1850s Cast Iron Stoop Railing mold available

City finance website says it's wood frame with a wood front.

The listing says "federal period" but certainly not in Fort Greene. 1860s sounds more right. Maybe "federal style" or "greek revival."

Posted by: NorthHeights at December 1, 2008 3:09 PM in response to House of the Day: 170 South Oxford Street

The maintenance is a building issue, not a neighborhood issue. The building even has a page on their website devoted to the topic:

http://www.111hicksstreet.com/building/development_finance.php4

Posted by: NorthHeights at December 1, 2008 1:41 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 111 Hicks Railroad Loft

The earliest reference I found to Brooklyn as the "City of Churches" was 1848 in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. See link below. Obviously, references after Brooklyn became a borough in 1898 would be changed to "borough of churches."

http://tinyurl.com/5k64kg

Posted by: NorthHeights at December 1, 2008 1:40 PM in response to Advice on Brooklyn Apartment Living

Is it me, or is using a broker to sell a parking space the dumbest thing ever?

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 21, 2008 2:23 PM in response to Looking to Buy a Parking Spot

"It's a silly place for a jail"

It's next to the courthouse and near a transit hub for lawyers/family to visit the inmates. Seems optimally located to me.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 19, 2008 4:42 PM in response to Saying No to House of D

Yes I did create a new column with the formula, but it was simply sales price divided by square footage, and then averaged. As I said, you have to take the final number ($1,037) with a healthy grain of salt, given the issues with the square footage data and the need to make some reasonable choices on which sales to include/exclude, but it's a start. Brooklyn Heights in particular is interesting to examine through this data, because there are usually only 15-20 townhouse sales per year so it's pretty easy to spot when adjustments to DoF's data need to be made to get closer to an apples-to-apples comparison. On the other hand, the sample size is probably smaller than optimal for stats purposes.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 19, 2008 11:50 AM in response to House of the Day: 318 1st Street

Go to the Department of Finance's "Rolling Sales Update" page (TinyURL included because the link is long):

http://tinyurl.com/2jacwn

They have data going back to 2003, combining sales data reported every time a deed is recorded together with the building info they keep on file for property tax purposes. If you download the excel files, you can easily calculate the PSF price.

I made no claim as to whether those prices are rationale or sustainable - I was simply refuting the claim that "very few" houses in Brooklyn Heights sell over a certain price PSF. The original poster didn't give any time period so I assume he meant now. The last 12 months is the best proxy for "now" that we have.

You could quibble with various parts of this methodology and it helps to follow the market closely to know what adjustments to make (DOF's square footage is not always accurate and is inconsistent as to whether garden floor space is included; sometimes townhouses classified by the city as walk-up rentals should be included because it's clear from subsequent renovation plans filed with DoB that the buyer intends to convert back to 1-/2-family). That said, I think my basic point is sound.

I always find it interesting to compare the historical data to what figures people here toss around as the "going rate" or "market" rates.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 19, 2008 10:03 AM in response to House of the Day: 318 1st Street

"Very few townhouses, even ones directly facing the river in Brooklyn Heights, have sold for $700/sq ft even in pristine, high-end renovated condition. $600/sq. ft at the top of the market, but never $700/sq ft."

According to the city's records, over the last 12 months, the average PSF price for all 1- and 2-family houses in Brooklyn Heights was $1,037. The lowest was $811.

Nice try, though.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 18, 2008 11:06 PM in response to House of the Day: 318 1st Street

I take Lisa's response to mean that the tipster WAS Ken Fisher!

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 18, 2008 3:15 PM in response to LPC Approves Underground Garage at Riverside Apartments

Not that it excuses laziness on the part of a realtor, but the 1910 date comes from the NYC Department of Finance. Of course, that's a whole other topic of how screwed up their dates are...

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 18, 2008 11:29 AM in response to Front Page Forum: 1375 Dean Back on the Market

I think around $300 is pretty typical for the residential areas surrounding downtown brooklyn. (Don't forget the 18% tax on top of that.) There aren't that many garages relative to manhattan and there's significant demand from the downtown workers. I found a 20-year old reference to a condo garage in Park Slope where the common charges were $150/mo. Surely they are higher today.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 18, 2008 10:47 AM in response to What Price Parking?

Well, I'm not knowledgable of the upscale reno world which is why I asked to find out which houses you're talking about. I'd be curious to see these Willow Street houses if you'd ID them (or the architect/designer).

