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]
OK, Jack, I’ll bite. Assume the worst. Rotten joists throughout the house, crumbling facade, leak situation as bad as can be on all exposures, everything sagging, nothing level, all kinds of structural problems. How much should it cost a savvy pro to get this house done right, including all fixtures and finish materials.
My tone may be a bit facetious/incredulous, but this is not a rehtorical question. I am truly curoius as to your answer.
Dear Donatella, the last 2 words in your first sentence sums it all.
thank you very little for your comment.
Jack
Dear Jack, that would cost more than 500,000 I think. The place has to be completely rebuilt if it can be, including a complete refacing and rebuilding of the facade, lintels, etc which are crumbling. Making money is wonderful but this house is a career. Maybe I’m just a wimp but I went through this with a house in way better shape and I get chills down my spine thinking about doing anything like that with this. I think the price has to drop to make it work.
How in the world can someone let a house be like that, its unbeleivable and to think that they want all cash, I guess they are steering towards a developer.
I drove by that home for at least 4 years always wishing I could buy it. I’m finally glad I have the opportunity to peak inside. This building is a great investment and so what the guy is making 300k after holding it for short amount of time. The next guy will sell it for 2 million. Deep down inside we all wish it was us making that money and believe it or not some people do “flip homes” for a living . Some poster wrote it’s a 500k repair cost …what is that 100 k per floor and 100k for the common space. Give me a break. I can clearly see that the demo is almost complete and there’s no obstructions in the way if structure work is needed. People really need to remove their tunnel vision goggles when looking at homes like this and don’t become a victim to contractors who can see that you’re bleeding cash out your ass and you’re a newbie.
bob999–reason this deal would prob have to be all cash is cause it’s pretty hard (especially these days) to get a home mortgage for something that isn’t habitable/doesn’t have CofO.
give it a rest, just tear it down. there is no way any new building would not be a huge improvement.
They say on the ad that it is 21 feet wide, hmm. I don’t know. But I forgot to say that getting a certificate of non harrassment in this case is probably the least of the buyers troubles. You need to put a public notice in newspapers over a period of time announcing the conversion and advertising to former tenants to come foward. Usually you don’t have SRO tenants combing the law journals and public announcement sections of the classified, so it is just a time thing. It’s been empty so long it shouldn’t be a big deal. By the way, there is another wreck down the block on Clermont.
This is in my neck of the woods and so I have had an interest in this — well more like morbid curiosity. I checked it out in the past on the LPC website and they say it is structurally damaged. I do not know at what point safety for attached structures and people in the neighborhood trumps historical value, but this place is a complete wreck. The lintels and the facade are crumbling and coming off in huge hunks. To get a sense of the pricing, you need a structural engineer to get in there. Sometimes when I walk by that place, I think about the sequence of construction i.e. how to go about restoring it and how long it would take, if in fact it is possible. It has been exposed to the elements for a long time; the second and top floor windows have separated from the frames and were tilting inward (I see now that there is plywood on the second floor), exposing the house to rain and the elements. This is one step up from being a lot. Assuming that a beautifully restored 18 foot 4 story, three family Italianate brownstone on this block would go for 1.65 – 1.75 and let’s say it costs 600,000 to completely gut it, rebuild it and reface it, let’s see after 2 – 3 years of work, how much would you make? Assuming it doesn’t fall down first…. I really hope that it is salvageable. Would somebody pay 1 million bucks for a shell? Could it be a shell? Or a lot? It’s funny, the other day when I passed it I thought in some cities, you could buy that place for $1.
Oh and by the way, I wish that owner would do something about all the garbage that collects around that place….