Co-op of the Day: 130 St. Edwards Street
We’ve never posted anything about this cluster of co-ops at the corner of Myrtle and Ashland Place but this 1,100-square-foot three-bedroom at 130 St. Edwards Street seems like a good place to start. The main drawback seems to be the low ceilings. Other than that, it looks in good shape. It’s not bound for the…
We’ve never posted anything about this cluster of co-ops at the corner of Myrtle and Ashland Place but this 1,100-square-foot three-bedroom at 130 St. Edwards Street seems like a good place to start. The main drawback seems to be the low ceilings. Other than that, it looks in good shape. It’s not bound for the pages of Architectural Digest but that’s not the point. It’s a family-sized apartment with a low monthly maintenance of $785 with onsite parking available. The asking price is $539,000. What do you make of that?
130 St. Edwards Street [Aguayo & Huebener] GMAP P*Shark
“This building is not near the projects it is nestled within them. On one side there are the projects, on the other the BQE and across the street is a city-run hospital. I’m sorry but this is a highly undesirable location for a private cooperative residence.”
Well, one out of four. The development is across the street from the Whitman Houses, but at least a block away from the BQE. University Towers to the west, Fort Greene Park to the east, and The Brooklyn Hospital Center is privately-run.
I’ve looked into this development and decided, ‘not for me, at least at the prices the apartments go for.’ Others can think as much or worse. But can we at least get the factual stuff right?
kris, I may be many things, but naive is not one of them.
Co-op boards are composed of six to twelve people. some of whom may not particularly like each other, or they may feel in competition with each other. It would be extremely foolish for someone on the board to say: I don’t like these people because they are black so lets not approve them. Others on the board may see this as their opportunity to blow the whistle and have that person or persons rear ends skewered. Unless you have a situation where everyone is in perfect agreement about their bigotry and completely trusting that all secrets will stay in the board room, things like this do not happen. Now, if you have a nutty lawyer scrawl all over the purchase agreement and change every article and pronoun, then yes, there is a strong possibility that the board will decide to nix him/her. also if a person is lying in some way or gets a bad reference from a former landlord. All of these things go into it. No one will risk their reputations and even their careers by being openly racist or anti-semetic or anything else on a co-op board. Co-op boards are more like a herd of cats than a star chamber.
PS – these days, it’s easy to see “not the right kind of people” being: yuppies, bankers, people who have small dogs they carry around in handbags, or wasp-y trust funders from Ohio.
Sam, your naiveté is kind of cute. But seriously, co-ops don’t have to disclose why they are rejecting a buyer, so it can really be for any reason whatsoever. If the board doesn’t like gays or Jews or blacks, they can reject them. They can reject people for their political affliction or profession or maybe because they are simply “not the right kind of people.” And this kind of discrimination flies in EVERY possible direction.
Yes, it is despicable and unethical. But it happens. If you think racists and homophobes only exist in Manhattan, then I totally want some of what you’re smoking.
co-ops do not accept buyers because they do not have enough financial resources to carry the unit comfortably. end of story. outside of socially snooty buildings in Manhattan, that is all there is.
A coop will never tell you why they deny applicants as it could open them up for discrimination.
Nostalgic on Park Ave: Here’s the thing. Neighborhoods change, and not always in the gentrifying way that many posted on this site complain about. A lot of ‘nabes that were all family-friendly in the early 1960s went seriously downhill in the decades that followed. Downhill as in Myrtle Ave was known as Murder Avenue up until not that long ago. In other words, Park Avenue it ain’t.
By the by, the early 1960s was almost 50 years ago. That’s about two lifetimes in real estate years.
Apropos where one’s forebears may have lived, Prince Street (which is right on the other side of the Walt Whitman houses from this place) is actually named after one of my ancestors.
NOP: my parents would not even set foot in Brooklyn let alone live here. You are way off base. Young folks today are totally OK with living in racially diverse communities. But this is a bad investment based on its location within that diverse community.
Besides, you have your nerve you’re living in Manhattan now. Don’t preach to us. OK?