Co-ops of the Day: 167 Sands Street

heres the scoop - you're not getting in there...

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:01 PM

I've always wondered what was there. Now I know.

Thanks Brownstoner!

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:05 PM

"the building is wedged between the BQE and the projects, but still, $280,000 to $315,000 for a two-bedroom"

One, as noted above, you aren't getting in if you aren't Chinese.

Two, that location would be overpriced if it were free.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:06 PM

whoa, what about anti-discrimination laws?

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:08 PM

I went to look at an apt here in the summer. First, to get in you have to walk along the BQE or through the projects, not very well lit at night. The entrance to the complex is through a metal gate, like a prison. There is no doorman. The hallways are filthy. It used to be a YMCA. The indoor pool is in lockdown. Poor ventilation. Small windows. The apartment was tiny, like a YMCA room x2. I would stick my head in the crusted oven if I lived there.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:17 PM

"whoa, what about anti-discrimination laws?"

Wake up. Obviously, the co-op board isn't going to tell you that "You won't get in because you're not Chinese." They'll just create another "reason." Anti-discrimination laws haven't prevented realtors from excluding racial and ethnic groups from entire neighborhoods. Or haven't you noticed?

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:30 PM

If the owners are only advertising in Chinese for these apartments than it is illegal housing discrimination.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:30 PM

Wasn't there an article recently about elderly Chinese being mugged in Dumbo/Vinegar hill? Is this the building? What a horrible location--cut off by the BQE and easy pickings. The stick-up kids probably look at this place like an ATM machine. Very convenient to stop by 167 Sands to get your going-out money before hopping on the F train.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:35 PM

I saw a rat zip by in the lobby of the third floor and backed out when i read that there were 9 muggings there in the last year including a shooting (that fortunately didn't hurt anyone), Place not worth 1/2 of what they want, it just feels like a prizon inside.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:45 PM

Anyone interested in viewing the place can show up when the broker's there, Saturdays between 2-4pm.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 1:48 PM

For these prices you could buy three-two bedroom apartments, do $150,000 worth of renovation, hire one $50,000 a year bodyguard and another $50,000 a year exterminator/hallway cleaner, and still have spent only a third or a fourth or a fifth of a Park Slope-Brooklyn Heights Brownstone. Or, look at it another way, you have a nice apartment in Dumbo for less than a condo in one of the walentas buildings and less than a comparably sized apartment in downtown brooklyn or Forth Avenue bleak no-man's lands.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 2:01 PM

me chinese, me play joke, me put pee pee in your coke.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 2:08 PM

Brownstoner mentality on full display: trash every new-build condo that comes along but give (seemingly) serious consideration to the possibility of living in this incredibly atrocious, squalid dump just because it’s ‘old’.

This site jumped the shark a while ago, probably, but this post confirms it.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 2:11 PM

btw there is not a single unit there bigger than 500 square foot...they are box sized and tiny. so when u really look at it, there is much better use for one's money that this place.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 2:11 PM

I also read the article recently that there was an absurd amount of muggings happening around this particular building in the past few months. This is probably why the prices are so low. It said that the police in Dumbo were going to step up patrols around the area and focus specifically on this building, however, I think this location is just horrible. I would rather pay more and not live between an overpass and the projects.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 2:13 PM

Is that Al D'Amato commenting?

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 2:14 PM

2:01: This ain't Dumbo.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 3:02 PM

well the muggings are occuring becuase the Farragut residents haven't got the new supermarket yet. As soon as they raze adimral's row and put in the keyFood things will be ok.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 3:14 PM

Supposedly this building is being purchased by Corcoran and turned into condo's in the near future. So the building will likely be renovated... not sure how it's going to be pulled off or if there's any truth to the rumor though.

Here are some pics of an unit currently up for sale:

http://sandystreets.googlepages.com/167sandsstreet

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 3:27 PM

3:27, thanks for the link. Wow, those pics are pretty gruesome. But your first comment makes no sense. The building is already a co-op, so for it to become a condominium, the current owners/co-op shareholders would have to sell their own building out from underneath themselves. Theoretically possible but I have never heard that scenario in almost thirty years of watching the real estate market.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 3:58 PM

If they install bullet-proof glass and throw in a suit of armor, I'm in!

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 4:11 PM

2:11 NO SHIT. was thinking this the whole time. it's a god awful piece of shit on the inside in a horrible smelly and scary location, but because the building is OLD on the OUTSIDE, it's good? W T F? of course my gorgeous condo with central air and landscaping is crap on brownstoner because i have stainless steel appliances no doubt.

brownstoner peeps are sounding crazy.

AND, hey, 2:08 - hilarious. laughed out loud. childish? sure, but, still, hilarious.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 4:39 PM

Too bad such a beautiful building (on the exterior) has such a horrific interior. Those pics are scary. Wait 5 years - it'll be the next 110 Livingston. Some builder will preserve the outside and completely gut-reno the inside.

But it'll still be next to the BQE....

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 4:57 PM

"Wait 5 years - it'll be the next 110 Livingston."

Read what a previous poster said:

"The building is already a co-op, so for it to become a condominium, the current owners/co-op shareholders would have to sell their own building out from underneath themselves. Theoretically possible but I have never heard that scenario in almost thirty years of watching the real estate market."

I'll also chime in on the "mighty unlikely" side.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 6:30 PM

It's about time there's diversity in that neighborhood.

Posted by: guest at January 3, 2008 11:00 PM

Its all chinese? Can you get massage with happy ending? Could be a plus.

Posted by: guest at January 4, 2008 2:34 AM