DIY Townhouse in Fort Greene
Darcy Miro and Lars Weiss had the cojones to do something we’ve all thought about doing–they bought a vacant lot and built their own house. The result is an eclectic, industrial-feeling 4-story brick house in Fort Greene with 4,200 square feet of living and studio space. The Times story makes a big deal about what…
Darcy Miro and Lars Weiss had the cojones to do something we’ve all thought about doing–they bought a vacant lot and built their own house. The result is an eclectic, industrial-feeling 4-story brick house in Fort Greene with 4,200 square feet of living and studio space. The Times story makes a big deal about what a great deal the whole thing was financially, but we’re not so sure lining it up against the townhouse a block away that’s on the market for $2.2 million is a fair comparison. First of all, Miro-Weiss bought their 20’x80′ lot back in 2001 for $180,000; the house now on the market for $2.2 million would have been at most, what, $1.2 million back then? Secondly, while the space they created may be exactly what they want in terms of design and finish, we’re pretty sure it will be a trickier property to sell than a typical Fort Greene brownstone. Thirdly, what is 18 months of sweat equity and sleeping on your in-laws’ floors worth? And lastly, falling one block outside the historic district, Fort Greene Place is far from being a blue-chip street. Brooklyn Technical High School occupies the entire eastern side of the street. There are seven or eight nice but slighly run-down original brownstones on the western side of the block closest to the park; the rest of that side of the street is full of loud SROs and completely out-of-context new houses.
Did Miro-Weiss create some value? Absolutely. They would definitely get considerably more than their $730,000 cost basis if they sold right now, but we bet most of that derives from the fact that they happened to buy land in Fort Greene at the right time. At the end of the day, though, it clearly was the right move for the family and one that will probably work out quite nicely financially. Most importantly, they got what we all want–a space that they feel intimately connected with and that is large enough to build their lives and families in comfortably.
Upscale, Downscale [NY Times]
Is it the one with the completely out-of-scale staircase and parlor floor? Truly hideous if it’s the one we’re thinking of…
There is interesting property nearbay 28 FG place, almost next door (curently on the market for 1.45M) and it is truly dicusting townhouse it is like a a queens special in fort greene. It is a new construction as well but it looks like cheep imitation of 19 century architecture, truly discusting.It is fun to look at this two buildings next to each other. I will try to get a picture, it is listed by Rita Knox but no pix
is there a blog for an obsession for the modern design brooklyn brownstone (slot in any modern facade)? get one up quickly please so we can continue to talk about all things old and boring
yes, brownstoner is following the advice that every realestate professional will tell you; traditional is easier to sell, boring is safe. banks are affraid of anything out of the ordinary as is most of corporate america, which is why I count on individuals like miro-weiss to pave the way to new and more interesting lives.
Linus,
You could well be right about the pool of buyers, just wrong about our implied closemindedness!
Cheers
There are historical precedents to back up Brownstoner’s point. Up through the 60s at least, the FHA wouldn’t grant a mortgage to build a “modernistic” house, believing them to be risky loans. This is why developments like Levittown were so successful – because of the unimaginative conservative designs we love to hate now. I realize this isn’t really the case anymore, but it an interesting point in context of Brownstoner’s comments and the responses to them.
Seems to be a lot of crabby people out there today…
I thought you were too nice on this place.
I’m willing to agree with you that the pool of buyers willing to buy this place is smaller (than for a traditional brownstone). But the pool of available quality modern townhouses is WAY smaller. (Seriously, outside the 14townhouses project on State, what can you think of?) Hence, I suspect that the ratio of interested buyers vs similar places available would be, if anything, much higher than that for a trad brownstone in the neighborhood.
I can’t prove it, of course, but square foot for square foot I’d personally take this over a typical Victorian brownstone any day, and I live in a townhouse in Park Slope.
Nowhere did we defend the $2.2 million price. We merely pointed out some problems with directly comparing what these folks spent out-of-pocket to build their new house themselves versus a hundred year old house on a much, much better street. That’s all. Please read this stuff a little more carefully before lashing out.