classon
We’d been admiring these beautiful old shells on Classon between Gates and Greene for a while when we finally decided to call the number on the billboard. We already had heard through the grapevine that the two buildings on the right had been bought by a developer and were destined to be luxury condos. But wouldn’t it be fun to renovate the one on the left, we thought to ourselves. It’s about 4,000-square-feet so, given the condition, we were expecting an asking price of about $600,000. So imagine our surprise when the seller tells us he wants $1.15 million. $1.1.5 million! When we laugh in his face he lets us know that he already has an offer of $950,000 and that, between us, he’d probably be willing to part with it for $1 million or so. We bet he would.


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  1. Agreed that it will be worth more when the condos go up, but 1.5 is still crazy for that location. On very busy/noisy Classon Ave., 2 doors down from the hideously ugly Salvation Army parking lot. (oh how I wish they would sell that to a developer).

    still does make me sad that I didn’t buy for 350. 350purchase + 500reno = 850K. That’s about right.

  2. Put in $500k for a full gut rehab and you have a pretty sweet looking, 4000 sq. ft. b-stone for $1.5M. Sounds crazy when it’s next to a crackhouse but not so crazy when it’s next to condos that will probably be priced at $500+/ft.

    If they guy can hold out until the work on the condos is in full swing I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets at or near his ask, crazy as it sounds now.

  3. I can’t blame the seller – or any seller that shoots for the moon b/c as this case shows, if you ask you’ll probably receive. It sucks for those of us who’ve been priced out of the market but to call someone delusional for “overpricing” their property doesn’t accept what the last 7 years of this market has shown us. If you’re selling property you’d be a fool to not be delusional.

  4. By the way, do you really believe the owner has an offer of 950? Just wondering…I feel like if he did, he’d make it clear to offeror that he’d take a million (if he didn’t have other offers, that is)

    I pray that poor soul who’s about to pay a million for that doesn’t come up with a mysterious disease related to the mold.

    Keep us updated if you hear anything!

  5. I must say the facades are beautiful, if they are rebuilt into “luxury” (does that term have any meaning anymore) condos, I really hope the developer keeps the facades intact. No landmark there though so who knows, may be a total teardown.

  6. OMG those used to be infamous crack/whorehouses. They are right around the cornr from me, so I’m glad to see them getting fixed up.

    My cousin (a Warburg broker) had the original listing (still kicking myself for not buying it). It was owned by a church (through that government nonprofit housing scam) along with many properties in Manhattan and was foreclosed.

    Someone bought the whole kit and caboodle and dumped the Brooklyn properties. The current owner probably paid around 350K for it. Problem is, the house is truly a shell, apparently, there isn’t even a back wall. Brings gut rehab to a whole new level.

    I guess the other 2 were finally auctioned off. I imagine this seller is just trying to goose the developer to pay more–or he’s insane.