Forum Archive

Hi fellow brownstoners,
I did an archive search but didn’t find this particular issue somehow…
My husband and I are the happy and overwhelmed owners (as of last week) of a 7 family brownstone that we are considering converting to a 3 family. It is in a landmarked area so add that layer of permits etc. We are in the early stages of exploring next steps with architects, expediters, etc. but thought I’d try to get some “real life” experience stories and advice here. It is a four story 25ft wide brownstone with extension (big!) and in the 1950′s was converted from a one family to a 7. It is NOT an SRO but a legal 7 family with 7 family CofO. It has been vacant/or solely owner occupied for the last 8 years (needs new everything) so can fall out of rent stabilization laws with the right forms etc. We are planning to go the “Substantial Rehabilitation” route to get it permanently out of rent stabilization but advice welcome about this too! The taxes and insurance as a 7 family are so enourmous (about 24K/yr combined -without utilities!)that they almost offset what we would make in the additional rent. So, what we are thinking we would like to do is convert it to a 3 family (upper triplex, 2 garden rentals – back 1 bdrm and front studio). We would love to hear if anyone else has encountered this and converted sucessfully? How? How long? How expensive? All the gory details. We were thinking 3 rather than 4 because we can’t afford the additional cost of sprinklers and other codes/changes that come with a four family – but I don’t know enough about this either. If some think a four family is better I’d love to hear why – basically any pros and cons.
Also, my assumption is that the taxes would go down as a 3 family, but that is just an assumption and you know what they say about assumptions… so any real data/numbers/percentages would be great!
Any other non-snarky advice welcome too. Thanks in advance everyone, your input is truly invaluable.