House of the Day: Midwood Not Mid-Priced
This four-story limestone on Midwood Street in Lefferts Manor is the real deal but, man, $1.495 million is a lot of dough for this nabe, isn’t it? It looks like the extensive woodwork in the house (including several fireplaces) is in excellent shape. As usual, we’re not loving the kitchen reno, but that is what…
This four-story limestone on Midwood Street in Lefferts Manor is the real deal but, man, $1.495 million is a lot of dough for this nabe, isn’t it? It looks like the extensive woodwork in the house (including several fireplaces) is in excellent shape. As usual, we’re not loving the kitchen reno, but that is what it is. The house, which is of a grander scale than many in the area, also boasts inlaid parquet floors, pocket doors and stained glass. Still, $1.495 million? What do the locals think?
Update: This is 68 Midwood Street–the identical twin of #55. Both were built by W.A.A. Brown and were originally priced at $11,000 when they hit the market a century or so ago. According to Bob Marvin, the reason for the dumbwaiter is that these houses were built with TWO dining rooms–an informal one in the ground floor front and a formal one, over the kitchen, in the parlor floor rear.
Midwood Limestone [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Exactly my point — those people are “fixtures” to PS residents and so not scary or seedy. To someone from elsewhere they might seem otherwise. Just like people on Flatbush Ave here in PLG. What’s unfamiliar is always scary, no matter where you are or where you’re from.
Ed,
How typcial. When forced to actually defend what you’ve said, you fall back to your moral superiority line. Yes, we’re all horrible, bigoted, haters because we don’t want to live in PLG.
Fascinating hatred and negativity, ladies!
Ed, I’m the 11:12 poster. When we moved here I was on the LM board, but after a few years I got tired of all the plans and petitions to the police and talking to merchants since none of got us anywhere. There would be slight improvements, and then things would slide back to where they had been. So you’re right–I’m no longer active. Perhaps there are things afoot that I haven’t seen. I certainly hope so.
The main part of your argument that I don’t buy is the “inevitability” of change. Many of the apartment buildings are too big and too decrepit to revitalize without evicting all of the subsidized residents and gutting the places. The stores on Flatbush do a good business catering to the low income population, so there isn’t enough reason for them to change to try to cater to the much smaller middle/upper middle class residents. Again, perhaps I’m just missing something.
As I said before, I think people should move to PLG if they like the way it is now. I came with the idea that it would change. I became very frustrated at the lack of change, but then I learned to like it for what it is–and to put up with what it isn’t.
Ed,
I can appreciate some of what you’re saying, but this whole notion of “open-mindedness” smacks of the same type of liberal smugness Slopers get routinely accussed of. I’m black and you couldn’t pay me to buy a house in PLG. And yes, I’ve been there, seen it, have friends there, very impressed with the housing, etc. I’ve lived in similar nabes before, among a somewhat Carribean population, and my family even has ties to the Jamaica.
But when it came time to put my hard-earned money into a piece of the rock, I chose PS, a less “diverse” nabe, as you would describe it, but one where I feel much more comfortable for any variety of reasons far too long to detail here.
It’s all a matter of priorities, what makes you feel more comfortable, and what kinds of risks you’re willing to take. It’s also a matter of what you can afford, and I am very fortunate to be able to afford a house in PS, so I don’t have to make those tough compromises. I certainly think PLG is an interesting neighborhood, with many things to offer, it’s simply not for me at this stage of my life. Does that make me less open-minded, your code for morally inferior? Really, who cares!
What it makes me is somebody who wants lots of upscale amenties, shopping, good schools, low crime, solid investment value, in a “relatively diverse” environment. Same things a lot of people want.
No matter how you cut it, for most, PLG is a 2nd or even 3rd choice, not a 1st choice for most buyers. They were either priced out of or cashed out of someplace else. Your rainbow theme is not the draw for most.
I have to say, it’s fascinating how threads about PLG get so many more posts than other topics on this blog. Mr. Brownstoner – did you put this Midwood Street House thread to increase blog traffic?
Frankly, I think many of the “major changes” in the neighborhood have to do with less perceptible things: demographic shifts, community involvement, blogs, business development plans, and infrastructure improvements, etc. There’s a cafe and a restaurant in the works, but Flatbush Avenue largely caters to the poor and working class caribbean immigrant community. If you don’t like immigrants from the Caribbean, then this is certainly not the neighborhood for you. It’s like moving to Washington Heights if you don’t like immigrants from the Dominican Republic – just plain silly!
Gentrification is inevitable in this neighborhood. It has simply too many physical virtues (housing stock, Prospect Park, etc.) to remain the province of the poor/working class. Even the owners of the apartment buildings are agressively fixing them up and recruiting college grads and professionals from the other side of the park. As rents are on the way up, this will only increase such migration.
The business development group in the neighborhood is looking to diversify services while retaining the local caribbean flavor. That would create quite a unique – and un-Park Slope – environment, and many of the younger, more open-minded residents LOVE this idea.
People who speak of lack of change in
PLG are probably looking only at the most superficial ones. It is my guess that these people may be (a) older, (b) more conservative, and (c) not active in the community much. That’s not meant as an insult – it’s just that my parents probably wouldn’t have noticed changes in this neighborhood over the last decade either because they see through different lenses. If you want to know what’s really going on in PLG, speak to the younger, more active ones, who are more open-minded about things like race.
Has it occurred to anyone that Flatbush Ave is simply the boundary btwn Park Slope and Prospect Hts and does not even run thru PS. So, why are you debating the condition of Flatbush Ave as it relates to PS, when it is fairly meaningless to the nabe?
In my 11:12 post, I meant to write that I was “wary of advertising it as having had major changes…”. Still sleepy. Sorry :)!
7:46am–I’m on Rutland. I really haven’t felt or seen a big change in the number of people hanging out on the corners of Flatbush. Perhaps there’s been a subtle shift I haven’t noticed, but I still find my regular walk along Flatbush to be generally unpleasant.
There has certaily be a shift in demographics on the side streets, but I haven’t noticed one on Flatbush or in the huge apartment buildings.
This isn’t to say PLG isn’t great. I just am weay of advertising it has having had major changes recently or of being about to experience major changes. People have been saying that since we moved here. I think people should buy here if they like the area as it is now, not because they think it is changing or going to change. Because it really may not.