Here Now, Brooklyn's Ten Priciest Neighborhoods In 2015
Last year was a banner year for New York City real estate. Brooklyn and Queens continued to gain on Manhattan, narrowing the price gap between the prized island and its outer boroughs. Only one Brooklyn neighborhood made it into the city's top 20 priciest 'hoods of 2015—surprise!, the rest are in Manhattan—but that doesn't mean that Brooklyn isn't hot. As construction booms in the borough, the median sales price will continue to soar. PropertyShark laid out Brooklyn's ten most expensive neighborhoods—and the priciest houses sold in them last year—confirming that the borough is following in the footsteps of its teeny tiny neighbor.
'Spectacular' Prospect Lefferts Gardens Townhouse Asks $2.1M
Welcome to the Brooklyn Townhouse Roundup, where we—you guessed it—take a look at the most notable Brooklyn townhouses on the market. Got tips? Send 'em here.
↑ Lately, a great many of our townhouse listings have been configured as multiple units. This week, we have some wonderful single-unit homes. Our first is in Prospect Lefferts Gardens and has four bedrooms (though you could turn one room into a fifth) and two bathrooms (one with a steam). The pre-war structure boasts wedding cake moldings, "ornate" banisters, "fantastic" woodwork, four decorative mantles, five sets of pocket doors, pier mirrors, and "beautiful" original hardwood floors made up of Tiger Oak, Maple, and Mahogany inlay. The master bedroom closets come with sinks. The kitchen has floor-to-ceiling windows leading to the backyard. It's only about two blocks from Prospect Park. It asks $2.1 million.
Nonprofit Wants 17-Mile Streetcar Linking Brooklyn & Queens
[Rendering of a Brooklyn Queens Connector streetcar passing Atlantic Terminal. Courtesy of Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector via New York Daily News.]
Development along the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront is booming, but for many residents, lack of transit is still an issue. One nonprofit has proposed a solution to the problem: A 17-mile-long waterfront streetcar network that would run from Sunset Park, Brooklyn up to Astoria, Queens, according to the New York Daily News.
Brooklyn Is Getting More Apartments Than Anywhere In the U.S.
Around almost every corner in Brooklyn, a new development is rising to bring more apartments to the city's most populous borough. So it should come as no surprise that Brooklyn is leading not only New York City, but the rest of the country in the construction of new apartments.
There's a Perfectly Preserved Michael Graves Apartment Hiding in Brooklyn
[Images courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum. Michael Graves (American, 1934-2015). Library and Child's Bedroom from the Reinhold Apartment at 101 Central Park West, New York, New York, 1979-1981. Decorative Arts. Gift of John, Susan, and Berkeley A. Reinhold, 86.179.]
Somewhere in the archives of the Brooklyn Museum sits a series of rooms designed by late postmodernist architect Michael Graves for Susan and John Reinhold's apartment at 101 Central Park West. The Reinholds, fixtures in the late 20th century New York City art scene who counted Andy Warhol amongst their friends, commissioned Graves from 1979 through 1981 to design a library and children's bedroom and playroom for their Upper West Side apartment. The rooms, preserved in situ in the archives, have never been put on display by the museum, and largely exist without the awareness of the public.
The Reinholds had a knack for tapping rising stars in the architecture world; Timothy Rohan, in a piece for Docomomo (h/t A/N), explains that prior to Graves's partial renovation, the Reinholds commissioned Robert A.M. Stern in 1971 to transform their upper-level duplex. The remodels came at a time when the West Side was on the rebound, and apartments that had been partitioned off in decades past were being recombined. Stern, along with John Hagmann, reconfigured the Reinhold apartment by removing decorative elements and opening the space up to create flowing living quarters.
It's More Expensive to Rent In Brooklyn Than Ever Before
[Courtesy Elliman Report.]
It's the same old story: rents rose again in August, reaching a "boiling point" in Manhattan and setting new records in Brooklyn. If you'd rather not have your Thursday ruined, take a look at these adorable pet-photobombed listings, but if you're a masochist who needs to know the details, read on. According to the Elliman report, prepared by appraiser Jonathan Miller, Manhattan rents inched higher for the 18th consecutive month, and they are now "skirting with records." The median is now $3,400, a 7.1 percent increase from last year, and the third highest on record. The average is up 2.8 percent to $4,048 (MNSputs the average at $3,963 and Citi Habitats puts it at $3,507). What's particularly depressing about this is that Miller says that the lower end of the market, i.e. non-doorman buildings, have seen rents rise faster than the higher end. And the "luxury" median rental price actually fell. Oh, the irony.
Officials Call for Superfund at Gravesend Transfer Station
[Via Bensonhurst Bean]
Residents of South Brooklyn have been doing anything and everythingto stop the construction of the controversial Gravesend Bay Waste Transfer Station, and now, local politicians are trying to make it a federal case.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, United States Representative Dan Donovan, Assemblymember William Colton, Councilmember Mark Treyger, and Councilmember Vincent Gentile have all petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that the site at 400 Bay 41st Street where the transfer station is under construction is heavily contaminated with "dangerous toxins" and should thus be designated a federal Superfund site.
