70 Lefferts Place Now a Hostel
It’s been a rough few years for 70 Lefferts Place, or, more precisely, the developer who’s owned it for the last four and a half years. To refresh, the house traded for $2,400,000 in May 2006 and soon thereafter plans were announced to tear down the Civil War-era gem. A last-minute effort to landmark the…
It’s been a rough few years for 70 Lefferts Place, or, more precisely, the developer who’s owned it for the last four and a half years. To refresh, the house traded for $2,400,000 in May 2006 and soon thereafter plans were announced to tear down the Civil War-era gem. A last-minute effort to landmark the house ended up being successful, with the designation being finalized in December 2006. Within a month, the property was back on the market. It never sold, though, and in April 2009 a Lis Pendens (the first step in the foreclosure process) was filed, revealing that the owner was on the hook for a $2,010,000 loan. We hadn’t heard much about the property since then until a few days ago when a neighbor brought this online listing for a hostel to our attention. According to the website, for $25 a night, you can have a spot in one of the many bunkbeds. The only problem is that this place doesn’t have a C of O for a hotel or even a rooming house, as far as we can tell. We also bet that the lenders would be curious to know how much the owner is renting out the place to the hostel operators for.
i’ve been in the bulding many times. most people on the block have. it was amazing but all the original stain glass windows were shattered by kids one day who broke in, and then another time when the developer/owner came and told everyone he was going to build a giant condo there, word got around and someone stole a fireplace and ripped off the original mahogany front doors and tore out all the plumbing for $$$. A week later it was landmarked. The house reminds me of the one i grew up with as all the floors are sloped, except these ones are much more so due to foundation issues which were eventually corrected. The main staircase is still in tact and along with the wood fireplace (each room has a different fireplace if i remember correctly)in the back room. It was up for short sale at 1.4 million at one point.
“you wouldn’t be so quick to blow the whistle on one of your precious little butterchurner brooklyn flea vendors who bakes at home instead of commercial kitchen”
PWNED!!!
MM- Hey, you’re never too old to puke in the bushes. 😉
(and I really _do_ like hostels- I stay in one every time I go to DC, friends ran one in my hometown in CA, a stayed in them traveling cross-country in my 20s, but illegal hostels set up by a person who wanted to tear down a beautiful old house don’t seem the most promising. If properly done, this would totally fine.)
wow, i can’t believe brownie inc. thinks it’s okay to throw these folks under the bus. you wouldn’t be so quick to blow the whistle on one of your precious little butterchurner brooklyn flea vendors who bakes at home instead of commercial kitchen or some artsy family of urban homesteaders living in an illegal conversion.
although I must add the hostel does bring a lot of business to the neighborhood and interest from tourists. it’s too bad THIS couldn’t be located in the lousy M Fried hotel
“Plus, if it does get foreclosed on, it’ll get bought at a price consistent with its use as a one- or two-family house…â€
Does this place work for that use at $2.1 – the amount of debt?
brokestone- have you been inside? How do you know all this? Safety is the issue, agreed, but it looks like they did work in the building so I’m just asking how you came by your information or are you going by what happened in the past.
there are lots of illegal hostels and “bed and breakfasts” (the more yuppie friendly term) in brooklyn. not much the DOB can do about them.
Every resident on this block is worried about safety with this building. There are ZERO sprinklers of fire escapes and dozens of beds. It’s a legal 2 family so none are present. All the utilities were hooked up illegally in the middle of the night by god knows who. There have been many attempts at illegal hostels here in the past, but sans a website and all were shut down with the same concerns. It’s a safety issue, and a valid one.