Condo Beat: Sky High in Boerum Hill
We all know that Boerum Hill is hot, hot, hot, what with the influx of star power and the prospect of the first retail jail in the country, but we didn’t realize it was quite this hot. This top-floor condo at Wyckoff and Smith has got killer light and a pleasing clean, simple modern finish….
We all know that Boerum Hill is hot, hot, hot, what with the influx of star power and the prospect of the first retail jail in the country, but we didn’t realize it was quite this hot. This top-floor condo at Wyckoff and Smith has got killer light and a pleasing clean, simple modern finish. But have apartment prices, even for the nicest ones, really reached $850 a square foot in this neck of the woods? As an aside, this place looks vaguely familiar–especially the custom shelving in the living room that walls off the small baby room. We’re pretty sure this place was the subject of a NY Times real estate porn piece within the last year or two.
88 Wyckoff Condo [Prudential Douglas Elliman] GMAP
Anonymous 11:47a:
Prices start at around $600s/sqft for Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope (the more prime neighborhoods that actually have the better schools).
The true luxury properties, ones that are larger and not as oddly/inefficiently laid-out as this one, and have city/harbor views and far better finishes and amenities than this one are the ones that actually command anywhere near or above $800/sf.
The apartment shown here is in an architecturally less attractive neighborhood (Smith Street: great to visit, but better to live a few blocks west and visit…), and is situated right down the block from ‘da projects (not the Promenade or Prospect Park).
Access to all the bustling new restaurants and shops and the subway underneath the building may help diminish the relative downgrade of Smith Street’s lingering barrio aesthetic and personality, but it would be a stretch to compare this location with other more prime neighborhoods you mentioned that command some of the higher prices you suggested were the norm everywhere (including this neighborhood).
Relative to those locations, this location is more of a less-expensive fringe along (but not zoned for) the better schools and other amenities of the other neighborhoods you mentioned.
Also, in terms of the rarity of new loft developments, perhaps you have been asleep for the last year…new developments (many with far better finishes and amenities) have been exploding everywhere in all these neighborhoods and elsewhere.
If anything, Fall 2005 and all of 2006 (and perhaps beyond until inventory is cleared) has been marked by a glut of supply of new developments unloading new “luxury” properties on the market for the foreseeable future, and also existing properties coming up for sale just adding to that market. Curbed has posted charts detailing and quantifying this every week for the last several months, so it is a bit odd to see your conjecture there. Rare. Hah. Hasn’t the explosion of all these new condo developments (and the glut of them in total, and difficulties to sell them out anymore) much of the discussion the daily topic of conversation around here?
So anyway, check your figures and stats, and perhaps “get real!” by checking those against actuals and actual current analysis of the subject. Prices do not start at $800/sf, especially not for the location, basic new finishes and odd layout of this apartment.
The fact that there is a great public school in the neighborhood where you can feel comfortable sending your kid is huge. Whether the person who buys this appartment has a kid or not they will be paying a premium for the school district. Just like people who live in Montclair pay school taxes up the bumm whether they have a kid or not.
Get real! Have any of you looked at real estate prices in good Brooklyn neighborhoods lately? DUMBO and even Park Slope sales start at $800 and soar to over $1000 per sq. ft. And this is the best area to live–close to Manhattan, great schools, restaurants and amenities, and this apt. is in a converted loft building (rare in brownstone Brooklyn). A block from the subway and 24-hour deli, it’s a dream for New Yorkers. People are dying for this lifestyle combo.
As for the zoned school for this neighborhood, its ps 261 which is one of the best in Brooklyn. I know alot of Fort Greene/Clinton Hill folks would kill to have their kid in this school. Thats where most of the no-zoned kids come from.
hello can anyone say greenehouse on carlton? those had very HIGH ppsf.
So, what do people think is a fair price per sf for a condo in Clinton Hill or Fort Greene, compared with Boerum Hill?
The $690 psf place was 795 sf. Actually sold without a broker for $650 psf. Had a broker been involved it would have been $690 psf but the 6 percent comission was knocked off. Lower floor and not as renovated. Look it up in the public record.
Personally, we love PS 261 where my kids are going. Lots of people in the neighborhood, us included, who can afford private school send our kids to PS 261. Middle school is whole nuther issue.
Anon 2:19,
How big was the apartment?