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 12, 2008 1:12 AM in response to House of the Day: 72 Hicks Street

Which houses have been stripped of beautiful and well-preserved interiors? Certainly there have been some renovations that resulted in modern interiors, but like the house profiled in last Sunday's NYT, I think they all had been stripped of original detail long ago.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 11, 2008 5:11 PM in response to House of the Day: 72 Hicks Street

I hope you're joking, DIBS. That's Plymouth Church and its playground.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 11, 2008 3:28 PM in response to House of the Day: 72 Hicks Street

As to Sam's point about identifying the style of this house - my guess is that the exterior, at least, has been altered several times. The early frame houses didn't have such high windows and would have had only 2 stories plus attic, not 3 full stories. And according to Clay Lancaster's "Old Brooklyn Heights", this house was covered in 'composition shingles' in the 1960s.

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 11, 2008 2:35 PM in response to House of the Day: 72 Hicks Street

I've never exactly figured out what constitutes a "country kitchen", but what the heck is a country dining room?

Posted by: NorthHeights at November 6, 2008 1:47 PM in response to House of the Day: 399 Bergen Street

Explanation, please, for the removal of the Garden Place listing.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 31, 2008 3:06 PM in response to Open House Picks

I prefer the BHS listing on Garden Place:

"Forget cute. Forget trendy. This home is for grown-ups who can appreciate the amazing collection of beautiful spaces."

I guess those 30-year old hipsters that Jerry Minsky was talking about need not apply.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 31, 2008 2:01 PM in response to Open House Picks

If it's done by zip code, these results don't make sense. Just as one example, both DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn are in 11201 (same as Brooklyn Heights), not 11217 as indicated. Cobble Hill is split between 11201 and 11231 as discussed above, and would rank prominently if this was actually done by neighborhood and not zip code. Ranking by neighborhood is suspect to begin with, but doing by zip code is even worse.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 31, 2008 11:06 AM in response to Sheepshead Bay: Fifth Most Luxurious Neighborhood

By the way, looking at the pics for 82 Remsen on Corcoran's website - now THAT's a mansion. Much better deal at $10MM than this house.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 29, 2008 1:15 PM in response to Brooklyn Heights Mansion Fetches Record-Breaking Price

Even if he split the fee with bhs and it was less than 6%, he still probably pulled down a quarter mill from this sale. Sweet indeed.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 29, 2008 12:51 PM in response to Brooklyn Heights Mansion Fetches Record-Breaking Price

We heard that 8:50 thunderclap loud and clear in Brooklyn Heights

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 28, 2008 12:38 PM in response to Explosion at 8:50am?

funny, that looks just like the guy in the supposed sighting of The What in the Bear Stearns lobby

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 24, 2008 12:40 PM in response to The What - Revealed!

Most of the houses I've seen there have recessed lighting. Yech. I'll pass.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 24, 2008 9:27 AM in response to real estate in the philippines

Hey DIBS,
Nice shout-out on 155 Warren Street. If it's "under contract" at a last listed price of $5.9M, wonder what it will close at.
Remember (almost one year ago today) when it was HOTD at $8.75M? That's a healthy chop. Still, probably the most expensive house in CH.

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/10/house_of_the_da_395.php

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 21, 2008 10:34 PM in response to House of the Day: 22 Remsen Street

That's a nice old wood house covered in stucco. Would make an interesting renovation project.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 15, 2008 3:42 PM in response to Foreclosures of the Week

Not sure what you mean for the prices - they're all there. $0 means it was a transaction where cash didn't change hands (duh) - family transfer, corporate reorganization, etc. The city/state require the price to be provided so they can collect recording/transfer/mortgage taxes.

As for size, the data comes from the Dep't of Finances property tax records. Since they tax buildings as a whole, they don't maintain size info for individual units. So it's useful for houses or commercial transactions, not useful for condo/co-op analysis. You should try a connection to one of the appraisal firms like Miller Samuel who maintain this info privately (proprietary, of course).

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 15, 2008 11:45 AM in response to Help with Acris

"at the end of the day, you're on a busy section of Hicks with a dark backyard (135 Willow is the building behind this property)."

Is there a less busy section of Hicks?

