House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street Reduced
The beautiful but crumbling wood frame house at 329 Adelphi Street has a new broker and a new price tag. The shingled corner house started out asking $950,000 last May. According to a few people we know who’ve now been inside, though, it needs so much work that that price was unrealistic. The new asking…
The beautiful but crumbling wood frame house at 329 Adelphi Street has a new broker and a new price tag. The shingled corner house started out asking $950,000 last May. According to a few people we know who’ve now been inside, though, it needs so much work that that price was unrealistic. The new asking price of $795,000 is still more than the pricing widget called for last go-round, which normally wouldn’t be an issue given the widget’s track record of underpricing by 15 percent or so. In this case, though, we suspect the masses may have some wisdom: An architect we know said you’re looking at a million bucks of work here.
329 Adelphi Street [Ahrlty.com] GMAP P*Shark
House of the Day: 329 Adelphi Street [Brownstoner]
what a dump
Is there really anything wrong with this house that can’t be fixed with a can of gasoline and a book of matches? If the wiring is in the same shape as the rest of the house, you might even be saved the five bucks for gas.
Minard, do you have a vested interest in the outcome of this discussion? While you’re correct that it wouldn’t be prudent to sink a ton of money into this thing, the kicker is you’d have to to make it livable, not “designed”, just livable.
The landmarks commission would save you money: “No, you can’t build a giant addition for the jacuzzi; no, you can’t build a rooftop gym addition; no, you can’t put on a stone veneer.”
You patch, paint, put on a new shingle roof, repair -yes repair and repaint the windows. put in new plumbing and elctric. two baths. one kitchen without german appliances or a wine cave, refinish the floors, spackle and repaint the walls. I repeat, insane to spand more than 375 thou on the repair of this tiny little house. Get an architect who likes old houses and isn’t petrified of the Landmarks Commission and get a second estimate from her.
Minard, not sure where you are getting your numbers, as the listing states there are 3 floors PLUS an english basement. You really think there are only 1600 sq ft to this house?
At any rate, I’d like to know who does, or would do, your contract work. It seems highly improbable anyone could find a good NYC contractor to take on this home, in a nearly dilapidated state, and do it “beautifully” for 350k. We are talking complete overhaul of roof, floors, framing, plumbing, electrical…and at that point we haven’t even begun the interior – including kitchen (s), bathrooms etc. The garden will be an undertaking as well.
I understand your point, that not everyone must or can live in an Architectural Digest quality home, but Home Depot and Ikea-quality renos require contractors, teams of workers, months of work and a whole lotta money too.
Even what my dad lovingly refers to as “ranch work” (he was raised with 6 brothers on a cattle ranch in need of near constant upkeep and work which was strictly utilitarian and well-done, but with absolutely no care nor eye toward aesthetics) cost more than ever anticipated, and they were able to do most if not all of the work themselves. Something most of us wouldn’t be able to dream of undertaking. (I have trouble understanding even the most basic plumbing and electrical concepts!)
Minard, the architect’s job is not to make an unrealistic budget work or tell people what they want to hear. It’s primarily to address life safety issues (of which this house has many), if you can get some good design in in the process, bonus points.
Square foot take-offs on this kind of problem are wildly variable. To say with any certainty what this would cost would take more than the five minutes of consideration most of us have given it. No one here is insane or deserves to be spanked, and architects certainly aren’t to blame for the high cost of living in New York. If they were, they would live better. What’s with the vilifying?
ML, exactly. That is why it hasn’t sold. It would cost a million dollars, but the renovated house would be worth $1.4M at most. It’s a problem.
$150 a foot, a skillful carpenter, and a lot of compromise over the course of a year to get in. A lifetime of labor after that to make it a “publishable showpiece.” Or $350 a foot to do that now.
Reading above, and in the last posts on this topic- sounds like this could work well for the skilled do it yerselfer- were it not for the landmarks part.