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November 18, 2008

Co-op of the Day: 1 Pierrepont Street

Yowza! It's a tough time to hit the market with a $6,250,000 price tag, to be sure, but this is about as blue-chip as they come. The four-bedroom apartment has beaucoup prewar details, views of lower Manhattan and one of the best addresses in Brooklyn; it also has a monthly maintenance of $5,072. One thing we can't figure out: Why another four-bedroom in the same building was listed for $3,450,000 last spring (and ended up selling for $3,400,000). Anyone know what explains the huge difference in price?
1 Pierrepont Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Co-op of the Day: 1 Pierrepont Street [Brownstoner]

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WOW...with a true "maid's quarters" off the kitchen. Haven't seen that in a floorplan since I lived in Hong Kong.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 12:45 PM

The difference in price is because the agent is a retard.
And you never go full retard.

Posted by: Xander Crews at November 18, 2008 12:55 PM

Believe it or not 416 Ocean Ave. has similar maid's room/bath setups in its larger apartments. A sign of how elegant that area once was.

Posted by: babs at November 18, 2008 12:56 PM

Greed and exceptionally poor market timing?

Posted by: lalaland at November 18, 2008 1:03 PM

"And you never go full retard" LMAO!! that was the funniest movie i think i have ever seen!

anyway, about the apt - i don't like the fact that all of the bathrooms seemed to be accessed through the bedrooms. so you have actually 4 full but not even a half of the hall somewhere for guests? weird layout to me. i would get rid of the library and have a huge master suite at that end. get rid of the maid quarters which is really tiny and have a guest bathroom and larger kitchen.

Posted by: bkny at November 18, 2008 1:03 PM

I like the rugs. I might be able to afford them.

Posted by: David Lewis at November 18, 2008 1:09 PM

I don't understand this need for giant master bedrooms. Where does that come from? what do you do in a bedroom other than bed related activities? I would so much rather have more living space.

Posted by: gkw at November 18, 2008 1:11 PM

I roughly calculated the apt at close to 3,000 sq. ft.
6.25m / 3000 sq. ft = $2,083 sq. ft. = WTF!!!

I'm sure the views are killer, but when you're sitting on the sofa with your back to the windows, you will never know.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at November 18, 2008 1:11 PM

Toto toilets?

That'll push the sale through...

Posted by: Prodigal_Son at November 18, 2008 1:12 PM

It's the shock-and-awe strategy. Brokers/sellers think that if you price something absurdly high, someone out there will think it *must* be worth it.

Posted by: BKLYN_73 at November 18, 2008 1:13 PM

I'm loving that 40-foot long hallway. You just don't see those kinds of pre-war details anymore.

Posted by: TD at November 18, 2008 1:16 PM

Pied-à-terre allowed: Yes

Whew! I thought this one wasn't going to work for me for a minute.

Posted by: Mr Joist at November 18, 2008 1:16 PM

A very dated floorplan. Lots of wasted space with that old-styl pantry and the oversized laundry. The Master Bedroom, despite what gkw says, is way too small and that's not an ensuite bath od an acceptable size for a $6MM+ property. Unless you'll actually have live-in help, that room is another waste of space. Due to the lack of pics I'd have to say that the bathrooms and kitchen are, at best, "dated."

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 1:18 PM

Hasn't shock and awe gone of out style as we all watched, in shock and awe, as the markets tanked and almost collapsed entirely? The last thing we all need now is more shock and awe. Nice layout but for that price, is the outdoor space not even private? Who on earth is the intended buyer for this with such an unbelievable price tag?

Posted by: Miss Muffett at November 18, 2008 1:21 PM

6 Mil and no root cellar? No thanks.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 1:35 PM

my apartment in harlem had a maid's quarter off the kitchen (with a toilet closet in it)! i guess today it would be the perfect room for a bulimic with not a lot of stuff. which could very well be what is living in that room right now.

-rob

Posted by: PitbullNYC at November 18, 2008 1:42 PM

but people with children have live in help - or they would if they had the space. It is much cheaper to have a live in nanny than a live out - so maid's quarters are very very useful.

