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November 3, 2009

House of the Day: 28 Middagh Street

28-Middagh-Street-1109.jpg
42 Middagh Street is charming as all heck from the outside, and the modern renovation that was recently performed on it looks quite tastefully done as well. Still, the asking price of the Brooklyn Heights house seems pretty pricey at $4,200,000, especially when you consider the current owners paid only $1,280,000 back in 2004. We're sure they didn't scrimp on the makeover but we also doubt they dropped three million bucks on it. Thoughts?
28 Middagh Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark





Posted by Brownstoner at 1:11 PM | Comments (32)
Categories: Brooklyn Heights, HOTD

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Comments

What a butchered facade.

Posted by: DitmasSnark at November 3, 2009 1:16 PM

What is wrong with stairs having hand rails. Is it against the modern code to be able to hold on as you climb/decsend?

Posted by: DeLepp at November 3, 2009 1:17 PM

Oh DeLepp, would you rather live safely or die true to your design ideals?

Posted by: DitmasSnark at November 3, 2009 1:18 PM

I don't like stairs with no hand rails! What's up with that? I'd feel nervous in this person's home.

Posted by: tiptoe at November 3, 2009 1:18 PM

here's my dumb question for the day:
Why was this house sold for ONLY 1.28mil in 2004?
I would think the houses down there in 2004 would have been able to fetch 2 million, no?

Posted by: gemini10 at November 3, 2009 1:22 PM

ds, I guess it's like all the architects and their funny looking specs.

One hand holding rail, other holding drink.

Posted by: DeLepp at November 3, 2009 1:22 PM

I doubt they put 3mm into it, but I can tell you it was a dump when they bought it. Uninhabitable. They worked on it for maybe a full year. Maybe longer. And the facade was so so so much worse.

It was on the house tour a couple of years back. Not my style and I think the price is high, but they previous sale price wasn't a steal. It had been for sale for a long time and nobody wanted to deal with it.

Posted by: Ringo at November 3, 2009 1:22 PM

Ringo - thanks for answering my question

I think they did a nice job with many of the renovations, but 100% my style- but very nice!

Posted by: gemini10 at November 3, 2009 1:24 PM

This house is actually set up as a two family--there's a kitchen in the third floor. Why would anyone do this at this price range?

Posted by: tinarina at November 3, 2009 1:27 PM

No problem gemini. I shouldn't have said nobody wanted to deal with it, because *i* wanted to deal with it, but my partner in crime did not. But oh, a garage!

Posted by: Ringo at November 3, 2009 1:28 PM

I'm surprised that no one has taken into consideration that there is a garage spot AND a backyard in Brooklyn Heights, no less.

Posted by: BrooklynIsHome at November 3, 2009 1:29 PM

As Ringo points out, it was a wreck.

It had been occupied by the same family for decades when they sold it in 2004. The old lady still had her long-dead husband's hats on the hat rack in the front hall.

Posted by: buttermilk channel at November 3, 2009 1:31 PM

OMG not those kinds of chairs!!!! am i the only person who whenever they sit in those weirdly shaped chairs they fall!?

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at November 3, 2009 1:32 PM

Price aside, I do like the renovation. one of the more successful that I have seen in terms of reconciling the historic with the modern.

Posted by: wasder at November 3, 2009 1:33 PM

http://tinyurl.com/yznacc8

litigator dreams

Posted by: DeLepp at November 3, 2009 1:39 PM

Lotta money. Lotta tile. You don't need railings, you just gently touch the wall as you descend, and every six months wash the wall. Seriously, wonder how that passed inspection.

Posted by: denton at November 3, 2009 1:40 PM

Weird layout, very heavy on dining rooms, not so much on private space. It looks expensive and dangerous/uninviting. I could see this house as a set for the next reality TV installment.
I saw the metal chairs on tiled floor and cringed.

Posted by: Maly at November 3, 2009 1:41 PM

If you study the floorplan you will note that it is a two-family with separate entrances. The owner's duplex is entered from a side door up a flight of stairs on the side of the building. There is a little portico there and it is pretty nice. The renovation easily cost a million dollars.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 3, 2009 1:49 PM

ML, you are the Brooklyn Heights expert. What is the going rate $/sf for a renovated house in BH? This house looks like 3600 sf including the garage, it seems insanely expensive to have a rather modest duplex with a parking spot.
Funnily enough, this house is pretty much the same size as that little frame on Adelphi. So you CAN spend a million bucks and a year on a house that small after all?

Posted by: Maly at November 3, 2009 2:00 PM

ha ha ha maly. i remember that thread well and thought of the same thing. guess renos are more expensive in bh.

Posted by: antidope at November 3, 2009 2:12 PM

So not my style- it looks like any box condo iside now. Uninhabitable aside- there is nothing of any period charm left. Sad.

Posted by: bxgrl at November 3, 2009 2:16 PM

This house is pretty big. It is on a wide lot and is four full stories. I don't measure residential value by square footage. That doesn't work in historic districts. It only works in cookie-cutter subdivisions. 4.2 million seems like way too much for this house. I agree. But if someone loves the modernist aesthetic inside the quaint exterior one stop away from the financial district, then it may be worth it to them.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 3, 2009 2:21 PM

$2.8m.

Posted by: Brokedeveloper at November 3, 2009 2:27 PM

That garage door sure is "charming as all heck."

Posted by: DitmasSnark at November 3, 2009 2:42 PM

If you lived in Brooklyn Heights you would grow to love that garage door if it were yours.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 3, 2009 2:53 PM

3.8 million

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 3, 2009 2:57 PM

Wow, why don't I just go into the Real Estate biz because that's where it's at.

I feel sorry for the sucker who buys this anywhere over $2million.
Greed is good.

Posted by: paul9870 at November 3, 2009 3:22 PM

So this is basically a 1 bedroom apartment with Garage and a 2 bed duplex.

The owner needs to decide if the value of $2.1m for each makes sense?

If the top duplex was to take the Garage for themselves then you're left with a large one bed apartment to rent out and a tenant who's going to be sleeping above your car entering and exiting the garage.

Either way the value seems high.

Posted by: 99luftballons at November 3, 2009 3:41 PM

3.8m will basically buy you a 2br duplex with a 1br rental. Granted, I'd kill for a garage, but this house would fare better had it been renovated as a one-family. The roar of the BQE on Middagh is a further downside.

Posted by: buttermilk channel at November 3, 2009 3:48 PM

> If you lived in Brooklyn Heights you would grow to love
> that garage door if it were yours.

Why's that? Is there something in the soil that kills your aesthetic sense?

Posted by: DitmasSnark at November 3, 2009 3:51 PM

Brownie -- how can you say this seems high? People will pay what they want. The market will decide. You shouldn't make such rash judgements. This property will *speak* to someone and, of course, there's the privilege of living in the best city on earth... you can't discount that. In fact, that's worth the $3,000,000 premium all by itself.

Posted by: tybur6 at November 3, 2009 9:27 PM

Once again, another over priced Brown Harris Stevens listing. What is it with this firm?
Do they teach them in pricing 101 training to price HIGH over price properties?
This should sell for no more than $3million!!!
Yes, it is B Heights on a fab block but no way has the appreciation value reach > $4,2million.

Posted by: tjj at November 4, 2009 9:37 PM

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