Architecture 101: Public School That Went Private
How beautiful and majestic is the former P.S. 9 on Sterling Place in Prospect Heights? V-E-R-Y . The Renaissance Revival structure stopped us in our tracks as we strolled by on Vanderbilt the other day. Built in 1887, the building had fallen into severe disrepair by 1989, the year that, gasp!, Forest City Ratner struck…
How beautiful and majestic is the former P.S. 9 on Sterling Place in Prospect Heights? V-E-R-Y . The Renaissance Revival structure stopped us in our tracks as we strolled by on Vanderbilt the other day. Built in 1887, the building had fallen into severe disrepair by 1989, the year that, gasp!, Forest City Ratner struck a deal with the city to convert it into co-op apartments. As part of the conversion, the facade, which is a mix of brownstone, sandstone, terra-cotta and brick, was meticulously restored under the watch of LPC. Nine of the 22 apartments were taken by artists who had been displaced by the Metrotech project. Guess how much the 3,150-square-foot loft cost back in ’89? $500,000. Yowza.
From Classes to Co-ops [NY Times] GMAP
thats my favorite building in all of brooklyn. its so lovely!
I’d have to agree — that was a lot of money for a co-op anywhere, but especially Prospect Heights, back then. This was still a pretty sketchy area at the time. Obviously that price was inflated to cover the costs of resettling those 9 artists, who, presumably, paid very little or were renters. Wonder who bought it?
And who ever said that BR didn’t spend money to get people out of their homes — look at how much he paid people in Dan’s bulding to go, and I know for a fact he also offered some displaced artists renting in Dean St and in the Spalding building a year’s rent, plus broker’s fee, anywhere they wanted to go. It’s just when people don’t respond to his offers that he resorts to dirty pool, like the threat of eminent domain.
We had an “accepted offer” on that very apartment for just under asking until we were mysteriously beaten out by an earlier offer that resurfaced for what my broker said was considerably more. (So unethical… but that’s another thread.)
I’d say that the apartments in that building have appreciated pretty well.
There was just a 3br there for sale, but it looks like it just sold.
http://brownharrisstevens.com/detail.aspx?id=472084
Restoration of a classic building and housing for artists. Is this an example of the broken promises that AY opponents love to say is typical of Bruce Ratner?
Anyone know how much apartments there would go for now? Any on the market recently?
Speaking as someone who first bought an apt in NYC in 1988, I can assure you that not only was $500k a HUGE amount to spend for that location in 1989(regardless of the size of the space) but the owner probably also enjoyed negative equity well into the mid 90s as a result.
Yeah, let’s put some perspective on this thread. I missed out on a Bstone down the block that had mucho detail that sold for $350K in May 1995. But to not be outdone, we bought a muy fabuloso place in Oct of that year for $365K just further down the block. 19×131 lot, 19×45 bldg, 4 stories, no board, backyard, rental income to offset that grande mortgage at the time….trust me that coop has not appreciated nearly as much as the house has. To each his/her own, but I’ll take my own four walls over share certificates anyday….
and it is a coop where there are rules rules and more rules! a house is much better no matter what anyone says. i lived in a coop and would NEVER do it again. it is a dorm for older people.