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 14, 2008 4:00 PM in response to House of the Day: 156 Hicks Street

A google search reveals this has been kicking around for more than 3 years. Rejected by CB6 in 2005, and LPC declined to take action at hearings in 2006 and 2008. Now it has been elevated to "public meeting" status for extended discussion. The owner is nothing if not persistent.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 14, 2008 11:24 AM in response to A Sexy Behind for 139 Lincoln Place?

Brooklyn Heights has great trick ot treating throughout, but especially concentrated on Garden Place (which is blocked off for the night) and the surrounding streets. "Mobbed" is an understatement - you can barely get up to some of the stoops. Many of the stores on Montague Street also hand out candy.

Reading the above, it looks like there are many terrific scenes across the borough - eat it, Manhattan!

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 10, 2008 6:21 PM in response to what is halloween like in brownstone brooklyn?!

So is the "private" garden shared by the building? Both listings can't be right. I guess the broker is exaggerating more than the square footage. By the way, the building footprint is only 20x40, so even before excluding the common hallway stair, it only starts at 800 sf per floor, and goes down from there when you subtract the hall - 750 sf sounds about right.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 8, 2008 9:46 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 63 Cranberry Street, Parlor Floor

Agree with Sam. If they want to make traffic flow a priority, then take the covered roadway concept to its logical conclusion - do a tunnel, and leave the plaza alone.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 8, 2008 9:51 AM in response to The French Win Grand Army Plaza People's Prize

"Originally the idea was to get 4 or 5 of them in a row and demolish them; then put up a condo using the unused FAR (and possibly some sort of curb cut). They got the demo permits to do it...."

What are you talking about? This is a landmark district. You can even see the sign with the district outlines in the picture!

The rest of your post sounds right.

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 7, 2008 9:42 PM in response to Heights Brownstone Portfolio Changes Hands

The HB website says the agent is both broker and owner

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 2, 2008 2:18 PM in response to House of the Day: 29 Prospect Place

Let's party like it's...2006!

Posted by: NorthHeights at October 2, 2008 1:21 PM in response to House of the Day: 29 Prospect Place

I've always wondered whether the houses at the corner of President and Clinton have a picture of Bill up on the wall

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 24, 2008 4:07 PM in response to House of the Day: 169 Clinton Street

Once again, I ask: Brownstoner, do you even read the listings before you post an item? This is chopped up into 5 floor-throughs which are currently leased out, we have no pictures of the leased floors and no floorplan. For what it is, it's still priced at the top of the market, given what a renovation would cost to bring it back to a single/2-family, or what the rent roll would bring. It's not an apple-to-apple comparison with the Tuesday HOTD (although agreed that was overpriced).

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 24, 2008 1:31 PM in response to House of the Day: 169 Clinton Street

They are off their rockers. Given that it's only medium-sized and the reality of today's market, they'd have a less than 50% chance of getting that price even on the best blocks in Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope. No way on Union Street.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 23, 2008 6:28 PM in response to House of the Day: 304 Union Street

They're at least $1 million too high in this market. No Brooklyn Heights house has cracked the low 4s in the past 2 years (and those were the peak bubble years) except for a few super primo locations/houses. This is nice but it's not quite there.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 17, 2008 2:15 PM in response to House of the Day: 47 Sidney Place

"The BOE reallly needs to address the problem at PS 8 and first, it needs to address the depth of denial of the parents. Everyone I have spoken with is blaming the chancellor and the administration for an unfair evaluation of their 'excellent' school."

But what is the so-called 'problem' at PS 8? This ranking doesn't mean that the school is doing a bad job at teaching, just that the school didn't progress as much as other schools did last year on the test results. Rewarding "progress" in and of itself (as does the DOE's ranking) doesn't say anything about what levels you started and ended up at. Progress is nice but I'm more interested in the actual level of results (to the extent standarized testing can even do that). On that count, PS 8 was penalized because the DOE shifted its peer group this year. It performed above the city average in math and English (not that it's something to brag about, but hey, it's better than an 'F') but it still ended up with a D in that area because of its ranking within the peer group. The report card lists the peer group but it's meaningless because we don't know how or why those schools ended up on the list, or why DOE decided to change the group this year.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 17, 2008 12:27 PM in response to Schools Report Cards Released

Are you sure that's Venice? Looks like a Toll Bros. rendering of New Gowanus.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 16, 2008 3:04 PM in response to FOR SALE

I agree with Sam. Even a flame war about which neighborhood has better schools has got to be better than a bunch of recycled Zagat's restaurant reviews (and more on topic for this blog).