Posted by: gkw at November 18, 2008 1:48 PM

hear that loud scratching noise? that's the sound of the broker's giant balls dragging on the floor behind him.

Posted by: z at November 18, 2008 1:51 PM

I don't get the comment about the maid's room. Aren't they always off the kitchen? Every other apartment on the Upper East Side has them - and the older, bigger places on PPW, Eastern Pkwy, etc etc.

This is a far nicer apartment then the other One Pierrepont listing. Views of Manhattan vs views of Pierrepont Playground. Higher floor, better layout.

Still, price seems INSANE. They may have put it artificially insane to move it past the 'insider phase' quickly (units in this building with water views must be made available to current shareholders before the hit the open market -- sometimes this take a while while people ponder). I wouldnt be shocked if it went for 4mm. This building and Two Montague Terrace are the beginning and end of Brooklyn options for a certain set of people.

Posted by: Ringo at November 18, 2008 2:04 PM

What's wrong with the building that the maintenance is soooo high? Or is that to pay for all the union perks that the doormen have???

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 2:12 PM

Never underestimate the value of a great apartment in a premier building. If my recollection serves me correctly, this building is in the same league as buildings on Park Avenue in the 70's. There are only two apartments per floor, so you'll have your privacy. You have killer views of Manhattan. There are not one but TWO wood burning fireplaces. The building is FULLY staffed. Oh and with one subway stop to Wall Street and 30 minutes to Midtown, the apartment is one quarter of the price of a similar apartment on the Upper East Side.

And DIBS, BRG...if you're thoroughly modern apartment dweller, a pantry means that you can actually buy at Costco; the maids' bathroom, can do double duty as a visitors bathroom not to mention that there is a separation between family and other space.

Lest, you think that I'm out of my mind, the selling price should reflect the fact that updates (paint, drapery, etc.) seem to be oh so necessary.

Posted by: BrooklynIsHome at November 18, 2008 2:18 PM

This appears to be a so-called 10-room home, aka 'four and a library'. Pretty special. Was previous sale an unrenovated unit and this is 'done'?

Posted by: chrishavens at November 18, 2008 2:28 PM

It is lovely (decor aside). I'm suprised Mr. B hasn't complained about the parquet in the library though.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 2:33 PM

1 pierrpont is an amazing building. Albeit, this unit is way over priced... The apartments are real hardcore true apartments. Meaning, you get large rooms, enough bathrooms to accomodate all the rooms!, a maids room off a huge kitchen (and I mean huge), formal dining room. views, rooftop garden. Now the catch: not only is the maintenance disgustingly high, you have to put down 50% cash in this building before you are even considered. I know a very well off couple that was rejected from this building because someone else in the building didn't like them....I'm just sayin'...

Posted by: just me at November 18, 2008 2:41 PM

all parquet is not created equal. can't imagine having an issue with this parquet.

Posted by: Ringo at November 18, 2008 2:42 PM

BrooklynIsHome...people that buy a place for $6MM+ don't shop at Cosco and buy 24 packs to save money!!!!!

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 2:42 PM

Yowza. Love the pantry and maid's room and all that stuff. It was built this way for a reason -- to feel like a house in the sky.

But this listing begs a question for me. Over the last couple of years I've done a maybe once-monthly peek at listings for 3BR apartments in Brooklyn Heights. It's my fantasy land review. Generally, you find 2, maybe 3 (excluding all the DUMBO listings). Lately, you find as many as a dozen.

I'm totally guessing, but I'm starting to wonder if we're seeing direct financial market effects. 3BR apartments are family homes. You don't buy and sell 'em like nuts, you live in them, probably for many, many years. Are families cashing out to move away? Is this a canary in a coal mine?

NB: No, I do not think that Brooklyn Heights 3BRs are doomed to sell at 1955 prices. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by: lucille at November 18, 2008 2:44 PM

" i guess today it would be the perfect room for a bulimic with not a lot of stuff."

