Checking in on Bushwick's 358 Grove Street
So what up with the development at 358 Grove in Bushwick? The 59-unit project has been on the market for more than three months and just 12 of the 39 units listed on Halstead are in contract so far (most of them are on the E line). Prices are under $500 a foot and the…
So what up with the development at 358 Grove in Bushwick? The 59-unit project has been on the market for more than three months and just 12 of the 39 units listed on Halstead are in contract so far (most of them are on the E line). Prices are under $500 a foot and the finishes look okay, so what’s the deal? We’d love to hear from folks who’ve gone to check it out already. For those who haven’t, there’s a tripleshot of open houses tonight, tomorrow and Sunday.
358 Grove Street [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
358 Grove Boldly Pushing Bushwick Boundaries [Curbed]
This is 1:04, yes, I am for real.
Go to the area and you will see what I mean. This new subway station is just one element of many improvements that are going on. More will follow.
And regarding the other sales, check out 101 Wyckoff, just down the street. Brownstoner had a post on it last year. http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2006/02/set_speed_condo_13.php
This was 18 months ago and these were selling in the $500/ft range and did very well.
Here’s another article on Condos in Bushwick from just a couple of months back. The market is strong and I believe this project will do well.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04192007/realestate/wick_ed_cool_realestate_adam_bonislawski.htm
Care to learn a bit about Bushwick firsthand? Why not start with the the walking tour? Thanks Brownstoner!
http://www.brooklynhistory.org/visitor/calendar.html
The listed owner of her building is an individual named Owen Morrison, but he’s a phantom to anyone who needs him. He’s stiffed the city for all the taxes he’s owed since purchasing the building in July 2005, and has failed to make payments on a $400,000 mortgage, prompting his bank to file for foreclosure. The city lists 188 open violations against the building and is still looking for $45,000 in back payments for the emergency repairs it has made there, as well as another $60,000 in outstanding environmental fines. The only phone numbers that tenants could obtain for Morrison turned out to be disconnected.
Last winter, Melendez said that she and the remaining tenants went without heat for 11 days, as the temperature outside hovered around 15 degrees. She used the oven to keep warm and rose before dawn to heat enough water on the stove to bathe.
John Cordero, 32, was the last person evicted from the building. Cordero, who suffers from epilepsy, grew up in 81 Bleecker, sharing a $550-a-month ground-floor apartment with his parents, then a third-floor unit with his brother. The brother split in January, saying he couldn’t take the cold anymore. Despite his disability, Cordero has held down a job at a food warehouse for the past 11 years, advancing to assistant manager. “God willing, I can work,” he says. He worked in the building as well, patching the fallen ceilings in his own apartment and doing maintenance in the hallway.
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This spring, a man named Godfrey Autiaobong came around. He said he was Morrison’s manager and demanded thousands in back rent from Cordero. The tenant tried to take his case to Housing Court but, like more than 90 percent of the tenants who appear there, he wasn’t represented by a lawyer. Cordero was evicted on April 12. He moved back in with his parents.
Everyone (probably esp. Brownstoner himself since, as he has acknowledged, he is relatively new to Brooklyn) should read this article:
The Second Battle of Bushwick, by Tom Robbins, VIllage Voice, 6/26/07
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0726,robbins,77040,2.html
It’s an old story — poor and working class people being ruthlessly driven out through lack of maintenance, bribes, & threats. Here’s an excerpt:
“Carmen Melendez, 52, is the last person standing in her home of 14 years at 81 Bleecker Street, just down the block from St. Barbara’s. All the other tenants in the six-unit building were either evicted or have fled in recent months. She’s tempted to go as well. “I put my heart and my hard-earned money into making this a home,” she says. “But now I am tired. I don’t know if I can do it anymore.”
Her money is clearly hard-earned. Melendez is a maintenance worker at the Sixth Precinct in Greenwich Village. She spends her days scrubbing floors and cleaning up after the police and their clientele—a job that, at the end of the month, pays her $1,400 after taxes. She comes home to a building that hasn’t seen any cleanup work in years. Paint on the entryway has long ago faded and chipped away; a thin front door hangs open and impotent. On the side of the building and above the rear yard, bricks are crumbling. A neighbor says that one fell recently, smashing a car windshield on the street. The holes in the brickwork are so large that sparrows and pigeons nest inside.”
Anon 1:04pm I guess that settles it. Having a renovated subway station around the corner eliminates the need for other ammenities and personal safety issues.
Anon 1:04pm are you for real?
We didn’t even have bars on our basement windows. The crime rate on this side of the neighborhood is only marginally higher than say, in Astoria or Carroll Gardens, as the statistics lay at the time.
Also, houses are enormously bigger. That $450K house I cited above was about 2700 square feet, plus a finished basement that was being illegally rented out.
I’m not advocating living here, but if you’re gonna, why not do it the right way? The only *real* difference is the parking space, frankly. On the rare occasions I borrowed a car, parking was an f’ing nightmare.
I think 30% sold in 3 months is not that bad. This project will do well, there may be price cuts if the developer wants to speed up sales but if not I think they will still get their price.
The Myrtle-Wyckoff station just got a full renovation and looks great, this is right around the corner. There are plenty of lofts/condos in the area that have sold at this price point so this is not an anomaly.
Who want to live in a house in Bushwick? That is a worse idea. If I move to that neighborhood, I want to be in a building like this with security.