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 16, 2008 3:03 PM in response to House of the Day: 405 Clinton Avenue

I don't see why your comment is specific to wood frames. Either $500K is a ridiculous amount to spend on any interior renovation or it isn't, but I don't see why the price really changes depending on the construction type - it's all just walls inside.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 11, 2008 5:18 PM in response to House of the Day: 208 Washington Avenue

Both a wreck and severely chopped up. Given the renovation costs, $999K might be optimistic. And if you're not going to do a complete renovation, why bother with this house?

Brownstoner, don't you do even 1 second of research on these houses before posting? The 1600 sf is based on only 2 floors, according to the city records. Obviously there's more.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 11, 2008 1:41 PM in response to House of the Day: 208 Washington Avenue

Chase is correct because if you refinance with the existing bank, they can do a note modification where they swap out just the promissory note and replace it with another note with the new rate, but they don't touch the mortgage itself, which saves you admin and recording fees.

HOWEVER, in this climate I'm surprised that Chase or the other big boys would still be willing to do that, since I thought they were trying to dial down their exposure to loans on their books. Maybe Chase is in a better position than the others.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 10, 2008 3:05 PM in response to Will Jumbo Rates go down further?

Just curious - why are you removing them? Aren't they original to the building?

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 10, 2008 10:06 AM in response to Late Victorian/Craftsman Mantels

Is it too much to ask for Brownstoner to include intra-site links to featured properties? 13 Cranberry Street has been featured not once but TWICE as House-of-the-Day in the past 8 months. The asking price is (was?) an interesting counterpoint to the rental price.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 9, 2008 4:46 PM in response to Now That's Luxury Real Estate

Don't know anything about Perrone's work, but they have a nice shot of Pierrepont Street under a foot of snow on the "snow removal" page of their website. ;-)

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 9, 2008 4:30 PM in response to Facade repair

Kitchen looks small on the floorplan, and presumably not great, because otherwise they'd show it instead of that weird bathroom shot.

The price seems high for only 1 bathroom. They should be hoping for a pied-a-terre buyer who is indifferent to the high maintenance, small kitchen and lack of bathroom space but is attracted to the terrace.

I say they get $849K in cash.

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 9, 2008 2:34 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 60 Pierrepont, #3

Following up on tanner's question, where do you look in the city records to see if a curb cut is legal?

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 2, 2008 9:54 PM in response to The Luxury of the Garage

According to Brooklyn Heights Blog, there have been a lot of raccoon sightings in the neighborhood recently.

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/3289

Posted by: NorthHeights at September 2, 2008 11:05 AM in response to Koi Pond Mystery

With all of the recent posts dedicated to restaurant reviews, social theory, etc., it appears that the active discussion of renovation and market activity in the brownstone neighborhoods has ebbed. (Or maybe it's just August in NY.) In any event, I'd love to see a return to the "Six Months Later" feature and other analysis of open houses and their aftermath.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 29, 2008 1:38 PM in response to Open House Picks Open Thread

I think the open container and trespassing issues are separate. As Z and others point out, the open container law is governed by the definition of "public place." As SMeyer says, trespass depends on whether it's open or closed property. So, as is often the case, you could have a fenced stoop that sits on the public sidewalk. You own the stoop and it's fenced, so someone sitting on the stoop without permission would be trespassing. But because it sits on the public sidewalk, it would also be considered public space and drinking on it would be a violation of the open container law.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 29, 2008 10:41 AM in response to Is Your Stoop Private Property?

Re: Orange Street

Considering that the house a couple of doors down, with about the same amount of space, a much nicer layout and facade but possibly more mechnical work required, just closed for a bit south of $2.8 million, hard to see why this won't need to come down by another $0.5 million to be taken seriously. Parking isn't worth $700K, even in Brooklyn.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 22, 2008 3:16 PM in response to Open House Picks

Looks like 19 Cranberry Street sold for $4 million, not $3.5

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 19, 2008 10:14 PM in response to House of the Day: 105 Willow Street

The Brooklyn Collection at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 19, 2008 10:38 AM in response to Sanborn Maps

Brookyln Public Library

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 19, 2008 10:37 AM in response to Sanborn Maps

The tax records say this house is supposed to have a 17.83x55 footprint over 5 floors. The Orange Street house is a 20x30 footprint over 4 floors. This one may only be 2 bays wide instead of 3, but it's much deeper.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 18, 2008 5:26 PM in response to House of the Day: 105 Willow Street

Sam,
This house is twice as big as the Orange Street house. So that's not a useful comparison. And several houses in Brooklyn Heights sold this year at prices near or above the asking price on this house, not in the $2.7 - $3.5 million range as you say. Finally, where do you see that 19 Cranberry Street sold for $3.5 million? The last listing that I see was at $3.95 million.

