House of the Day: 105 Willow Street
The Watchtower group first announced that it planned to sell the brownstone at 105 Willow Street in April 2007, but it wasn’t until a year later that the five-story house hit the market with an asking price of $4,950,000. There aren’t a lot of photos to go on, but from the few that are included…
The Watchtower group first announced that it planned to sell the brownstone at 105 Willow Street in April 2007, but it wasn’t until a year later that the five-story house hit the market with an asking price of $4,950,000. There aren’t a lot of photos to go on, but from the few that are included in the listing it looks like the place is in decent shape, especially for a building that has been chopped up into ten units. (There’s definitely no central air, either, judging from all those in-window a/c units.) Speaking of the ten units, each of those “studio style efficiency apartments” would have to fetch at least $3,000 a month for someone paying the current asking price of $4,690,000 to get close to breaking even. Given the additional cost required to return the house to a one- or two-family, it seems like a tough sell at this price, no?
105 Willow Street [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
Watchtower Divesting Six Heights Props [Brownstoner]
Dave, aussie, etc.
thanks for killing this thread.
You all should get a room.
Dave: I would wear that badge with honor!
Prices in Brooklyn Heights are “soft” now probably because of the high concentration of those who work in Finance. It is probably one of the least diverse areas of Brooklyn in terms of careers. It doesn’t have a base of Artists or Creative workers to keep it feeling vibrant in tough times.
People equate Brooklyn Heights with Wall Street in many respects and Wall Street doesn’t exactly have a pristine record right about now.
Some on brownstoner might consider you a “troublemaker” 11233!!! 🙂
Aussie:
I moved in in December ’04. I always defer to Dave for the gossip on the area. Montrose knows more of the history.
I love the area and it has gotten so much better since I moved in. Fewer troublemakers. Still needs more services, but we slowly getting there. People have parties in their backyards and go to bed by midnight. People you don’t know just say hello on the street. Street parking is easy. A real neighborhood feel that is missing in some neighborhoods.
Must admit I perfer the southern part of the neighborhood, where you were, than further north, which has a totally different feel. Not knocking it. Just my preference.
Please come back again. We always welcome the chance to show off our unique neighborhood.
NorthHeights, I do not think that this house is twice the size of the Orange Street house. what makees you say that? The Orange Street house is 3-bays wide, this is only two. And although this is one story taller, it is hardly twice the size, at all.
Prices for houses in the Heights are really soft now, it is a little surprising. There are also quite a few languishing in that “secret market” of high-end properties one does not often hear about. I think the news is pretty bad for rowhouses in general. If the Heights market is softening, I would imagine other areas would follow suit.
19 Cranberry sold for 3.5 million. I have that from a good source.
Apparently Jehova needs money and lots of it.
Certainly doesn’t make any sense as an investment property as the per unit rent would have to exceed $3,300 (only 9 units as 2F has no kitchen) to provide appropriate amount of debt coverage on loan, after expenses. Average unit size in the building is 410 sf, which is below the avg market size for studios (approx 475 sf). Newly minted owners of former Watchtower properties – 6,8,10 Clark St and 169 Columbia Heights aren’t even asking that much rent for their studios. Colleges looking for dorm space, like Brooklyn Law School, have recently paid in the $500 psf range for Watchtower properties. Most likely not interested at $950 psf. So it looks like broker and owner are positioning it as a single family conversion. No single family conversion property in Brooklyn Heights has traded any where near $950 psf. This needs at least a 30% haircut in order to move as a single family conversion and a minimum 50% reduction in price in order to appeal to an investor. Maybe since the Watchtower deals with all cash they are not in tune with the on-going and worsening credit crisis the non-tax-exempt masses are dealing with.
11233;
I wouldn’t hesitate to live there. As well as its beauty the area has a dignified sense of peace about it. Walking around your area on Sunday gave me the same sense of excitment that I got when I first came to Brooklyn looking to escape Manhattan 5 years ago. It is incredible what can happen when people take pride in their areas long term.
When did you move there 11233?
Dave; thanks for the tip about the 20th.