Recently in Real Estate Category

So I happened upon 45 3rd Place (the renovated brownstone at the corner of Clinton with the rather unsightly rear addition) yesterday during its open house. My curiosity got the better of me, so I walked through with a friend. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised what 1.5 million will get you, but I was. The main selling point, in my opinion, is the light. Corner brownstones have a lot of it, and the interior renovation made the most of it, especially in the top unit's living room with its skylights. The quality of the renovation, though, was shockingly bad. I realize it wasn't finished yet, but so many little details gone awry: shower tile that was not flush with the wall, banisters so loose you could shake them, missing or badly applied woodwork, poorly installed lighting, etc. Every room had several eyesores that screamed, "the owner does not care about details." Of the three bedrooms only one in each apartment was of any notable size. The other two would be suitable only for offices or small children. And although the places have central air, they also have steam-heat baseboards, a real problem in a small room when you're trying to figure out where to place furniture. The real estate agent, though, was really nice.

Top floor: $1,555,000, with $440 common charges
Bottom floor (still with those two broken windows):  $1,595,000 with $459 common charges

We all do it. We're walking down the sidewalk at night and someone's interior lights happen to be on and their curtains are helpfully parted: We peek. It's, quite honestly, one of the reason I enjoy walking the Brooklyn brownstone neighborhoods at night. The chance to see how those who own their own  brownstones live is irresistible. And this weekend for the Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill house tour, it's also slightly less surreptitious. From the New York Times:

CARROLL GARDENS AND COBBLE HILL, BROOKLYN, MAY 6 A tour of seven homes, from 1 to 4 p.m., will start at the John Rankin house, an 11,000-square-foot Greek Revival mansion built in 1840, at 440 Clinton Street (Carroll Street). The Rankin house, which has much of its original interior details, 16 fireplaces and a collection of horse carriages, is now a funeral home. ... No children under 12. Tickets, to benefit P.S. 29, $20. More information: (718) 757-8062; by email to PS29Tour@gmail.com and ps29brooklyn.org.

This is a new building going up on Kane at Tiffany Place, west of the BQE. Not sure if there's been chatter about it before, but it looks quite nice (not a Fedders in sight). It also overlooks cobblestoned Tiffany, which is one of my favorite streets in this neighborhood. Of course, there is the extreme proximity to the BQE to deal with (that big gap between buildings is the BQE), but I'm guessing that houses that front the sunken BQE fare much better than those that front the elevated portion of the highway. Thoughts? (Also, I tagged this as both Carroll Gardens and Red Hook b/c people call it both ... it's so on the CG line, though, one might even be tempted to call it Cobble Hill West!)

I decided to play Brownstoner this weekend and snap some photos of new/updated neighborhood dwellings. The renovation below has intrigued me for some time. It's on Union Street, between Clinton and Henry. Keep in mind, there's about four or five of these low-rise row homes (product of the 50s?) on the block, which by anyone's definitions are not pretty. Someone's taken the one on the left up a notch. And--go ahead, call me tacky--I think it's a big improvement.

A reader, and I'm guessing a potential buyer, wants some updated info on the Court Street Lofts. Her recent request in a past post:

"has anyone bought a condo at court street lofts i saw bad reviews about it .has the new owners fix the problems the tenants were having.need to know."

Can anyone provide updated info for this person (beyond what we already read about problems with past ownership, etc.)?

Curbed let the cat out of the bag with its Red Hook "Beach" post, but still thought it worthy to comment on this neighborhood possibility. The part that's being touted is the creation of a non-swimmable beach that draws people to the Water Taxi (and, naturally, to a Schnack incarnation much like Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City). But the more interesting details are in the report itself. Among them, a 250-room hotel with "destination" spa, a school for boat building and water crafting, in-water boat slips, ferry to Governor's Island, more waterfront park space, and artisan space, with all new construction to be "green." Now, where's that trolley line?

Just for fun, we're taking name suggestions for the Red Hook "Beach" project, or ReHoBeeyatch for short. Leave 'em below.

Our friend over at RandomBrooklyn took this rather disturbing/amusing picture of the Whole Foods site in Gowanus. Brings new meaning to genetically modified veggies.

You know how sometimes, you think "Wow that's ugly, but it's just in the construction phase. I'm sure they have some great plans for that space." And you keep walking by, and it keeps being ugly. And then one day you walk by and they have an artist's rendering, and it's just as ugly as you suspected? Welcome to 45 3rd Place, "Luxury Living."

Wandered by this resurfacing in Cobble Hill the other day and thought it was a pretty cool peak underneath the brownstone.

So we have friends who are most likely moving to New York from our last home state of Georgia, and they've been peppering us with questions about which Brooklyn 'hoods are best and why. Certainly, I have my prejudices (go CG, go!) but I thought it might be nice to solicit feedback from folks about what they love in their neighborhoods. So, how 'bout it? What do you love about your swath of Brooklyn?