Brownstoner's Profile
- Mr. B
- 2003
- 2004
- Brooklyn
- Clinton Hill
- House
- Blogger
- Male
- 37
Author's Posts
November 23, 2009
House of the Day: 166 Washington Park
The brownstone at 166 Washington Park in Fort Greene has been on the market for at least a year and a half by our count. In that time it's been featured a couple of times as an Open House Pick but never as a House of the Day. Given that it recently underwent its a price cut, bringing the asking price down to $2,199,000, the listing seemed worth revisiting. It's clearly a lovely house in a great location (overlooking Fort Greene Park). Other than the price, the only snag we can see is the configuration (two floor-through rentals over an owner's duplex); nothing inherently wrong with that, but it's not what most family buyers are looking for.
166 Washington Park [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark
Co-op of the Day: 160 Henry Street, #1B
While this ground-floor co-op at 160 Henry Street is a far cry (both in terms of price and vertical feet) from its more famous upstairs neighbor, it's still an attractive apartment in a great Brooklyn Heights location. It's also a decent-sized one-bedroom with a reasonable maintenance, given that this is one of the premier doorman buildings in The Heights. What do you make of the $509,000 asking price.
160 Henry Street, #1B [Douglas Elliman] GMAP P*Shark
647 Baltic Coming Down
After being cited by the Department of Buildings for "Failure to Maintain" back in July, the vacant building at 647 Baltic Street began being torn down last week. Given the 20-foot crack that ran up the side of the building, this sounds like a prudent course of action.
Crack is Wack for Slope Building [Brownstoner] GMAP
One Hanson Now Scaffolding-Free
Last week the scaffolding on the Hanson Place side of the Williamsburg Bank Building finally came down. "It's still up along the Ashland side and down next to the church on Hanson," writes a resident of the building. "Now if we can just get the new Atlantic station open we'll be in great shape!" GMAP
"Forte Reboot Priced to Sell
After going off the market at the end of the summer (presumably while the bank figured its plan of action), the Forte hit the market again at the end of last week under the auspices of Corcoran. The big news is that the units look priced to sell! Back in the old days, a 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom woulda cost you somewhere in the mid- to high- $700,000s. Now, for that price, you can pick a 1,435-square-foot three-bedroom. Crazy. From the looks of the first wave of listings, most apartments are priced at around $500 a foot. These could go fast at these prices. GMAP
Monday Links
Wall St. Finds Profits Again, Now by Reducing Mortgages [NY Times]
Two Cafes Mean Competition in Crown Heights [NY Times]
What Happened to Construction Peepholes? [NY Times]
F.H.A. Reaches Out to Condo Buyers [NY Times]
Going Green in Older Buildings [NY Times]
Cops Crack Down on New Pedicab Rules [NY Daily News]
Pier 6 Opening Postponed Until Spring [NY Daily News]
High Rents Mean Empty Stores in Brooklyn [NY Daily News]
Debris From Stalled Sites a Danger [NY Post]
61 Pounds of Cocaine Seized in Williamsburg {NY Post]
Vet Attacked by McD Employees in Sunset Park [NY Post]
Photo by blgriffith
November 20, 2009
Closing Bell: Last Outdoor Flea of the Season!
This is it, folks! We've arrived at the final weekend of the outdoor flea season and luckily it looks like the weather is going to cooperate both days. And for those of you who like to plan ahead, remember that the Gifted holiday market launches the day after Thanksgiving in the old Tower Records space on Lafayette and East 4th in Manhattan. The Brooklyn Flea is held on Saturdays from 10 to 5 at the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene (176 Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues; take the C or G trains to Clinton-Washington) and on Sundays from 11-6 in Dumbo underneath the Brooklyn Bridge at the corner of Water and New Dock Street. Map and directions here.
Open House Picks
Park Slope
289 Garfield Place
Corcoran
Sunday 2-3
$1,950,000
GMAP P*Shark
Ditmas Park
664 Westminster Road
Douglas Elliman
Sunday 2:30-4:30
$800,000 (was $995,000)
GMAP P*Shark
Greenwood Heights
323 21st Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 1-3
$749,000
GMAP P*Shark
Bedford Stuyvesant
509 Decatur Street
Fenwick Keats
Sunday 12-1:30
$525,000
GMAP P*Shark
Author's Comments
Only when they're posted by somebody who has been banned for repeated profanity, threats of violence and unauthorized self-promotion finds a way to worm his way back into the site...or for obvious reasons like hate speech or racism.
Posted by: brownstoner at November 10, 2009 1:15 PM in response to Martha's Brooklyn Show Wrap
thanks for the well-wishes
Posted by: brownstoner at November 5, 2009 5:36 PM in response to Mrs. B Side-Swiped In The Heights
BSD, Mrs. B chased him for a couple of blocks honking her horn so we're pretty sure he was aware!
