Category: Real Estate

Source: Habitually Chic

178 Garfield Pl has now been listed on Zillow for at least 50 days at $3.75 million despite a Zestimate of about $2.9 million (estimated mortgage: $13,992/mo). This 7-story, 3.5 bath Park Slope townhouse was built in the late 19th century. It is 4,400 square feet, and was last sold in July 04 2004 for $1.3 million. Since then, the place has been featured prominently in Domino, Livingetc, and other publications.

A lot of the attention is due to its present inhabitants — J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyons and her husband, artist Vincent Mazeau, who are apparently getting divorced. According to a report on Zillow, Mazeau might get the home in a settlement. After Lyons and Mazeau purchased this Park Slope home in 2004, they gutted it before doing a stunning remodel, including plaster cornices, an open double parlor, restored limestone mantels, and aged pine floors.

If you’re looking for an easy way to dispose of that $5.75 million lotto winning, perhaps you’d be interested in 501 2nd Street? You know the building: across the street from PS321 and the Second Street Cafe, it’s a handyman’s special with a prime Seventh Ave ground floor retail space that’s been vacant for years.

Just don’t fire up those grand plans… the building (sans the top-floor duplex apartment) is already “100% triple net leased to one tenant.”

More, including the full real estate listing, on the Daily Slope discussion boards.

agg writes on the Park Slope Message Board: “I’m thinking about buying a studio in Windsor Terrace. It’s a nice place, just next to the park, but it’s also small, about 500 sq. feet. I put a bid in for about 270K, and the seller accepted. Am I getting a reasonable deal?”

“The common charges and taxes are quite low (about $200/month). I’m just a little anxious because I haven’t been able to find many comparable apartments in the neighborhoods to look at. I’m also a first-time home buyer, so I’m kind of anxious about this whole process… “

Hmm… how many closets and hallways are included in that 500 square feet? Comments on the Park Slope Message Board

Dress in a suit.

Keep calm.

Speak when spoken to.

Don’t volunteer too much.

Be yourself (unless you are a dog-breeding rock star).

Small co-ops: be enthusiastic about helping with the chores (garbage, cleaning, etc.)

Prepare to be asked about your job, finances, large credit card balances, or other liabilities.

Don’t lie outright, but of course, you don’t like loud parties, being awake after 8:00pm, doing construction ever, or even walking in shoes in your place.

Thanks to Jamzer posting in the Park Slope Message Boards

cat writes in the Park Slope Message Boards: “I’ve been looking at apartments in Bay Ridge… I’ve heard that a lot of people from Park Slope have been moving there.”

“I know it’s *not* Park Slope (I actually have more favorite restaurants there than in PS tho’!) but any personal experiences or knowledge about it?”

Read replies: Park Slope Message Boards

Many thanks to reporter extraordinaire Hugh Son for highlighting the saga of the tenants at 598 6th Street (see “Mr. Livanos Peeping Through His Tenant’s Collapsed Ceiling”). Hugh writes in his Daily News article:

“Brown liquid poured into Marian Tortorella’s ground-floor apartment yesterday as workers did exterior cleaning… A 7-foot section of Tortorella’s ceiling collapsed in September, and pictures she took were posted recently on a Park Slope community Web site (www.dailyslope.com).”

“But Livanos said he wasn’t trying to force tenants out – he just wanted to make repairs. ‘Right now it’s a doghouse and we’re spending a lot of money to fix it up properly,’ said Livanos, who bought the building in March for $1.8 million, according to city records.”

Discuss Landlords vs Tenants: Park Slope Message Boards

From the Dream-on-You-Frustrated-Renter Dept.:

Diane writes in the Park Slope Message Boards: “On my block (6th Ave. btw 10th-11th St.) there is a vacant house that’s been there at least as long as I have (17 yrs.) … there are massive holes in the roof … Last year someone walking on the rooftop – drunk – fell through the roof into the vacant building. Luckily, he had a cell phone and was able to call for help.”

“… what I am wondering is, can the city condemn the building and have it torn down?”

“I know people have tried without success to purchase the property. The story is that the original owner — now deceased — left money in his will to pay the taxes in perpetuity, but also instructed his heirs never to sell — some kind of revenge thing with a neighbor, who of course is no longer there.”

PICTURED: A different eyesore in Park Slope, right off 7th Ave.

Read ’em and weep: Park Slope Message Boards

travisruse writes to Daily Slope: “South Park Slope has won its downzoning battle.”

