House of the Day: 570 Bergen Street
We’re suckers for a good back story. According to a reader who heard it from a neighbor, the previous resident (it’s unclear whether he was a real tenant or a squatter) at 570 Bergen Street in Prospect Heights lived in the house for many years with a dozen or so dogs. With the house already…
We’re suckers for a good back story. According to a reader who heard it from a neighbor, the previous resident (it’s unclear whether he was a real tenant or a squatter) at 570 Bergen Street in Prospect Heights lived in the house for many years with a dozen or so dogs. With the house already in complete disrepair, the man got very sick and the dogs were abandoned in the house. Noise, more filth and even some canine cannibalism ensued until the Department of Health stepped in. Luckily, some nice details remain in the three-story house, including a marble fireplace and the old stoop hand rail. We also think the raised front terrace has a lot of charm. The price of $900,000 certainly is interesting. Can anyone give us an eyewitness account of how bad the interiors are and whether there is a lot that could be restored?
570 Bergen Street [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
The house was owned by the guy (no mortgage) but only his dogs lived there. It was also full of years of accreted junk, Conyers brothers style. The doggies had the complete run of the place — 9 pit bulls when the whole thing went down, more in past years. Over time, the neighbors sued and won in court but the owner did nothing to change his ways. It was only when he became ill and didn’t show up to feed the lovely pups that people were finally able to get the attention of the authorities by calling FOX TV news. Until the cameras showed up, the cops and the ASPCA had refused to respond. One immediate neighbor reported having to wash her walls down with ammonia to combat the smell of dog urine and faeces coming through the party wall. This place would need a very expensive decontamination job before a renovation could even begin. All the plaster from the walls would probably have to go. The flooring too and even the beams. The house is truly a horror and only suited for someone deep pockets and a lot of know-how. Detail: the owner used to work as a waiter at Juniors. Hope to hell he washed his hands at the beginning of each shift.
Btw, the 1:42pm post isn’t really accurate. There are apartment buildings on the north side of the street towards Carlton; a parking lot and several warehouse-loft style buildings that accomodate workshops, businesses and some residences towards Vanderbilt. No dumping on this block that I’ve ever seen. The AY danger is that these M1-zoned buildings could fall prey to deveopers eager to build multi-storey parking on the block to pick up demand from the arena.
You can buy places on Carlton nearby that are habitable for 1.5MM.
This place has a ton of FAR supposedly, so this looks like a developer buys it, does a crappy expansion and ‘reno’ and then tries to sell 3-4 condo units at 800K each.
here’s the brooklynian thread about this place, including some posts by a family member of the person who lived there:
http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=53261
Funny how even at “only” 900k for the lot, and the bones, the renovation math doesn’t work out.
Real Tenant? according to WordNet, anyone who dwells in a place is a tenant.
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tenant
why do you need to pay cash? Because it’s a gut- you can’t get a mortgage?
So…you buy it (probably for under ask), gut it for $400,000 (looks like approx. 2,500 ft. living space?) and you’ve got a nice place for $1.3-1.5 mil. in a convenient part of PH. Problem is, you’ve probably got to pay cash unless you’ve got an extra mil stashed in the bank.
as for the dogs…sounds like a good ghost story to scare the kids into going to sleep.
Brenda–I’m loving it.
Wasn’t this on the market through a different agency about a year ago? THere was one house on this block that needed a total gut. Does anyone know if they are one in the same?