Flashback: Three Years Ago on Brownstoner
Occasionally it’s fun to look back at what we were discussing in the past, so today we time-travel back to January 30, 2006. While there were many fewer posts per day back then, the topics look familiar! First we blogged at NY Times article about the great real estate deals available in Sunset Park (“We…
Occasionally it’s fun to look back at what we were discussing in the past, so today we time-travel back to January 30, 2006. While there were many fewer posts per day back then, the topics look familiar! First we blogged at NY Times article about the great real estate deals available in Sunset Park (“We got a much bigger space for not much more than we sold our condo for in Park Slope,” one buyer told the paper), then a Time Magazine story on Park Slope followed by a post about the new construction springing up around the Atlantic Yards footprint (“I decided, why wait for the arena?” Eli Karp said). Next it was on to a post comparing a newly constructed house in Bed Stuy against a similarly priced brownstone in the area, then another on the news of the Moonstruck house hitting the market. We capped things off with a House of the Day post about 146 Monroe Street.
1) Sunset Park: Land of the Affordable Brownstone
2) National Magazine Has Finger on Local Pulse
3) Atlantic Yards Environs Booming in Anticipation
4) Cheap New Construction a Deal? Not a Chance
5) Breaking: Moonstruck House Hitting Market
6) House of the Day: Off to Monroe We Go
Thanks, Rob!
Carol Gardens, that is good to hear. When I was living in Carrol Gardens in 2001, there was a row of hideous Fedders buildings going up, and I remember puzzling over just this question: Couldn’t they make it blend in with the neighborhood and offer higher ceilings on the inside and charge more?
I’m so glad the tide seems to have turned and would love to know more about how these better buildings came about.
If I ever make it to Buttermilk Channel, I will check out the building on Degraw and Clinton.
The newer building on the SE corner of Degraw and Clinton echoes the row houses around it and is a great example of what you are talking about. There are other ones in Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights. Most of the generic Fedders are on the far side of the BQE or down near Red Hook/Hamilton. I think that sometimes the expensive areas (and certainly the landmarked districts) are where developers are LESS likely to Fedder because their potential buyer is going to be willing to pay more for a “nicer” look. (It looks like the huge development on Court, now stalled, is going to do some of that; Oliver House on Smith was revised to “fit in” as well.)
mopar, that was really informative and interesting to read!
*r*
Very funny, DIBS. Rob, you’re probably right and I found the old thread on Fedders vs. brownstone very enlightening.
I would like to add to the discussion: Infill housing in expensive areas such as Carroll Gardens usually does take the form of ugly Fedders buildings.
Enlightened developers in Florida, Oregon, and California have succeeded in building more appropriate infill housing (on spec) in older neighborhoods.
I was writing a story on this very topic, which was never published, and a developer in Florida told me the tradeoff for the buyer is they get less square footage but better finishes for the same amount of money as they would spend on a McMansion in a nearby suburb. (The infill housing is walking distance from downtown in an older community.)
In the town I grew up in, Palo Alto, there are numerous new houses that mimic older styles. Mostly what they mimic is styles from the the 1880s through the 1930s that were themselves revivals of still older styles, which I find amusing.
For example, there’s a Tudor house downtown with hand-carved Tudor-style woodwork from an artisan in England. The owner told me she started out wanting to build one of the 1930s Tudors she grew up in, but couldn’t find any builders who knew how to do that style of work. So she ended up importing this guy from England who uses methods from the 1600s.
There’s also a brand-new house that closely mimics the gingerbread Victorian that once stood on the same lot. It’s a spec house and the current owner is a lawyer. There are also numerous new Craftsman-style bungalows, which seems to be the most popular revival style.
These old-fashioned houses do share one modern thing in common: They have “great rooms” that combine dining/living/family/kitchen in one room, and a separate vestigial formal living room. Personally, I hate this kind of layout, but owners and builders told me it is a requirement.
The vintage-style spec infill house is a fairly recent development in the last decade or so.
well there was probably more to talk about back then. it seems like all people ever want to talk about these days is the dismal economy.
*r*
And the threads back then were refreshingly relevant as compared to the mind-numbing drivel of today.
This whole thread smacks of gentrification, class warfare & racism.
Someday this war is gonna end.
im calling mr. b’s bluff on this thread. clearly this is a way of showing a “horror show friday house” see the pic on the left without actually having to make another weekly thread about the same topic… subtle mr.b 😉
*r*