I'm not trying to justify the price on this house, just clearing up some data points. I happen to find this listing amusing - for example, trying to sell it to a college looking for dorm space. What's the size of that market - 2, maybe 3 institutions?

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 18, 2008 3:00 PM in response to House of the Day: 105 Willow Street

Tinarina - Hardiplank on the front? or just the sides/back?

What's the size of this house? The city says it's a 22x25 footprint with over 3000sf, which doesn't make sense.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 14, 2008 5:14 PM in response to House of the Day: 132 Cambridge Place

To (sort of) answer my own question: I poked around some online sources, and while I never figured out how this house's sale price compared to similar houses, I did discover that all the house sales that closed this year in Brooklyn Heights sold at a 10-15% discount to the original asking price (except for one which sold at ask). This surprised me - the percentage number might not be significant (as someone else mentioned above), but the fact that all of the houses are going under ask could be - I assume is a change from prior years.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 13, 2008 5:53 PM in response to 30 Orange Street Sells for $2,775,000

I agree that $600,000 would be an astronomical amount to pay for renovating this house. I'd love to be your contractor/architect if that's what you're planning to do. Not sure why you'd "gut" the house just to update systems, kitchens and bathrooms. I'd save that kind of work only for a house that had been carved up/altered.

Also, some people say the price is low for the neighborhood, others say too high given the size/condition - does anyone actually have a basis to back up either of these assertions? In absolute dollars it seems lower than what I've seen reported.

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 13, 2008 1:05 PM in response to 30 Orange Street Sells for $2,775,000

According to the updated Landmarks calendar:

laid over - facade alteration at 55 Middagh
no action - rooftop addition at 18 Grace Court Alley
approved - new dormer at 24 Willow Street
approved with modifications - rear yard addition at 36 Grace Court
approved - storefront infill at 32 Hicks Street

What's the difference between "laid over" and "no action"?

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 7, 2008 6:22 PM in response to Wave of Brooklyn Heights Modifications Coming LPC's Way

Anyone attend the meeting? Is it jackhammers and hardhats for Brooklyn Heights or back to the drawing board?

Posted by: NorthHeights at August 5, 2008 1:52 PM in response to Wave of Brooklyn Heights Modifications Coming LPC's Way

Sorry, make that Brooklyn EAGLE.

Posted by: NorthHeights at July 29, 2008 3:05 PM in response to Korean-Style Yogurt Pays Big Bucks for Court Street

Brooklyn Paper now reports that Oven, Busy Chef (both locations) and Blue Pig closed today, permanently.

Posted by: NorthHeights at July 29, 2008 3:03 PM in response to Korean-Style Yogurt Pays Big Bucks for Court Street

Agreed re: BFAG's rant. Not sure why OP is being treated as if he's the heel. I'd think it's common courtesy for the owner to do the first reaching out - like "Howdy neighbor, I'm about to inconvenience you for 6+ months, so forgive me in advance and pardon our dust."

Posted by: NorthHeights at July 28, 2008 5:29 PM in response to work being done next door

"Also I am no fan of the the re-bricked up facade on Cranberry. I don't think it's proper to call that building a brownstone now."

Who said it's been re-bricked? That's the original facade. Of course it's not proper to call it a brownstone - it never was. It's a federal style brick house, built before brownstone came into favor.

Posted by: NorthHeights at July 23, 2008 3:24 PM in response to Houses of the Day: Head-to-Head in The Heights

An interesting sidenote to the three Heights sales is that they represent 75% of the houses sold in the neighborhood during the period. The number of houses sold in 2007 was down from the prior five-year average and it looks like the downward trend is going to be even more significant in 2008.

Posted by: NorthHeights at July 22, 2008 2:18 PM in response to The Biggest Sales of '08, So Far