Posted by: brownstoner at November 5, 2009 5:01 PM in response to Mrs. B Side-Swiped In The Heights
Yeah, we're not really interested in insurance--wouldn't mind the guy getting a slap on the wrist and being forced to apologize to the wife though!
Posted by: brownstoner at November 5, 2009 4:11 PM in response to Mrs. B Side-Swiped In The Heights
Denton hit the nail on the head. You could just go google general contractors in brooklyn but the theory (besides helping to pay our mortgage) is that you weed out some of the fly-by-night operations that would show up in a free data-dump type of list; and frankly a list of 8 or 10 electricians that have some connection to Brownstoner is more of a manageable starting point than a completely barrier-less list of 200. $300 a year is only $25 a month, which is hardly a high hurdle to get over. It does mean that the service provider needs to place some value on reaching the Brownstoner community, which it should; in theory word-of-mouth from the community will on balance recruit higher quality list members than the freebie option. We shall see.
Posted by: brownstoner at November 5, 2009 3:01 PM in response to Brownstoner Directory Reaches Milestone of 50 Listings
thanks. permanent.
Posted by: brownstoner at November 5, 2009 1:41 PM in response to Brownstoner Directory Reaches Milestone of 50 Listings
Take a chill pill, there bxgrl. We were not denigrating St. Barts in the slightest. We think it's an incredible place; the fact is we've spoken to people their about their financial situation and they could use every bit of help they can get. That Tiffany window alone is reason enough to root for the church's survival! Sorry but you're not going to get us cheering for the creation of an ugly new church for some fringe sect on a block with a bunch of beautiful old houses.
Posted by: brownstoner at November 4, 2009 11:59 AM in response to Church Reboot on Clinton Avenue
Our main point was that it's a poor allocation of resources since presumably these folks are all worshipping the same entity; so a gem like St. Bartholomew's (http://bk.ly/VF) in Crown Heights slowly crumbles while a couple of million bucks gets blown on this POS. Of course, judging from the description above, this particular organization doesn't sound like one that a traditional church would want to climb into bed with but still...
Posted by: brownstoner at November 4, 2009 11:35 AM in response to Church Reboot on Clinton Avenue
It's not the slightest bit snarky. It's critical but perfectly earnest.
Posted by: brownstoner at November 4, 2009 11:15 AM in response to Church Reboot on Clinton Avenue
Standard widget markup would have put this at around $350K...
Posted by: brownstoner at November 2, 2009 11:01 AM in response to Widget Falls Way Short on South Oxford
As master plumber said, there aren't any electricians in the directory yet; when the first one signs up, the category will appear.
Posted by: brownstoner at November 2, 2009 6:08 AM in response to Where Are the Electricians?
American Apparel shafted us.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 29, 2009 11:47 AM in response to Brownstoner 2009 Survey Results
846 respondents
Posted by: brownstoner at October 29, 2009 11:11 AM in response to Brownstoner 2009 Survey Results
Bankers and lawyers combined made up less than a quarter of respondents though...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 29, 2009 10:43 AM in response to Brownstoner 2009 Survey Results
Interestingly, half of those with no college degrees make $100K or more and 62% own. And 43% of them are 40 or older. The sample size is only 35 though.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 29, 2009 10:28 AM in response to Brownstoner 2009 Survey Results
Speaking on a panel about the future of local media tonight in Soho fyi: http://bk.ly/Sn
Posted by: brownstoner at October 27, 2009 11:20 AM in response to Open Thread
There are no dogs allowed in Fort Greene as per school policy; they are allowed in Dumbo because it's park property.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 26, 2009 12:04 PM in response to Martha Does The Flea
Would probably cost a few extra bucks, but don't see why you couldn't get your screen names on the back :)
Posted by: brownstoner at October 26, 2009 10:05 AM in response to Open Thread
DIBS asked about the Brownstoner sweatshirt in the Martha video. A couple of years ago we took some orders and got a batch made, so there are 10 or 12 floating around out there, though we've never seen anyone sporting one on the street. If peeps are interested, we can do another batch. Think they were about $50, because they are American Apparel sweatshirts with the lettering actually sewn on.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 26, 2009 9:53 AM in response to Open Thread
zero comments, as well.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 23, 2009 1:14 PM in response to Open House Picks: Six Months Later
Bivouac,
Those changes are underway. Programmer's been a little swamped, that's all...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 23, 2009 10:21 AM in response to 20 Clifton Place Sells, Kicks Widget's Ass
Taking it up a notch...from one day a week to five...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 22, 2009 1:51 PM in response to Ho! Ho! Ho! The Flea Takes Manhattan (For a Month)
Well played, benson ;)
Posted by: brownstoner at October 22, 2009 12:00 PM in response to Kudos, Sorta, from The Village Voice
Yes, hardly the Nobel prize...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 22, 2009 11:34 AM in response to Kudos, Sorta, from The Village Voice
If the bad weekend weather continues, we might take you up on it, Tybur6!
