Condo/Co-op of the Day

Stuy Heights Condo in New-Law Tenement With Peg Rail, Clawfoot Tub Asks $799K

This two-bedroom, two-bath condo has room for a small family, as well as some unusual touches like a wood-burning stove and vintage-style bathrooms.

by Stephen Zacks

02/05/2019 4 minute 0

This condo is a true two-bedroom with two baths in a six-unit condo called the Shaker House in Stuyvesant Heights. Carved out of a rent-regulated former tenement built in 1904 at 464 Hancock Street, the 2008 condo conversion included a number of unusual features, such as vintage-style bathrooms and built-in electronic safes in each unit.

Unit 3A is on the top floor and probably a walk-up, with a skylight and a roof deck shared with one other family. The listing shows fashionable plant-based decor, Shaker peg rail throughout, and a wood burning stove in the living room.

The kitchen and bathrooms look not fancy but not bad either, with a clawfoot tub in the master bath, along with radiant heating and a bidet. The second bath has a mid-20th century-style wall-hung sink, mosaic floor tile and turquoise wall tile.

An ad from 1908 that says it was built “under the new law,” so we surmise that the half-hexagonal cut in the middle of the unit that allow for windows in one bedroom and in the kitchen reflect the new standards for light and air, as opposed to old-style floor-through tenement-style apartments. Hot water, too, was something to be advertised as a feature at the time.

We found an image of the building from the recently digitized 1939-40 tax photos., which shows a more traditional bracketed cornice before the rows of Soviet or Turkish-style five-pointed stars were added, possibly to stabilize the building with tie rods, we know not when, maybe when it was rehabbed and offered as condos. The last remaining Neo-Grec or neo-Classical impulse of our age seemingly survives on the facade in the form of columns with ionic capitals so receded they almost disappear.

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Abandoned and vacated briefly in the 1970s, by 2001 there were complaints of renovation without permits with tenants still in the building. It changed hands several times before landing with the condo sponsor in 2006.

According to PropertyShark, Unit 3A is altogether 923 square feet, but accessory air conditioned office and storage space in the basement is included with the unit, as the floor plan indicates. This apartment originally sold for $473,330 in 2008 and a similar unit sold in 2013 for $565,000.

The low common charges of $475 and $1 tax are probably due to the condo rehab, which as a non-rent-stabilized building would make it eligible for a J-51 abatement for 14 years, ending in 2020, according to an old listing, but check this with agent Debra Kameros of Compass. Filings with the Department of Buildings indicate there were plans for a modular green roof system abandoned in 2010.

It’s in the heart of Stuy Heights and close to lots of shops and restaurants though not especially close to the subway. There’s a fire station down the street but we doubt they sound sirens on the block. It seems workable for a small family, and although there’s no central air, it’s now listed for $799,000. Do you think it will get ask?

[Listing: 464 Hancock Street | Broker: Compass] GMAP