Round-Trip from Brooklyn Heights With Luck
There were a couple of things we found hard to believe in yesterday’s Habitats story: 1) That a couple that loved their Brooklyn Heights carriage house so much would think they’d be happy in a subdivision in California; 2) That, upon realizing the folly of their decision to leave Brooklyn in 2003, they decided to…
There were a couple of things we found hard to believe in yesterday’s Habitats story: 1) That a couple that loved their Brooklyn Heights carriage house so much would think they’d be happy in a subdivision in California; 2) That, upon realizing the folly of their decision to leave Brooklyn in 2003, they decided to return and found a one-family house on Joralemon Street in 2004 for $825,000. Granted that it was only 16 feet wide, in need of a gut renovation and sat atop two major subway lines, but that price still seems stunning. Does anyone know the scoop on Kevin Carbury, who’s referred to as “the last old-time Realtor in the Heights” and was the one who found this deal for the family?
Back Home Again After a Brief Detour [NY Times]
Photos by Daniel Barry.
There are so many residential buildings in NYC that are over subway lines. Take Eastern Parkway for instance, with all those elegant buildings between Underhill and Washington over the 2/3 subway. Is it noisy and are there structural issues there too, plus the traffic of Eastern Parkway itself?
The only people who sing the praises of Joralemon Street below Hicks are those who live there and have a vested interest in the street and the brokers hired to sell the properties for them. I have looked at 3 houses on that particular part of the street which, although charming and certainly beautiful, is structurally a nightmare waiting to happen because of the incline and the subway problem. The proof here is that the house these people bought did not stand for 100 years even with the subway problem, it was falling down before they salvaged it, ditto the clapboard house around the corner on Columbia Street, now back on the market. The beams in the basement came away in your hands when you touched them! Buying houses there require constant maintenance and money which is why they are constantly on and off the market. They sell, to be sure, but the buyers move more often than not. Take a look in the basements of any of these properties, and I have, and you will see cracks in the walls and rubble on the ground, caused by constant tremors, caused by the subway. Don’t forget you also have the rumble from the BQE. It’s a double whammy and it affects that part of the street below Hicks. This is why others who live over subways in other streets of the Heights don’t report the same problems. Hill descending + subway = structural problems. Someone with an IQ of 2 could figure that out.
assume you mean “hole” and all of Joralemon was just restored (finished last week) with cobblestones. kudos to the neighborhood for getting that done and not having the city put down the reg pavement like they wanted.
I wouldn’t live anywhere below Hicks on Joralemon. Subway is absolutely a problem, as is the sinking cobble stone Street. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a whole in the middle of the Joralemon between Hicks and Willow one day.
i live around the corner from there. you don’t notice the subway during the daytime, but sometimes the rumbling wakes me up in the middle of the night. i’m not sure if the trains speed more during the night, but there are times the whole building shakes…
those houses have lasted as long as the subway so I wouldn’t worry about that. also, those carriage houses on college place may sound inelegant to you but they are prized and those garages have been pretty good neighbors. they are going condo tho and it will be a pity
the subway has been there for almost a 100 years now, and the buildings are still standing.. will it take 300 years for the effects to be seen??
I am frankly amazed to finally hear someone admit that the houses on Joralemon are built over subways. Considering the condition of the house when they moved in, I honestly think you would have to be out of your mind to pay even $825 three years ago. This house is directly opposite the houses on Joralemon that have been consistently on and off the market for the past four years and just steps away from the wreck on Columbia Street (clapperboard, sold by Corcoran a few months back) that sold for $1.8 mil after a bidding war. Did anyone notice that Sotheby’s now are listing it for $2.1 in the NYT. Obviously whoever bought saw how much it would really cost to renovate. I’ve always loved the houses down at the end of Joralemon but I would never consider buying. Frankly, two subway lines constantly trundling underneath has to have some kind of structural effect on the building over time. Moreover, I dread to think what damage the pedestrian traffic will do to the gorgeous cobblestones when the park opens.
Carriage House makes sound elegant. On dark alley with parking garages. 20 by 50′ 2 story structure covering entire lot.