“It’s official!! As of 2:40pm, Wednesday the 16th of November 2005, South Park Slope and Greenwood Heights have been downzoned. Another mindless R6 district has bitten the dust…”

“And so what happens to the numerous sites that were racing to be the clock? Namely the two Isaac Katan 12-story monsters on 15th and 16th streets. And also the Robert Scarano building which was going to block the view from Minerva to the Statue of Liberty. Well it looks like it might be a clean sweep in favor of the community… it looks like none have completed foundations… Read more…

BACKSTORY: Developers Run Amok in South Slope [Park Slope Message Board]

It’s more expensive than ever to buy in Park Slope.

Median house prices in Park Slope (actually Park Slope/BoCoCa/Brooklyn Heights combined) jumped from $900,000 to $1,250,000 from First Half 2004 to First Half 2005, according to a report from Halstead that was reported on Curbed.

Average price is up from $1.09 million to $1.38 million over than same time period.

Discuss: Park Slope Message Boards

From the Daily News: “Peeling paint. No heat. An overwhelming stench of sewage in the halls… Welcome to life at 152 Fourth Ave. – one of five ‘buildings from hell’ in Park Slope where a landlord is trying to drive tenants from their rent-stabilized homes, housing advocates charge…”

“Organizers from the Fifth Avenue Committee charge landlord Gustav Rodriguez has refused to provide heat or make necessary repairs to the buildings as a way to harass tenants into leaving.”

DOES IT WORK? “Guerra said last year the 40 apartments in the buildings were full. Now only eight are occupied.”

LANDLORD REBUTTAL: “Rodriguez insisted Friday he has done nothing wrong: ‘Everything that the court told me to do I did.'”

Ah ha ha… a tenant’s dream: the landlord who does everything… everything that he is forced to do by a court of law!

Discuss: Park Slope Message Boards

Dunno. What do we look like … know-it-alls?

Here’s a nickel, kid. Go ask Newsday:

Over on whimperandwhine: “It has been months (10 to be exact) since I moved out of my 1-bedroom on 5th Avenue and Garfield place to make room for the controversial Commerce Bank…”

“Here is what the site looks like today. Looks like the last thing this neigbhorhood needs is another ______. Bank? Baby? Boutique? What is the last thing Park Slope needs?”

Long discussion of the big hole on 5th Ave.: Park Slope Message Boards

Reported in the Daily News: “As the clock ticks down on plans for a massive rezoning of south Park Slope, developers are scrambling to squeeze in controversial projects – while angry residents are battling just as furiously to try to stop them…”

“Advocates say developers routinely ignore stop-work orders, or pay the fines and keep building.”

“The so-called downzoning of the area could take effect as early as November and would bar developers from building 12-story buildings on residential streets now lined with two- and three-story homes. But in the meantime, residents charge, the countdown has sparked a building frenzy by developers trampling Buildings Department regulations as they rush to lay foundations before the changes take effect.”

RANDY PEERS (CB7): “In terms of construction, it’s out of control. It’s a war zone… On every block, there’s two or three construction sites. Between the trucks and the bricks and the noise, it’s outrageous.”

AARON BRASHEAR (Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights): “It’s going to totally change the neighborhood … On my block alone, we’re tripling the population in one fell swoop.”

Pity the Poor Developers

From the Brooklyn Downtown Star: “Architect Robert Scarano, who delayed the construction of his buildings to comply with community concerns has become disenfranchised with the process, which has left his client, who invested his life savings in the property, with much less space to build than expected. ‘These are not Donald Trumps … They’re not even as big as the people who are going against them.”

The Minerva Scam

More from the Downtown Star:

“Scarano’s original plan would have impeded the historic view between the Statue of Liberty and the Statue of Minerva at Battle Hill in Greenwood Cemetery … It is said that the gaze between the two statues must be preserved because it represents freedom and is the reason the Statue of Liberty was built facing Brooklyn.”

“But Hermian Charles, a 16-year resident of South Slope, said… “I think we are being hoodwinked … I consider myself an amateur historian of the area. The Statue of Minerva was pulled out of obscurity for the sole purpose of stopping construction projects in the South Slope.”

Discuss: Developers Run Amok in South Slope [Park Slope Message Boards]

daniel asks: “Anyone know what’s going in on the corner of 5th & Union, right next to Beso? I can’t remember what was there before, but I passed by last week and the store has been gutted. Looks like something new is coming in soon.”

Comment: 5th + Union? [Park Slope Message Boards]
Read comments: 5th + Union? [Park Slope Message Boards]