HA! x55! Thanks man. I have not laughed that hard in quite a while :)

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at November 18, 2008 2:46 PM

ringo - I like parquet, except when it reminds me of my old school assembly hall.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 2:46 PM

my first apartment was off of newkirk avenue in ditmas park in a huge run down building. my bedroom was the maids q2uarters with my own bath... looking across a courtyard from my room, i could see my roomates bedroom. the place had living room, breakfast room, dining room and huge kitchen,

i paid 450, my roomate paid 500... and this was 2003..

Posted by: sender9999 at November 18, 2008 2:56 PM

lucille - I don't think we're in the canary in the coal mine stage - I think the coal mine is already collapsing.

Posted by: gkw at November 18, 2008 3:01 PM

I think the people who need pantries so they can go wild at Costco are not the people who would be in the market for this apartment. Any way we can get all the pantries from all the deluxe residences relocated into the houses and apartments of those of us that could really use the Costco savings? Now that would be a good use of space.

Posted by: slopefarm at November 18, 2008 3:04 PM

Sorry to be technical, but the floor in library is not a parquet. It is plank.

This is common parquet that everybody knows:
http://www.realoakfloors.co.uk/media/1615_Oak_Parquet_Floor_Tiles.jpg
(snagged the 1st picture)

Of course, there are exquisite parquet floors with geometric patterns using different woods.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at November 18, 2008 3:05 PM

LOVE the pantry and the laundry room...how can those two areas ever be too big? But no private outdoor space would be a deal breaker.

That being said, I can't even begin to opine on an apt. in this price range. And how much value does a wine cellar (which I'm assuming is a very fancy way of saying basement storage) add?

Posted by: new2hood at November 18, 2008 3:11 PM

What is a "service core" and why no pictures of the private wine cellar?

Also, I like the wallpaper.

Posted by: Heather at November 18, 2008 3:27 PM

sorry to have to correct you BRG, but it is parquet, to be precise it is herringbone parquet.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 3:34 PM

what about this place which i found when looking for herringbone:
www.
hardwoodfloorandinlays.com/parque_herringbone_pattern.htm

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 3:37 PM

dittoburg...I want to do our Merida house to look like that.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 3:42 PM

They do not shop at Costco but their housekeeper does.

Posted by: BH76 at November 18, 2008 3:42 PM

IT IS NOT PARQUET. It is a herringbone pattern but those are full width 3" strips of flooring.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 3:44 PM

Dave - where did you get the idea that 3" strips means its not parquet? Perhaps thats a U.S. thing.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 3:55 PM

DIBS:

There ARE people who spend this coin for a place to live and go to Costco.

Posted by: BrooklynIsHome at November 18, 2008 3:57 PM

heres another:
http://www.parquetflooring.com/P09-Thurloe.htm

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 3:57 PM

Ditto - we can go back and forth about parquet and planks.
But I will disagree and say:
Herringbone pattern floors use plank boards.

Here are some examples of parquet flooring...again 1st link I could find.

http://www.parquetflooring.com/

Parquet....butter :)

Posted by: bayridgegirl at November 18, 2008 3:59 PM

Okay, just looked up Parquet flooring on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parquetry

DIBS, do we bow down to Ditto now or wait till we're on a herringbone parquet floor.
I've never heard a herringbone floor referred to as parquet....my bad.

Now what was the issue with the parquet floor??

Posted by: bayridgegirl at November 18, 2008 4:04 PM

now if it was a whole floorboard in herringbone pattern, that would be interesting. you'd need a pretty big room though.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 4:06 PM

DIBS is out fixing his verandah which he insists on calling a porch.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 4:07 PM

ditto..here in the U.S. parquet flooring typically refers to small blocks of flooring, usually 6" X 6" that are made up of 6 or so 1" strips. They are laid down like tile even using a mastic. All this as opposed to "real" wood flooring consisting of 3" wide and 3/4" thick strip hardwood...laid in any pattern including herringbone.

Typically, a parquet floor has one life to it and is not thick enough to be resanded. That said, most brownstone floors are of this thickness as well and only have one or two lives.

That's just the US conventional definition.. The UK and Continental Europe do have a different definition.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 4:09 PM

Dave are you sure thats not just the DIBS definition? - the oracle at Wikipedia notes their long-lastingness.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 4:12 PM

Its a deck. A porch has a roof.