Posted by: brownstoner at October 22, 2009 11:21 AM in response to Ho! Ho! Ho! The Flea Takes Manhattan (For a Month)
Nope. They didn't even want to have the conversation. Dismissed the idea out of hand.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 22, 2009 11:15 AM in response to Ho! Ho! Ho! The Flea Takes Manhattan (For a Month)
Not cheaper, that's for sure. It's more a matter of finding the right landlord that "gets it" and likes the idea of activating an otherwise empty space. The folks who own the space at the corner of Smith and Atlantic underneath the Nu Hotel, for example, dismissed the idea out of hand, even though they're currently earning nothing on the space and we would have brought thousands of people, along with a few potential tenants no doubt, through the space. Small-minded and short-sighted in our humble opinion.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 22, 2009 10:50 AM in response to Ho! Ho! Ho! The Flea Takes Manhattan (For a Month)
We don't have any problem with recessed lighting in a store. Just brownstone parlor floors!
Posted by: brownstoner at October 19, 2009 12:27 PM in response to Getting Close on Grand?
stand-alone post on both house tours scheduled for later in the day
Posted by: brownstoner at October 16, 2009 10:37 AM in response to Weekend Events
And here's a bullish sign: More than half of the renters are planning to buy within the next two years...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 3:40 PM in response to Open Thread
Finance is the most popular profession and two-thirds of you commute to Manhattan for work...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 3:39 PM in response to Open Thread
Sorry, turns out we can't change the content of the questions once the survey has begun :(
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 2:34 PM in response to Brownstoner Reader Survey
Something like this, TD? http://bk.ly/M8
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 10:16 AM in response to 2 Lefferts Comes Into Focus, Exceeds Expectations
Park Slope way out in the lead for neighborhood residence...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 10:12 AM in response to Open Thread
59/60 so far have a college degree...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 10:10 AM in response to Open Thread
After 60 responses, 50/50 male-female split...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 10:08 AM in response to Open Thread
Oh, crap, sorry. Will add...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 10:05 AM in response to Brownstoner Reader Survey
Update: 1 out of 40 respondents so far makes over $500,000. Less than 30% making under $100K though...developing...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 10:04 AM in response to Open Thread
Okay, anyone who makes over $100k go take the survey! Just joshin'...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 14, 2009 9:55 AM in response to Open Thread
Sorry, folks. As always, it was set up for 9:15-ish but was left in draft form so it didn't automatically publish. More detail than you probably need but bottom line it was a simple clerical oversight, not a conspiracy to derail the OT.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 8, 2009 9:55 AM in response to Open Thread
Arkady/Noklissa,
Agree that the tabs in the upper right looked a little better, but we're all coming at it from the perspective of heavy users. Can't tell you how many regular but not diehard users have told us over the years that they'd never even noticed the tabs! Seems crazy, but would rather err on the side of hitting people over the head than going unnoticed in this case...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 7, 2009 3:23 PM in response to Brownstoner Directory Launches
We would respectfully disagree that it's useless without user reviews. It's meant as a starting point to create a short list of service providers at the beginning of a search; in the case of service providers who have mini-sites with photos, etc. it's quite a reasonable way to begin finding a contractor. And because it's paid, it should avoid the "noise" of Craigslist, which is cluttered with fly-by-nights. As we found out with Brokerate (and we've seen to a certain extent on the Forum), user reviews are also quite prone to competitors filing false negative reviews--and discerning the "real" ones from the fakes is an almost impossible task.
Posted by: brownstoner at October 7, 2009 3:20 PM in response to Brownstoner Directory Launches
You probably need to refresh your browser or clear your cache. It's definitely a caching issue. The layout, size, etc. have not changed!
Posted by: brownstoner at October 7, 2009 11:26 AM in response to Brownstoner Directory Launches
DIBS,
859 Smax already was HOTD: http://bk.ly/Jc
Posted by: brownstoner at October 5, 2009 9:41 AM in response to Open Thread
Joe the Bummer,
That's also a good idea. Probably better than the multiplier actually....
Posted by: brownstoner at October 1, 2009 1:37 PM in response to
Chicken, we've also got that in the spreadsheet. Agree that it's useful to try to measure impact of pricing on psychology...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 1, 2009 11:31 AM in response to
Antidope, we've got that column in the spreadsheet just didn't want to cram too much in here for visibility's sake. That's also the important number because it's what we'll have to multiply the widget average by to get the proprietary Brownstoner predicted price!
Posted by: brownstoner at October 1, 2009 11:27 AM in response to
Given OP's username, we're not so sure this ain't a hoax of a post...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 1, 2009 9:33 AM in response to Exposed Brick Blues
Here's an older post about Hakeem Jeffries and Tish James calling the clinics to task: http://bk.ly/GN
Posted by: brownstoner at September 29, 2009 12:56 PM in response to 925 Fulton In Turnaround
hah, that's hilarious
Posted by: brownstoner at November 17, 2009 12:02 PM in response to Johnson Gourmet Deli Revealed