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]
Corcoran has a 3 story shell for $750k on Union between Hoyt/Bond. I’d venture a narrower lot also.
Of course not LM area so easier to do but if know what you’re doing Clermont would be better deal.
To Anon 1:41
When was the last time the Landmarks Commission gave its OK for the demolition of an historic building in an historic district?
I can’t think of a single example.
In terms of the no-harassment certificate, there may be no problem here, I don’t know the details. But if there is an old claim from someone saying that the landlord forced them out thru no heat or lack of upkeep or something, then it is a very difficult problem.
Assuming no certificate, I’d pay 800k cash.
LPC does give permission to demolish buildings in historic districts if they cannot be saved. But from the pictures, it looks like the facade could be salvaged. That is, it looks structurally sound even though the brownstone is delaminating and the windows have rotted. The Certifcate of No Harrassment may not be such a hurdle if the building has been vacant long enough. As someone pointed out, it didn’t get this way overnight.
Serge,
I’m not advocating one way or the other whether the house should be torn down or preserved. All I’m saying is: wouldn’t it be in everybody’s interests–buyer, seller, the community–to settle these questions before any deal is done?
How does a place get like that? Was there a fire? Did someone just strip the house of all it’s beauty and charm? Was it the rats?
What’s an estimate of the cost to renovate this? low end to high end…
To Linus:
What do you really think would happen if you went to the landmarks preservation commission and said, I want to buy this house but it’s an old wreck, so I want to make sure I can tear it down first.
Landmarks is not in the business of giving approval for demolition of historic buildings.
There have been building in much much worse shape than this one that have been restored in this district alone.
Don’t even go there.
Why would obtaining a non-harrasment certificate be difficult to obtain? It’s obvious that the house is uninhabitable and has been so for an extended period. Non-harrasment certificates are required to insure that property owners haven’t forced out SRO tenants.
The only difficult part of this is the no-harassment certificate. If that can be obtained, the rest is a piece of cake. So many houses in Fort Greene looked like this in the 70’s and 80’s. The Landmarks people would never let this facade go. Even if it partially collapsed they would make you put it back. They are not difficult to deal with.
The SRO non-harassment certification -now that’s a bear.