859 St Marks Avenue
hi everyone, I might be the “lucky” person who gets to restore 859 Saint Marks Avenue. I am having second thoughts, though. Our offer was accepted, but the engineer’s report was about as bad as one could expect. The needed repairs greatly exceed the value of the house – by many hundreds of thousands. The…
hi everyone,
I might be the “lucky” person who gets to restore 859 Saint Marks Avenue.
I am having second thoughts, though.
Our offer was accepted, but the engineer’s report was about as bad as one could expect. The needed repairs greatly exceed the value of the house – by many hundreds of thousands. The Now Landmarked building needs a LOT of historical restoration. The side façade is also leaking like a sieve… in need of pointing and brick replacement …which no one has ever mentioned before on any forums.
My question is has anyone else gotten a report or inspection done on this house? Is there any advice to be given. I have the ability to pull out of this sale. I put language in the accepted offer which allows me this option if the repairs are over 750k. I have also discovered the title has some major problems as does the C of O (SRO??). The city swears it is, the realtor swears it isn’t. Who do I believe? It has tenant violations, which means if it is an SRO, I’m in for a very, very long (years) wait to begin any rehab.
I’m afraid I may have bought a rather large paperweight.
Any advice?
I did not see the original Parlour floors, but I did scrape off some of the paint on the green tiles. I actually put in a new kitchen on the top floor of our present house (a mother-in-law suite after the kids moved out). I bought buckets of same/similar salvaged green tiles (took 2 solid wks to remove the scmootzy cement crust)and put them up myself. They look super. I have some left over.
We asked about the Elkins House. We likely would have restored it as an income property.
That house would take so much to restore,structure-wise, we could not afford to live in it. I can do aesthetics, but no rough/structural stuff. The costs would be too much for me to recover. We thought it would make wonderful family apartments and would likely contribute to the neighbourhood.
If 859 doesn’t work out… and as of today it may not, we really would like to make a difference in that area. Elkins would be one possibility. The buying price is sure better. But but LPC would be on Top of me if I looked at this house funny.
You said it is structurally sound? Did you guys do an engineers report? I saw nothing but scary stuff. The front port was not stable at all. We saw rotting beams around and under the porch. Maybe we can think of a joint project which assists the community, but also allows us an investment. We wanted to find a doctor for 859, maybe something like that could work at Elkins? What do you think?
‘Werkin, regarding the Dean St. house, it’s the one on the right. The one on the left was also for sale, but has been broken up into 5 units. From what I’ve heard, and what’s on the records, the other one is a one family.
THe organization I’m a member of, the Crown Heights North Association, tried to get the Elkins House, but we were unsuccessful. We had plans to make it our headquarters and a community center. In spite of the considerable damage, it is still structurally sound, and would have “just” needed a pile of money invested in it to bring that beauty back to life. I hope whoever buys it, and I heard there was a buyer, has the deep pockets and love needed to do so.
Same with 859. People can be idiots. If they don’t get it together, they will get nothing. I think part of the problem is they fixated on the $1.5 million price tag that was on it originally, and still think they are going to get that. It didn’t work then, it really ain’t happening now. Sometimes it really seems that the people who don’t deserve to own things like this house, get them, while those of us who love them, and can see the potential, get nada. I really, really loved that house. It sounds as if you do too. Again, I hope it works out for the best, whatever that is.
BTW, did you see it before they covered up the original floor on the parlour level? Or paint over the green tile in the master bath?
wow,
You know your way around this stuff.
I went to city hall ans searched everywhere.
I actully found the original owners name from the Brooklyn Eagle.
I will check out that other place. I think I saw the house you are speaking of. Is it the one on the left or the right? We looked around the one on the right; went to the back yeard looking for someone home. There was evidence of work going on, but no one was there. We actually looked across the street at the Elkins House (yikes!)at 1375 Dean St. That poor house was ravaged by scavengers and vandals. Absolutely nothing left or salvagable. All the fireplaces had been bashed in with a sledge hammer (why?). I had a good cry when I got back in the car. It felt as though I’d seen a post-war disaster area.
As far as 859 St Marks, we are now having to deal with the three heirs of the property…who are at odds with one another. The husband of one sister is causing so much trouble. As of today, we don’t see much hope. We asked for the concessions… but hubby doesn’t see it our way. Can’t pay 900K and then 800k (conservatively) to fix the mess.
Turns out, they did this to another guy in 2008. Took him 2 yrs (and who knows how much $$) to get back his deposit.
I fear if we let go, it will now be sold to either a slasher/flipper or it will go up for auction to satisfy the immense tax burden which is owed.
It is so hard to believe how people behave over money. Even at their advanced age… they seem to be such unhappy children.
I will post images and the report online if we back out. I don’t want anyone else to be under the impression the damage is less than it is. Our last “surprise” was by far the most expensive.
For something a bit smaller, but on a great block, check out 1370 Dean St. between Brooklyn and Kingston.It’s a beautiful semi-detached 1 family house there that has been for sale for a while. It also has been empty for years, and needs work. I tried to get in at an open house a few years ago, but the broker never showed up. If not there are some other nice properties around, as well. Whatever you decide, I hope it works out well for you.
Hardwerkin, I found the architect during the course of my research. It was in the Builder’s Guide. The LPC didn’t even find it, so you know I’m crowing a bit here. His name was H.R.Brewster, and the houses (all 5) were built for developer Henry Moore. Believe it or not, each house was built for $20K, which was actually quite a lot for the time.
Who is the architect? I looked everywhere for this info.
Are you pulling my leg, here? Do you really know?
We very much want to make this house wonderful again… but we are not willing to die of starvation to accomplish it.
If the sellers do not concede the credit we need to make this house affordable, we have decided that we would be silly to go through with the deal as it is now.
We are actually thinking if this doesn’t work, we might revisit the area and see if we can find something else, though.
I found the architect’s name. Not a big named guy, in fact, I don’t remember ever seeing his name before. I’ll bring cookies and his name on my first visit.
Yeah, LPC cares a lot about this block. As I said before, it’s our Gold Coast. The 2 Montrose Morris houses to your immediate left are on the cover of the LPC designation report of Phase I, from 2007. That’s how much they are aware of it.
“The city swears it is, the Realtor swears it isn’t”
I’m a broker and I know who I would believe – “Hunt” actually makes sense – that broker will not be there to help you pull permits.
If the house was an occupied SRO, I would move on.
As a cash buyer – you have to do the math – it should be at a price that makes it a bargain, even with the potential headaches: SRO/Landmarking/restoration/construction.
Unless you have a decent expediter/lawyer/title company/potential contractors – keep looking or a ton in escrow.
LPC actually did tell me that they wanted the roof “restored” with all the windows. The only problem is that it is attached the the other houses. The compliance officer said that it likely will go to public hearing. I’m actually not too worried about that. If they try to enforce it, I will just appeal it until I am dead of old age.
Once I apply for the permit to fix the brick, windows, bays…etc, I will have to address certain fundamental restorations. The window contractor put it well, when he said, “Landmarks will actually be the owner of your house… you will just be paying for it on their behalf”.
Apparently that block is of particular importance to them.
I can only guess it is because of the school, park and museum across the avenue. Maybe they are stringent with the newly landmarked as a rule. Normally the side façade is not as important, but the side and back are visible to the public from our street and the one behind us. I was told that the big problem with Nora Jones adding a slew of new side façade windows in Brooklyn Heights has LPC acting overtly cautious with all façades nowadays.
Heaven forbid if I discover an important architect built it… right now it is marked unknown.