Co-op of the Day: 75 Livingston Street, #7B
We like the look and feel of this one-bedroom mini-loft at 75 Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights. There’s lots of natural light and the open-plan living area feels quite spacious; as a bonus, you get a separate den as well, which is really a windowless second bedroom that they’re not allowed to call a bedroom….
We like the look and feel of this one-bedroom mini-loft at 75 Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights. There’s lots of natural light and the open-plan living area feels quite spacious; as a bonus, you get a separate den as well, which is really a windowless second bedroom that they’re not allowed to call a bedroom. We wish they’d provided a square footage number for the apartment, as it would make it easier to assess the asking price of $600,000 and monthly maintenance of $941. Given our back-of-the-envelope estimate of about 825 square feet, both numbers feel a tad high but not totally wacko.
75 Livingston Street, #7B [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
Late to the discussion, but I agree with 11217 that the decor is great! Although totally irrelevant regarding whether to buy — except that sometimes I feel such beautiful taste can be a negative when you look at a place to buy, since you wonder if it will look as good without the current owner’s stuff (I suppose not a big deal with a small-ish apartment, but I’ve had that feeling in houses, where there’s a lot more furniture/stuff involved…)
intheshorts:
…and so self-ironic.
Loved it!
Hi Ku!:
Catch a falling knife
Save the blade from getting dulled
On hard terrazzo
I’m wondering how much of a premium 110 Livingston gets vs. this.
intheshorts: good line about the knife, bravo.
I agree with your analysis.
I will bore you dear readers with some irrelevant facts. Building was originally the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and completed in 1929. An inauspicious start. The building in one of the 2 reasons that local law 11 exists. Back in the 80’s when it was still an office building I believe, a chunk of the terra cotta came off and killed a pedestrian around the same time a similar event happened at a Columbia owned building in Morningside Heights (common Heights theme?). The conversion by the sponsor was done on the cheap and resulted in years of litigation between the residents and sponsor. The terra cotta that everyone admires is unbelievably expensive to maintain. That along with the crappy conversion job by the original sponsor has lead to higher maintenance costs along with sizable assessments (ouch). But the board has done a great job of getting the building into great financial and physical shape. As I pointed out before, the conversion was done on the cheap and the original fit and finish of the original apartments reflected that. Most of the apartments in the building have had some degree of renovations completed now. Its up to you as an owner to do what you can with your space. We gutted our place and what we found ran from terrazzo floors, brick arches, steel columns and terra cotta interior walls. We incorporated some of those elements into the renovation. I will end by echoing the point that if what some consider a uninspiring space in the Heights goes for 300 or so, step back from the falling knife that’s going to cut right through the rest of Brooklyn.
Hard to follow this thread, someone hijacked it to Park Slope, but now that it seems to be back on track I want to comment on this building. Firstly it is indeed one of the great vintage skyscrapers in Brooklyn; not as tall as the Williamsburg Savings Bank but more original, and jazzy.
The co-op deserves a lot of credit, a lot of credit, for restoring the facades so beautifully even though the building is not a landmark (somehow).
It was built as an office building not a residential building so there are no original details in the units but the layouts are varied and interesting and the views from the higher apartments are breathtaking.
The idea that Brooklyn Heights has become somehow less desirable is just silliness and not to be taken seriously except by relentless boosters of other neighborhoods and zip codes.
I do not live in this building but I would guess that one of its great advantages is its location, which is steps away from many major subway lines: 2,3,4,5,R,M. The A is a few blocks away.
I certainly hope this unit sells for over %550,000. If not it will be bad for all who own property in the Boro as Brookly Heights has always been the bellweather location for residential real estate in Brooklyn.
intheshorts (funny login), that’s great insight. As I suggested in my first post, the maintenance is all relative and, if one is looking at this type of building in BH, one should expect it to be at least $1 per sf, which really isn’t that out of line, especially when compared to Manhattan apartments, which are usually much more.
As for 25% down, I thought that was pretty much the standard for coops for years now. It seems more than reasonable to request at least that in this environment.
I also enjoy the peace and quiet of the Heights (as boring as it may be to others). One doesn’t have to go far to find more lively places if one so desires.
Meh. Annoying, el cheapo cabinetry. I can see it going in the 300s though.
Fighting the worldwide financial crisis of the past 18 months along with the registering requirements has resulted in me making almost no comments on this site. On the occasions I check BS’er, I see the same commentators rehashing the same points. But today, I see my building so I feel obliged to make some observations.
This is a B unit in the lower part of the wedding cake. It looks out towards Court so basically you’re right across from the Board of Ed office building. On 7, I don’t think you will be high enough to clear that building so your view is of an office building. Windows are large – about 7×5 so you get a lot of light despite not having a view. Apartment size is actually over 900 square feet if I remember the details correctly for the floor plans in this part of the building.
As to the maintenance, yeah its more than $1 a foot, but that’s the benchmark I was told to use when I bought my first apartment in 1990 so why shouldn’t this go up as every other expense has over the past 20 years? Covers the usual stuff of building mortgage, taxes, heat, maintenance, building staff, etc., the kind of stuff that many readers of BS’er don’t seem to pay.
The building went co-op in the 80s and the conversion was cheap and boring. But many of the apartments have been renovated, some in spectacular fashion over the 25 years and the fact that there are multiple layouts has created many wonderful apartments that makes the building so much more interesting than the basic cookie cutter new places.
As to the 25% down, it does limit who can purchase, but at the same time it protects the building from people stretching to buy a place, getting over their heads and having problems later. Not unusual for a co-op. Actually on the low end. Residents are young professionals, DINKs, families and retired people – basic boring community that everyone seems to hate about the Heights, but I enjoy it.