One of Brooklyn's Oldest Houses Seeks $869,000
Although its listing pictures don't paint it as much, the small detached one-family home at 27 Gravesend Neck Road has quite the history. At about 355 years old, the house nestled between VanSicklen Street and McDonald Avenue in Gravesend dates back to the same period as other beloved well-known early New Amsterdam houses, but has gone without much fanfare because it has never secured landmark designation. Now, the historic house is for sale for a mere $869,000 (h/t Gothamist) and is, it appears, looking for someone to bring it back to life.
Dyker Heights House With Whimsical Kids' Rooms Asks $1.6M
Our semi-regular feature, Monday Mansion, examines the most interesting mega homes on the market in the far reaches of New York. Have a listing in mind that we're missing? Tell us about it. To the outer boroughs we go!
This house in Brooklyn's Dyker Heights, the land of the most extravagant Christmas lights displays in New York City, features a master bath with a steam shower and whirlpool tub, windowed finished basement, "whole house sound system," and some front yard shrubbery with an irrigation system. Probably the most fun aspect, however, is the kids' suite on the top floor, each room colorfully painted, with Scooby Doo guarding one room and Peter Pan guarding the other. The house is asking $1.6 million.
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Brooklyn Will Get 22,000 New Apartments in the Next 4 Years
According to the Brooklyn New Development Report from the data gurus at City Realty, Brooklyn is about to see a huge surge of new residential development. This is not exactly shocking news, but the numbers themselves are still interesting: 22,000 new apartments are on track to introduced to the market by the end of 2019, with almost half of them being built in Downtown Brooklyn (6,400 new units) and Williamsburg (4,300 new units). Not only will the "crush of [new] buildings with 20 or more units" bring a huge amount of apartments to the borough, but it will also dramatically change the Brooklyn skyline.
Rents In Some Brooklyn Areas Outpace Manhattan Equivalents
It's not news that Brooklyn's getting more and more expensive (see exhibits A, B and C), but a finding by TripleMint may be surprising: data released by the brokerage firm and digested by Politico New Yorksays that trendy Brooklyn neighborhoods are outpacing their Manhattan counterparts in terms of rent growth. TripleMint compared stats in neighborhoods that renters may find themselves vying between in the two boroughs, like Dumbo and Tribeca, where TripleMint found that residential and commercial rents in Dumbo saw an 18 percent growth in 2014 compared to only 8 percent in Tribeca. Prices in Downtown Brooklyn rose 13 percent in that same time, which is three percent more than in the Financial District.
Prospect Park's Most Overlooked Sections Will Be Restored
[The Vale of Cashmere captured by Curbed reader Monica Berger.]
The Prospect Park Alliance is gearing up to fund some improvements to the historic landmarked park's long-neglected northeast corner. The nonprofit is looking to give a much-needed makeover and cash infusion to the park's little-known and barren Rose Garden and Vale of Cashmere, a partially-abandoned reflecting pool full of rainwater and who knows what else. The Times describes the locales as "notorious for drug transactions and sexual activity" that has "scared off local residents" for too long. Ahead of the park's 150th anniversary, the organization is setting up a campaign to help pay for the improvements.
Which Building Will Be the Ugliest Addition to Brooklyn?
Building is booming in Brooklyn, but what exactly is rising isn't always a boon to the borough. As developers push new buildings through the pipeline to capitalize on the real estate market, it seems like little heed is paid to what exactly these buildings look like so long as they can charge tons of money to whomever consents to live in them. While this doesn't seem like it'll slow up anytime soon, we can at least try to have some fun with it. So we've put together a poll of nine buildings rising in Brooklyn that, well, just look hands-down bad. Curious? Cast your vote for the least aesthetically appealing after the jump.
Tour Mill Basin, Land of Gaudy Brooklyn McMansions
Mill Basin is the New York City neighborhood equivalent of a gift that keeps on giving, at least in the form of ludicrous pastiche architecture. Its tacky and mysterious mcmansions, which unilaterally look like buildings ripped out of a dated Miami real estate magazine, pop up in listings every now and again asking exorbitant sums. When did these structures proliferate? How? For the love of all things holy, why?Gothamist says they came-to after World War II, which, looking at them, makes sense (unlike everything else.) Other than a few misdeeds of their past owners, which count among them disgraced state senator Carl Kruger, this concentrated breed remains a mystery, which photographer Nate Dorr set out to photograph.
$425K East Brooklyn Fixer-Upper Is a Perfect Summer Retreat
Our semi-regular feature, Monday Mansion, examines the most interesting mega homes on the market in the far reaches of New York. Have a listing in mind that we're missing? Tell us about it. To the outer boroughs we go!
The way out east Brooklyn neighborhood of Gerritsen Beach may not be known for splendid architecture, but this small standalone house is undeniably cute. Although it could use some work, the two-bedroom house could be a perfect summer retreat from the crush of Manhattan. The house is located one block off of Marine Park and, as per the listing, two blocks from a "sandy inlet for swimming, sunning and beach time." The sunny red-painted house is surrounded by a white picket fence and wrap-around terrace, where a little bit of gardening could go a long way. Its ask is comparatively tiny, too, at just $425,000.
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