367 Grand Defies Expectations (and Asking Price)
We couldn’t have been more wrong about this one! When the upper triplex of this five-story brownstone on the corner of Gates and Grand in Clinton Hill hit the market last November for $1,585,000 we were skeptical to say the least. (We have a vested interest given that we have an almost identical house just…
We couldn’t have been more wrong about this one! When the upper triplex of this five-story brownstone on the corner of Gates and Grand in Clinton Hill hit the market last November for $1,585,000 we were skeptical to say the least. (We have a vested interest given that we have an almost identical house just down the block.) Together with the lower duplex which was asking $1,500,000, the owner was trying to get over $3 million for the building. Crazy, we thought. Not so crazy, it turns out. The top triplex went into contract earlier this week for, we hear, over the asking price. We also gather that a deal for the lower duplex is imminent. We’re in shock. We bet the woman who bought the house next door recently and has already begun re-brownstoning the facade is psyched.
367 Grand Avenue, Upper Unit [Corcoran] GMAP
Grand Ave Brownstone Conversion Hits Market [Brownstoner]
On our attic floor we have two large bedrooms, one small bedroom, three closets, and a bathroom. Totally counts as a floor.
bob, I don’t even know if it’s the darkness so much that bothers me (that too, of course) as the feeling of being trapped on either side by 60-odd feet of wall. It’s just that tunnel feeling. It also really limits your design options, and brownstones end up all looking very similar. The corner ones have that wacky cornerwindow element that makes them feel a little off the beaten path. Could be just an illusion, but it is more exciting to design around.
bob999: See that little window on the very top? That’s the attic floor, w/ same floor space s lower floors, just sloping roof. Very cute. It had three bedrooms and a storage room.
Beautiful Townhouse Condo+ Three Exposures+ Room for a Family= Brooklyn Bidding War
In re: dark, depressing brownstones in the middle of the block: I have one of these, and I think there are many solutions to the potential gloom. 1) light paint colors. 2) cleaning your skylight, or enlarging it, or otherwise modifying it to permit more light. 3) clever work in the back yard, such as that duplex on Clinton Ave in the house walk, where the parlor level balcony was made of steel and translucent glass, allowing light into the garden level windows. 4) and perhaps most obvious, installing good lighting in the foyer, halls, and stairwells. These homes were built with ZERO lighting in the places they need it the most. Meanwhile, not the whole house is dark–our front upper bedrooms are flooded with light all day. We have the sun-drenched vibe when we want it, and the cozy, clubby confines of the darker rooms when we want that mood. Takes all kinds.
I’m confused: How does this building have an upper triplex and a lower duplex when it is only four stories? Does the lower unit “duplex” into the cellar?
Glad you came to the “realm of light and air” (as VicFlatbush was called by Dean Alvord, one of its developers), SADman. I’m a SADder too, and our brownstone floor-through apartment in the Slope always had me clinging to the front or back windows like the cats, yearning for SUN!
As for the next-door neighbor being “psyched,” it must be nice to be normal (and not SAD etc.) Me, I’d be thinking, “Uh-oh. Tulipmania all over again. The crash is imminent now, and we are doomed.” Call me the Puddleglum of Real Estate.
A bunch of condos in a townhouse is always worth more than a townhouse that has not been converted. A brownstone that is worth $2M can easily be worth $3M if it is converted to condos and sold off in pieces. So just because the sum price of the units in this building sold for $3M doesn’t mean a similar brownstone down the block is worth that.
You are comparing apples to oranges, even if on the surface they look the same.
Plus what 9:39 said.
excellent commentary which has become rare recently. thank you.