House of the Day: Prospect Heights Prospect
This 1890’s Prospect Heights brownstone, owned and renovated by an architect, looks lovely. The Park Place house appears to be in perfect shape with lots o’ original details (including pier mirrors, pocket doors, stained glass, original fireplace mantles, skylights) and solid updating in the right places (i.e. the kitchen). Given that it’s only three stories,…
This 1890’s Prospect Heights brownstone, owned and renovated by an architect, looks lovely. The Park Place house appears to be in perfect shape with lots o’ original details (including pier mirrors, pocket doors, stained glass, original fireplace mantles, skylights) and solid updating in the right places (i.e. the kitchen). Given that it’s only three stories, though, we’re wondering whether $1.65 million isn’t pushing it a little on price. Then again, the house in the area that we’re currently in love with is priced similarly on a per floor basis, so maybe that’s just the going rate for the good stuff in Prospect Heights.
327 Park Place [Aguayo & Huebener] GMAP P*Shark
Quick addedendum: just saw a NYT listing:275 Park Place,a 4-story brownstone clearly in need of a complete renovation. $1.55m. Douglas Ellman:http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/View_Ulisting.asp. Now THAT seems pricey since it could need anywhere from $300-500k spent on it.
331 Park Pl (mentioned as a comp above, sold for $1.575m) went on the market at $1.7m last August and the two houses are very similar — both architecturally and in terms of renovation. So yes, speaking as a local brownstone owner, it seems high even to me but clearly people are prepared to pay the price. When we were looking in 1999, an unrenovated house a few doors away was on the market for $425k! I agree with an earlier poster about condition: lots of folks prefer to find something move-in. And while the narrowness would bother me, this is truly one of the best blocks in PH. Though sadly one of the beautiful porched houses on the opposite side of the street sold recently to a developer who is rumoured to be planning to demolish and rebuild condos on this otherwise perfect 19th century block.
BTW, I got that $/sf estimate on the PH house by using PShark’s apparently impossible assumption that it is 17.1 wide. If it is actually the width of the lot (16.67 ft), then it is $767/sf — slightly more than the PS house on St. John’s.
I would strip the paint from the newel post in the entry hall. It’s too beautiful to keep covered. My post and banisters turned out to be black walnut when I stripped them of layers of paint.
here’s a comp, kind of. An Open House featured on this blog a couple weeks ago on Saint John’s in Park Slope–
http://realestate.nytimes.com/+comshare/vulisting.asp?Lid=253-NS6020257
was priced at just over $763 a square foot. Landmarked 20′-wide house on a prime slope block. This PH house comes in at a fraction under $750 a sf ($747, I think). So, you’re paying almost exactly the same $/sf to buy between Vanderbilt and Underhill in Prospect Heights as you are for Saint John’s between 7th and 8th in Park Slope. Right or wrong, overpriced or underpriced, that is surprising to me.
I bring all this up not because there’s some kind of competition between PS and PH but because someone asked if people are “cashing in” in PS and moving. At these prices, there’s no cashing in, it’s just a lateral move.
i also was at the open house. loved the details, yard and of course the kitchen. while a bit pricey, certainly worth it. if i could sell my small coop, i’d be first in line to buy!
I would rather overpay for this house than pay for crap that cost 200000 less. Not that I would. or could….
according to propshark – close neighbor
same size sold : Dec 14, 2005 $1,575,000 $670sq ft 331 Park Place, 11238, Brooklyn B3: Two family converted from one family 2R 17×43
002.00 2348 17×131
0.01
whether some of you think too narrow or not. So when you claim ‘way overpriced’ – come up with some comps.
i’ve seen this place…it’s really nicely done. the closets are a bit f’ed up and the paint is over old paint in a lot of places, but it has a warm and inviting feel. The yard is great too. While i was there, i didn’t think it was a crazy price, but after leaving and realizing how narrow the place is (you can’t have two people pass in the upstairs hallway at the same time)…and thinking of other places in PS i’ve seen, i did begin to wonder why it was so expensive. That said, i think it is a very very easy house to move into, and the master bedroom is beautiful.