And I open the hood of my car to check the oil, not the "bonnet"

Want to have this discussion after dinner over a few "stickies?"

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 4:14 PM

Dave - I have no idea how you find time to go to all your US and world locations, - Meridia too. I must admit to being envious of the amount of freetime you have!

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 4:15 PM

I don't need to know where you've been checking the oil with your dip stick thank you very much.

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 4:16 PM

ditto...are you old enough to know the term "stickies?" they are those sticky after dinner drinks that you have along with a cigar in someplace like the Landsdowne Club.

Know what a "baffle bugger" and a "buggger's delight" are?? LOL

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 4:17 PM

ditto...I thought you and I were going to go in on a place together in Merida.

For those of you who have not seen it, this is what $268k gets you down there...

http://www.mayanliving.com/Listings/001727.html?listing_page=Merida&lang=eng

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2008 4:24 PM

I know you're a bugger!

Posted by: dittoburg at November 18, 2008 4:25 PM

I will leave the two of you alone to discuss herringbones over after dinner drinks :)
Enjoy!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at November 18, 2008 4:26 PM

The asking price for this apartment is outlandish. The maintenance is outlandish. No way. maybe 3.5 million. maybe. Very few have that kind of money to throw away any more.

Posted by: sam at November 18, 2008 4:31 PM

Ooo, I've actually been interested in Merida, in the abstract way that someone who doesn't speak spanish and can't afford a vacation home can be. The tile and high ceilings in those colonial homes are amaaaazing.

Posted by: Heather at November 18, 2008 5:00 PM

I've been to a Merida and there's a Costco there (and a lot of retired Republican gringos)

Posted by: Ringo at November 18, 2008 5:01 PM

(hit post too fast)

... so you can fill up your Mexican pantry and maids room with paper towels

Posted by: Ringo at November 18, 2008 5:03 PM

I think the first flying cockroach would send me screaming back to Brooklyn. That's what happened in New Orleans.

Posted by: Heather at November 18, 2008 5:16 PM

cockroaches? pish posh. merida has tarantulas - giant ones. all over. like in your shower. luckily, I think they're only around 9 months a year.

also scorpians.

Posted by: Ringo at November 18, 2008 5:34 PM

I really like the floorplan...with pantry. Ok, maybe the "service core" could be added to the kitchen, but all the rooms are good size. The poster who mentioned the lack of powder room did make a good point, but it would be easy enough to make the maid's room bath into the bath used as powder room, since it only involves a slight jog through the kitchen, or take out one of the walk-in closets (but why???) to make a direct corridor entrance. Did anyone notice that the maid's room size is only a bit smaller than some of the second bedrooms in the new "luxury" condos????

Posted by: Minmin at November 18, 2008 5:44 PM

The average summer temperature in Merida, Mexico is like 116 degrees. It is a slo-cooker of human flesh. Only the hardy can survive there. It is the hottest place in mexico I believe.

Posted by: sam at November 18, 2008 7:31 PM

GKW: Yeah, you're right. Or maybe it's like they're Indiana Jones racing away from the boulder at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't relish seeing people have to sell their family homes or others lose equity (if you gained and lost paper value, you'll live, trust me), but this is gonna be one nasty "correction." To take BH as an example: If it is indeed filled with lawyers and bankers (though I contend there are plenty of retired professorial types here as well), how much stock is going to start moving? And how much will prices have to "adjust" to find buyers when no one can get credit? Lots of the "rich people" we're talking about just got whooped in the market. And those who are truly rich know not to buy real estate right now. I don't think we'll see the completion of the crash/correction for another two years, but in some ways, it's already astonishing. Banks collapse in September, high value BH homes rushed to sale 6 weeks later. Ugly.

Posted by: lucille at November 18, 2008 7:35 PM

What does 5,000 a month in maintenance get you?

Posted by: tomzda at November 19, 2008 10:00 PM

« Tonight: Crow Hill Reaching for Landmark Status Cheap Today, Cheaper Tomorrow? »

November 18, 2008

Co-op of the Day: 1 Pierrepont Street

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