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October 14, 2008

Condo of the Day: 255 Eastern Parkway

As the picture on the jump shows, 255 Eastern Parkway (aka the Woodrow Wilson) started out life as a grand building. After falling on hard times (like much of the area) in the latter decades of the 20th century (see comments), the building was converted to condos in 2003, with some units selling for under $150 a foot at the get-go. One of the larger apartments in the building is now back on the market, a 1,437-square-foot four-bedroom place asking $835,000. (Our best guess is that it's apartment E16, which traded for $527,360 back in 2006.) It's obviously a charming and spacious prewar pad, but we'd be surprised if this price were achieved in the current market.
255 Eastern Parkway [FSBO/NYT] GMAP P*Shark

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That's way too much for this location in this market, I think.

Posted by: Fast Freddy at October 14, 2008 1:03 PM

I think you're right about the apartment. Corcoran has another two in the building, priced likewise. It's a great deal of space, but the building is only about 40% occupied and prices should reflect that as well as the fact that it is really in Crown Heights, not Prospect Heights. I guess "Edward" and Corcoran think the bail out will allow them to continue asking 2006 prices?!?

Posted by: househunt at October 14, 2008 1:04 PM

can anyone explain what a "Jack & Jill" bedroom is as explained in the listing? (I can hear the xxx jokes coming already)

also, a while back a coop-of-the-day on eastern pkwy that was listed here, with huge private roofdeck, is back on mkt. and not moving (even after cuts):

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/345802-coop-115-eastern-parkway-prospect-heights-brooklyn

Posted by: goldie at October 14, 2008 1:13 PM

'Jack and Jill' Bedrooms???
Am I the only one thinking of the adult version of the nursery rhyme.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 14, 2008 1:15 PM

A jack and jill bedroom is usually two rooms which share a bathroom, if I'm not mistaken.

Posted by: 11217 at October 14, 2008 1:16 PM

way too much? i think itsmaybe overpriced by 10-15%(standard). The listing doesnt give us many pictures but 1400+ sq. ft is a decent amount of space to work with. Its also right next to the subway, museum, and park - so not exactly a terrible location. If much smaller 2BR condos in nearby prospect heights are selling for between 550-650k, i dont see why this place wouldnt command 700k (of course im assuming the buildings elevator/services/financials, etc are stable)

Posted by: bktycoon at October 14, 2008 1:16 PM

Jack and Jill bedrooms are like the ones they had on The Brady Bunch. Bathroom in the middle.

Posted by: TownhouseLady at October 14, 2008 1:21 PM

Thanks THL...now I'm thinking of the adult version of the Brady Bunch!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 14, 2008 1:26 PM

thanks thl & 11217. odd that they make it sound like a selling point when (to me) its the opposite. broker speak should be "imagine the hilarious surprises in store when you forget to lock the other door!"

Posted by: goldie at October 14, 2008 1:28 PM

BRG, I can only imagine your thoughts if it was described as a Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross bedroom! Does this also have a Tinkle Tinkle Little Star bathroom?

Posted by: Biff Champion at October 14, 2008 1:29 PM

Kinda like those creepy adjoining hotel rooms. Even though you've locked your door your still a little ill at ease right?

Posted by: TownhouseLady at October 14, 2008 1:31 PM

THL, ill at ease, indeed. Especially when the guest in the adjoining hotel room passes through in the middle of your night to use your bathroom.

Posted by: Biff Champion at October 14, 2008 1:38 PM

I like that location a lot. Being near the express train at Franklin Ave is a definite plus, on top of proximity to the park, botanic garden, library, and museum. It doesn't say what the common charges are, and I'd want to know about the building's financials. But assuming that checks out, this is one of the more appealing apartments I've seen here.

Posted by: Flatbushwhacker at October 14, 2008 1:43 PM

So according to househunt the building is only about 40% occupied—meaning owner-occupied, correct? Yup, I'd look long and hard at the financials as well. Not sure how much I dig living on Eastern Parkway, with the constant 80+ decibels of traffic going 15-18 hours/day; I do like that it's one block from Franklin Park.

However, for 835K I'd also take a look at the brand-new Hello! buildings (one less BR at that price) or 515 Fifth Ave.

Posted by: Fjorder at October 14, 2008 1:51 PM

My mind is in the gutter today, cause all the above poster names are sounding X rated to me.

Nice Apt, though.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 14, 2008 1:52 PM

Nice apartment, but the price needs a 25% chop in this market.
I live on -- and love!!-- Eastern Parkway but I think there is a big difference once you get across Washington Ave.
There should be a 15% discount between prime parkway addresses and this building.

Posted by: ontheparkway at October 14, 2008 2:30 PM

Offer $527,359.99.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at October 14, 2008 2:54 PM

Jack and Jill bedrooms are good for the kids. That's the thinking. They get their own bathroom and it's not shared with MBR or guests.

Posted by: Ringo at October 14, 2008 4:26 PM

I've been inside this apartment.

The building is beautiful, and typical of many of the large buildings on Eastern Parkway -- doorman (PT?), beautiful marble entry-way, good upkeep, nice elevators.

The apartment is great too. It has been kept up well, though the renovations are not new. There are windows on three sides of the building. The Jack and Jill bedrooms are a really nice setup if you have two children -- they can share a separate bathroom.

Great location, right between the Franklin and Eastern Parkway subway lines, so easy access to the 2/3, 4/5. Nice layout. High up, above the treeline of Eastern Parkway so you don't have much traffic noise.

