House of the Day: 348 Clermont Avenue Shell
It’s rare to find a total shell of a brownstone in Fort Greene these days, but Townsley & Gay has a quintessential one on Clermont Avenue listed for $975,000 (cash only). Set Speed says the building is in such bad shape that the price “might as well be considered the cost of the land.” While…
It’s rare to find a total shell of a brownstone in Fort Greene these days, but Townsley & Gay has a quintessential one on Clermont Avenue listed for $975,000 (cash only). Set Speed says the building is in such bad shape that the price “might as well be considered the cost of the land.” While the interior photos (which T&G deserves credit for being so forthcoming with) reveal that there’s really nothing left to save on the inside, we hope that the LPC won’t let the facade be torn down. (The building is safely within the FG Historic District.) The listing mentions that the house is a former SRO, but doesn’t mention whether the Certificate of No Harrassment has been gotten already. Given all this, what do you think about the price?
Listing #97 [Townsley & Gay] GMAP P*Shark
Clermont Ave shell on market for $975K [Set Speed]
Does anyone have a link for:
no-harrass cert. or SRO?
Much thanks…
Disagree with anonymous 5:24. That old $100K per floor renovation cost is out of date. Has anyone seen what’s happended to the price of materials the other day.
I bid out a similar job 2-3 years ago to good quality contractors. All three bids came in at about $600-$700K. with the inevitable work changes, there is no way this job gets done for less than $700K.
I was the poster who said I would buy
this for 800k cash. I would do this if
all the stars aligned – a) I really
wanted to live on this block of FG
b) had a place to stay for the duration
of the reno c) wasn’t doing this for a profit but to get a place to my taste
for a reasonable price in FG.
I am not a contractor and don’t have the
time or energy or patience to GC myself.
This job would cost me at least 400k, if
not closer to 600k. Even with carrying costs (and assuming SRO no-harrass cert
can be obtained within 6 months), it
would be a reasonable buy if this was the block I wanted.
jack, your full of it if you say you can do this for 300k. i gut renovate townhouses for a living and 300k will get the structure fixed (new staircase, joists, sub floor, etc) and all new mechanicals, maybe even the facade fixed (doubtful since it’s landmarks which will delay and drive up costs and it needs to be brownstone which is much more than brick clean up). there are 15 containers of trash in this place, that’s 15k right there. a decent house should have close to 200k in fixtures. say what you will, but a sub zero still costs $5000k for the cheapest model no matter what kind of deal you get. a good kitchen (cabinets and nice high end appliances) should cost at least 40k, no point in redoing a new house if you’ll get cheap appliances. stone counter tops run $60 -$80 psf! new wood windows that landmarks will require cost 10k minimum. even if you buy the cheapest wood floors thats still 4k not including install. minimum of 10k for tiles, 20k for bathroom fixtures (assuming at least 4 bathrooms). and this is all based on a 1 family, condos would cost more since you have more kitchens and master baths, the most expensive rooms in the house. i’m sure you could put in shit fixtures and do this for 400k-450k, but what’s the point. those things do add value and will make the house that much easier to sell. in this market a low quality product won’t sell, but as we’re seeing high quality stuff is moving fast. realistically if you could get this place for $850k it’d be a good deal. i’d put $700k into an amazing renovation, then i’d have another 300k in soft costs (assuming you take out a loan). you could get everything through landmarks in 2-3 months max, if you don’t plan any additions it’ll be approved at staff level. sro is difficult but doable. once construction starts you have 7-8 months to completion. that’s one of the biggest myths, that construction should take a year or more. sell for $2.5 mill and make over 25% return. not a bad deal. i think there is much more upside as 1 or 2 family as opposed to condos.
Jack, given those estimates, are you in any way related to Bricolage?
Heh. Sorry. Had to ask. 😛
Though the least of its problems, this house also has a stream running below it – or so I was told when looking at its next door (attached to the left) neighbor, formerly Paul Robeson’s house, the basement of which was reminiscent of a swamp. Perhaps untrue, but a memorable statement by the selling broker.
Guts of steel I like that.
People over spend when they walk into these kind of homes and panic when they see leaning stairs then they quickly call an engineer to explain why the stairs are leaning. Others think because they spent 100k per floor that’s the official rate any thing less is an outright lie.
Anon 4:12 I started typing up a plan with costs for you but then I realized why tell the world my secrets. We need people like you to keep these high end contractors happy.
But I will tell you a few things…. this job can be done for 300k with some room for savings. A real gut demo will erase all the issues you raised in 2 weeks (leveling, structure, leaks etc). And do you really need me to tell you that the finishing touches depend on the person’s taste??
Just like the poster stated a letter of no harassment should be easy because the house has been vacant for more than 3 yrs. An investors can condo it or just keep it simple with the arch and DOB by building one kitchen and making it a 1 family then put it back on the market next yr.
Jack
Serge, Anon 1:41 (the first) here. I believe that LPC approved a tear-down on Cambridge within the past year. Can anybody confirm?
You’d also have to get a structural engineer in there. IF the brick work can stand, it’ll cost a lot to replace all those water damaged beams. From the photos, they look terrible.
Replacing athe beams alone could be at least 50k alone and I’d be nervous the place would fall down in the process.
This is a job for someone with gutts of steel or brains of oatmeal.