steve, I'm really astonished and amazed by your great strike of fortune. More power to you. Now get off your lazy butt and preserve something that was entrusted into your custody.

Yes, Steve is not a Brownstoner. Why? Because he doesn't have a computer, phone or cable. He's as prehistoric as they come - a real fossil.

In my book, Mr. Fong is a deadbeat, absentee homeowner. Half-Black, Asian or Latino. Who cares? He's a deadbeat. Plain and simple.

Posted by: Anonymous at June 11, 2007 6:18 PM