I actually think this part of Eastern Parkway is better than the "prime" Eastern Parkway where Turner Towers is. The reason? The "prime" part of Eastern Parkway is uglier, has fewer trees, is louder, and more expensive. This part is prettier, though you have a longer treck to restaurants.

Anywho, $845 seems high, since if you went a block in from E. Parkway, say to Lincoln or even further, you could probably buy a building for that much. But I did meet the owner (who is also a broker). And he said he was flexible on price.

FYI: There are a few other units for sale in this building.

Posted by: theandrewlee at October 14, 2008 4:43 PM

This is a complicated one, franchement. First off: I've lived very near here, and I love certain things about Crown Heights--it's quirky, intriguing, and has weird gems, like great caribbean restaurants and groceries that serve lots of rare fruits and veggies. Crown Heights has a strong middle-class backbone, some cool gentrifiers, and a scattering of hipster kids. It also has gangs, shootings, crackheads, and what I call "crackhead o'clock," which is roughly any evening after nine p.m., when spooky starved-looking people haunt the streets around Franklin Avenue and Lincoln Place. Is anything on this part of Eastern Parkway really worth this much? I'd say a resounding no. You're really living still in what is a charming mostly ghetto, and such prices only harm the long term inhabitants, really, who will end up being priced out of their own 'hood. Also, although I guess The What has been banned (weirdly, nobody seemed to notice or comment on the fact that NY Magazine wrote about The What?), there's just no way that these prices aren't going to do a major plunge. Why buy anytime in the near future? Just seems crazy.

Posted by: folledontjesuis at October 14, 2008 7:46 PM

Hard to read that floorplan, but it looks like there's a lot of bedroom space and comparatively little living space. Don't mind a galley kitchen in a 1 or 2 br but in this place it just looks stingy. I'd open up that wall to the "4th" bedroom and do up the kitchen right.

Price seems high, but I think if you could get it for 750 you'd be OK. Would definitely check the financials; I'm honestly not sure of the downside of a 40% o/o building...imagine there are a lot of rent-controlled oldsters there.

Posted by: Bolder at October 14, 2008 9:35 PM

folledontjesuis: The What is around.

He just posted yesterday ... and got quite a bit of commentary.

http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2008/10/the_last_hurrah.php

As to Crown Heights, it is a massive area we are talking about. If you are talking about Kingston Ave, yes, there are a lot of drug dealers. If you are talking about Lincoln, yes there are pockets of sketchiness. But if you are talking about Franklin and Eastern Parkway, things are changing for the better. And this location is great... I live very close to it.

I was talking recently to an old black couple who have been in Crown Heights for nearly all their lives. They gave me some perspective. They said they remembered when the neighborhood was 90% Jewish (non-Hasidic), and Nostrand was full of high end shopping. They remember when Ebbets Field was the premier sports location in Brooklyn, not just the faded name on the front of a housing complex. I think Crown Heights is more than just a "charming mostly Ghetto".

Yes, this place is overpriced.

Yes, Brooklyn Real Estate is in for a nosedive.

But Crown Heights is and will be a good place to live. And I like Eastern Parkway.

Posted by: theandrewlee at October 14, 2008 10:55 PM

Hmmm, well--I lived on a block right between Franklin and Lincoln Place last year. There were several murders in a five block radius, many of them in broad daylight, much of it either un-reported by any media. Although I am not white, I was called "whitey," and not in a friendly way, and I couldn't go more than a few steps without being greeted by much of what I refer to fondly but with a certain, well, je ne sais quoi as "Big Jamaican Dick." All jokes aside though, there are lots of shootings around Franklin. On Franklin. It's a Bloods-Crips dispute area, something about which the Brownstoners may be ignorant, but I am pretty well informed. Talking to younger neighbors who are not giving you the gentrifier brush-off changes things. Crown Heights, I believe in, long term. More than 500K for that apartment, though, is silly. Let's not forget the salary/cost ratio. In fact, given what salaries will become in the wake of this mess: 250K makes a lot more sense.

Posted by: folledontjesuis at October 15, 2008 9:00 AM

Aren't Franklin Avenue and Lincoln Place intersecting streets?

Anyway, I once read that all of Prospect Heights is Crips territory, all the way up to the spanking new Richard Meier's Building on Grand Army Plaza. Who knew?

I only moved to Eastern Parkway recently to be closer to family. There are shootings in Crown Heights, which are well reported. I rarely hear of non-gang members involved though. Except, in particular and very sadly, a year ago or so a mother of two on Eastern Parkway was hit by a stray bullet. But that was a long way away from the Franklin stop.

Either way I'm still a renter, so let's get that doom and gloom to depress housing prices, cause I'm ready to buy a home (at the right price). And I like Crown Heights.

Posted by: theandrewlee at October 15, 2008 10:24 AM

My address had Lincoln and St. John's on either side, and Franklin a block over. I'm not a spatial whiz, but that's where I lived, one block from Eastern Parkway. Both the Bloods and the Crips have shootouts. Having witnessed some unreported shootings (and written about it on Brooklynian), I can say that all is not calm there. Murders were up dramatically in the last few years. I also spoke at great length with various police officers, some white, some otherwise--and they all spoke very disparagingly of the crime level of that area of CH. That said, beautiful architecture, and a strong community. The prices ought to go down, though, so the middle class can still be there. They're at least doubly inflated. Salaries haven't doubled since 2000--why should real estate prices? Oh, yeah. That's right. So the entire global economy can crash. Makes sense.

Posted by: folledontjesuis at October 15, 2008 11:07 AM

« New Development Coming to Bushwick House of the Day: 156 Hicks Street »

October 14, 2008

Condo of the Day: 255 Eastern Parkway

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