House of the Day: 408 Stuyvesant Avenue Revisited
This house at 408 Stuyvesant Avenue in Stuyvesant Heights (house on right) is such a gem that it’s hard to put down but when it was listed last winter with Halstead the $2,100,000 asking price was met by universal derision in the comments section of the thread. Well, not surprisingly, the property failed to move…
This house at 408 Stuyvesant Avenue in Stuyvesant Heights (house on right) is such a gem that it’s hard to put down but when it was listed last winter with Halstead the $2,100,000 asking price was met by universal derision in the comments section of the thread. Well, not surprisingly, the property failed to move at that price and Corcoran wound up with the listing where it’s recently been cut from $1,950,000 to $1,895,000. Frankly, it seems like it’s still got a ways to go, especially considering the tenant who’s looking pretty comfortable in that sixth unit. Waddya say? $1,600,000? $1,500,000?
408 Stuyvesant Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
408 Stuyvesant Avenue [Brownstoner]
9:45, I have a theory on that. People who spent the big bucks in “good” neighborhoods want to justify their purchase. I mean, they’re spending 2,3,4x as much on their homes and they don’t want to hear that others made wiser decisions. Also, I’m sure they want their home values to remain high and if ALL of Brooklyn desirable, that’s less buyers for the tony hoods.
I agree with 4:24… 3:59 is full of shit.
If you want gunshots, my old neighborhood (Manhattan Ave @ Broadway) was the place, but I don’t hear them any more in Stuy Heights.
And the argument that the projects are close is ridiculous. People, THIS IS NEW YORK… there are projects everywhere. There are some projects right on Ft. Greene park and how about the view from the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea? Not to mention the entire Lower East Side is peppered with projects.
Just look at this OASIS map:
http://tinyurl.com/2tsd2x
the pink is NYCHA.
Thanks BP. I’m still around. Always reading but hardly ever posting. If I do, it’s under anonymous. I call it the “CHP Effect”! LOL! I hope all is well with you. Congrats on CHN! Awesome job! I’ll be sure to make the HT this fall. All the best! Peace.
Well said, 9:45. You remind me of a poster who used to be called BB. If that’s you – missed your handle around here.
10:09, thank you for some sanity as well.
The Brevoort Houses are located at 292 Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11233 on the eastern Bed-Stuy/Ocean Hill border. First, this development is not located in Stuyvesant Heights and I can see why someone living in Stuy Heights proper would dismiss it as not being in the neighborhood as it is on the periphery and is a self-contained complex of buildings much closer to Fulton and Atlantic Avenue. Are residents of Park Slope adversely affected by the Gowanus and Wykoff projects on the other side of 4th Avenue? I think not. Second, it’s not a huge and dangerous housing project along the lines of Marcy, Sumner, Tomkins, Ingersol and Whitman. In all my years in the neighborhood, I’ve never heard anyone complain about how unbearable life in Stuyvesant Heights is due to the Brevoort Houses. It’s simply not an issue. Lastly, the poster asserts that the Stuyvesant Heights is surrounded by projects which is a blantant lie.
I don’t get some of the posters on this blogsite. If people choose to spend their hard earned money and live in an area that is slightly more dangerous than other areas in brownstone Brooklyn simply because they like the homes or feel that they can get more bang for their buck there, what difference does it make to anyone else? I seriously do not get the condemnation and overblown hysteria on this board with respect to great communities like Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights North, PLG and Clinton Hill. Six years ago Fort Greene would’ve been on this list too. But if you spend any time on Dekalb Avenue at Chez Osker, you will see people who live in the neighboring public housing complex strolling throughout Fort Greene like anyone else. All of the neighborhoods east of Flatbush Avenue are predominantly black and have some serious social and economic issues. Nonetheless, these nabes are being integrated/gentrified. Some of the poorest of the poor live in these housing projects but for the most part we’ve been able to coexist. Why should Bed-Stuy be treated or looked at any differently. I don’t get it.
I bought brownstones in both Fort Greene and Clinton Hill at a time when both nabes were considered undesirable and dangerous by many of my white friends. And quite frankly, I couldn’t care less what they thought of me or where my home was located. At least I owned and wasn’t renting, like 100% of them were doing at the time. Now I’m sitting on over $4M dollars of equity and both of my properties which are multi-families are being paid for by my tenants. Recently I’ve purchased homes in Bed-Stuy because that is where the value is (Crown Heights North being the other). Why do some people on this board seek to knock down nabes where other people choose to make their homes or their living? What difference does it make to you? Is there an opportunity cost that I’m not aware of?
All I can say to anyone looking to live in Bed-Stuy is that they should do their research. However, I would say the same thing to anyone looking to buy in Park Slope or anywhere else. Bed-Stuy is the largest neighborhood in New York City. It’s the size of Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill combined. The same way that there are differences and variations in these nabes there are differences in Bed-Stuy too. I would agree with the above poster that there are sections of Bed-Stuy (e.g., Stuy Heights and Bedford Heights) that are as safe as the best areas of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.
In terms of proximity to housing projects, as someone already stated, there are a slew of housing projects in brownstone Brooklyn and none of them have had any significant adverse impact on the surrounding brownstone communities. In the case of Bed-Stuy the notorious and dangerous March, Sumner and Tomkins projects are located on the other side of the Bed-Stuy on the Bushwick/Bed-Stuy border. IMHO, unless your townhouse is located smack dead in the middle of a public housing complex (very unlikely) most people, with the probably exception of those homes that sit directly across the street, have nothing to worry about. The Pfizer mansion on Washington Avenue just went into contract for $3.2M and it’s located two blocks from the Lafayette Houses on Classon. There are homes surrounding Fort Greene Park that fetch north of $3M and are located one or two blocks away from Ingersol and Whitman. Despite continuous reports of drugs and shootings at the Gowanus and Wykoff houses, property values in neighboring Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens continue to soar.
Yes, there is crime everywhere in NYC and yes, some neighborhoods are more dangerous then others — the market obviously reflects this fact. Yes, Bed-Stuy is not for “everyone” but no neighborhood is. Don’t like it? Don’t live there. Period.
Amen 9:24. People seem to want to rewrite history. It’s only very, very, very recently that Ft. Greene has been considered “blue chip” (if that’s what it’s considered now). Clinton Hill even more recently. Sometimes it seems like so many people just “discovered” Brooklyn last year.
at least you admit the brevoort houses exist.
the previous poster lives there and doesn’t want to admit they’re there.
7:34-there was also a steady-i’d actually say a very slow trickle into fort greene/clinton hill until only very recently. you probably don’t know that though. it’s the same with bed stuy-so many interesting people i know are buying there. it’s always been that way in nyc-cool folks pave the way to make it “ok” to live there for the masses.