70 lefferts
After its surprise eleventh-hour landmarking last month, the Italianate manion at 70 Lefferts Place (which hasn’t always been yellow, as the photo from NYC archives shows) is back on the market. Unable to proceed with the condominium development he had been planning, developer Chris Morris (who, to be fair, got pretty shafted in all this) is looking either to sell the property outright or partner with someone with the vision to do something profitable within the envelope of landmark rules. Given that he’s got a $2 million mortgage, the house is probably costing him $12,000 to $15,000 a month to carry — reason enough to seek a swift solution. We looked at the house last Spring but were unable to convince a developer we know to put up the dough to buy and renovate it. And while the potential returns of dividing the existing structure into a handful of condo units may not provide the sky-high returns that many pros target, we still think there’s decent money to be made from doing a historically respectful conversion. You know, if 100 readers put of $10,000 each, you’d have more than enough equity to see this through.
1854 Italianate Villa [Craigslist] GMAP P*Shark
BREAKING: 70 Lefferts Place Landmarked! [Brownstoner]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Anon 8:15: The house has been a multiple dwelling from when it was renovated in 2001 until the new owner evicted the tenants and cut off the sewer and water lines. I believe it had 4 or 5 units.

    If by “whore houses” you mean the Lefferts Hotel, that was closed down for prostitution last year after a lot of pressure from the police, city council and block association. It’s re-opened now under heavy scrutiny, and so far seems to be operating clean. Block associations are not government agencies, and have no power at all in the official sense, except as a way of organizing people to improve and take care of their neighborhoods.

  2. This house cannot be converted to any kind of multable dwelling because it is a frame house. What owner occupant is going to buy this as a 1-2 family for more than 2 million plus another $4-500,000 to restor it to Landmarks specifications, and live with whore houses on the block?. If the Lefferts Block Assoc is so powerful, why are the whore houses still there?
    I think it is outragous that the City can with the flick of a pen devalue someones investment without copensating them.

  3. 9:07, you need to know it’s not very convincing when you are so completely 100% on one side of the issue. I’m sure you can find one little tiny thing the Landmarks Commission, the community, or the previous owners of the house did wrong. Can’t you? You’re even blaming the guy who owned the house for mere months, for the ugliness of its renovations over the decades. You’ve drunk the kool-aid. Try getting some objectivity. Otherwise how will the community to learn how to handle these situations better in the future, if nobody is going to admit any flaws or take any responsibility whatsoever? You sound like you work for the city. All defensiveness and passing the buck.