House of the Day: 306 Clinton Avenue
Behind many good deals lies a sad story. Such is the case with today’s House of the Day. After inheriting the brownstone at 306 Clinton Avenue from her father, the current owner’s battle with mental illness prevented her from caring for the house—or from paying the property tax. So after three years, a judge has…
Behind many good deals lies a sad story. Such is the case with today’s House of the Day. After inheriting the brownstone at 306 Clinton Avenue from her father, the current owner’s battle with mental illness prevented her from caring for the house—or from paying the property tax. So after three years, a judge has ordered the house sold. The listing price is an absurdly low $925,000. A neighbor who attended the open house yesterday reports that there’s lots of architectural detail (“Original woodwork, fixtures on the doors, original parquet inlaid floors and even some original light fixtures”) still in place, in spite of the neglect the house has suffered. She also reports that the place was crawling with a lot of “developer types” and gave us the heads-up in the hopes of catching the attention of someone who will restore the place properly to live in. So how ’bout it, shoppers? The broker’s name is Bart Schwartz; he can be reached at 718-376-9666 (office) or 718-753-1727 (cell). All bids are due by June 4, at which point the judge will declare a winner. Update: The original source of this story dropped us another email in response to some of the comments.
It seems that there might be a bit of confusion aut the owner’s situation. A number of years ago, her guardians and social worker realized that the owner could no longer care for herself alone in a brownstone that had no electrity, no water and no heat. So, a few years ago, she moved to live in a more therapeutic environment where she can receive the treatment and medication that she needs. I wonder if people were upset about the sale because they thought that she was effectively being evicted from the premises, which is not the case. The house has been vacant and slowly falling apart for a number of years now and the proceeds of the sale that would go to the trust could only benefit her in continuing to finance the care that she has been receiving. I hope this clears up any confusion.
and yes, a facade is better than nothing. although i think you’re being overly dramatic. many of these homes are converted to apts that still have lovely details. just because it isn’t a single family, does not dimnish the great bones these places have.
it sure does beat spending 2 million, 3 million, etc for the pieces of crap they are building in williamsburg waterfront, extell crap on the uws and i’d say 90% of the new construction all over the place.
these are special places with 100 year old wood, walls a foot thick, archways, etc.
i’ll take an apt. in a brownstone anyday over something new. in fact, i’d rather have something half as big AS LONG as it’s NOT NEW!!!
It’s sad. During the summer time you’d see her outside in front selling used books, with her little table set up. I haven’t seen her out for the last couple of years. From what I can tell, she’s completely alone. It doesn’t matter how much money receives from the sale…it’s still unfortunate.
People have been watching this house for ages. I’d be surprised if a developer gets their hands on it.
If she’d inherited nothing, 4:54, she’d be living on the street like many mentally ill people who don’t have living and/or caring family members end up doing. That’s what I think the other poster was pointing out, about it being a case where the woman inherited a valuable property.
3:34
I understand what you are trying to say, and I understand your butt is smelly, but as you grow up you find that so many things are sad, that only the saddest of the sad are even worth mentioning. This story? sad but with a happy ending. Don’t get too weepy on us now.
3:34 here again.
Let me get this straight. Even though a person is so mentally ill that she could not take care of her home and keep up with the tax payments and the like (and perhaps lacked the family support to help her with it or to act practically on her behalf by selling and getting her into a home or placement that worked for her) and eventually lost her home through a foreclosure, it is somehow not sad because she inherited the house, rather than bought it? The freebie negates the human tragedy??
This is a human story and a sad one, and the fact that a beautiful home is now being freed up for the market to do with it what it will does not negate that there was a person involved. People in this business get a bit myopic, sometimes. These are houses, ladies and gentlemen, not a cure for cancer, and do not represent a higher good or moral purpose than the people who live in them.
Well, facades ae better than nothing.
This isn’t North Korea, there’s a limit to how much the governemnt can interfere with private property.
So the lack of 1.5 bedroom condos in the area is going to tear the heart out of brownstones, one by one.
Reduce them to endless generic condo floor-thrus, with just an arched door or two to remind people of why they spent so much.
No potential owner is going to compete in a bidding war against a developer who can make $1m from squeezing out a duplex and 3 floor-thru condos while throwing all the detail in the trash.
So much focus on preservation on the facade, just leaves brooklyn with facades and nothing else.
I’m with 3:44. Sure, it’s too bad that the lady is mentally ill but c’mon. She INHERITED (meaning she payed nothing for) a house that will probably sell for close to 2MM. Is that really all that sad? She can get proper care from the best with that kind of bankroll. Sometimes Brownstoners let their knee-jerk sympathetic reaction cloud their ability to think practically.
1.7-2 for an owner who sells the whole house. but easy a million per unit as a condo. If the buidling has FAR- BAM, there’s one to two more units to sell, and there’s the developer profit.