Open Thread Wednesday

By on October 9, 2024 12:03 am in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Andrew Porter
  • Nosey Neighbor

    An article on a developer who converts multi-family brownstones in Brooklyn Heights back to single family

    https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2024/10/08/eckstrom-brings-townhouse-development-to-brooklyn/

    ”Eckstrom’s husband and wife duo are snapping up vacant multifamily properties and converting them into massive townhouses”

  • Peter Scott-Thomas

    There happened to be 2 somewhat related articles in today's NYT. One is about the scandal-of-the-day (said merely to indicate that the Adams admin. is so corrupt, prosecutors probably COULD do 1-a-day for quite some time) in terms of its "commercial leasing" program, and the other talks about how a City owned space on Eliz. St. (now a garden) will soon be the site of 123 affordable housing units.

    I'm sure the Eckstroms are industrious, but I'll bet that if the City auctioned off building rights for its many vacant properties – sans bribes, but maybe with some "encouragement" of zoning variances – dozens, if not hundreds, of buildings would go up.

    Some might involve non-profits, but most just reflect the reality that housing (at all price points) is scarce, and "construction" has fewer barriers to entry than most fields where the cash-on-cash returns are mouth-watering.

  • Cranberry Beret

    A few observations:
    Some of these buildings they're buying were NEVER single-family houses. Buildings like 307 Hicks St, which the article mentons at the end, aren't being "converted back" to 1-family…they were built as apartments. It's the developers who're making the buildings 1-family for the first time.

    They say "In Brooklyn Heights, there are almost no renovated townhouses at all" – Really? Seems far-fetched, and maybe just their excuse for kicking tenants out of the multi-family buildings they're buying.

    The developers claim "experience with handling…the prickly Landmarks Preservation Commission" — if you google this team, they're the same ones who got turned down by LPC to build a house in one of the Grace Court gardens. And got caught by LPC for renovating 170 Clinton St (the one in this article) without a permit. Caveat emptor.

    "The firm has made 18 purchases for $90 million the past two years" – that sure sounds like a lot of leverage or outside capital. Pour one out for the ordinary millionarire looking for a Heights townhouse & using their own money, trying to compete with this :)

  • Banet

    Since it is fairly quiet here I will chime in with my semi regular reminder that there is a little lending library at the intersection of Grace Court Alley and Hicks Street.

    It happens to have quite a bit of room right now so why not do a little fall cleaning and find a few books (or a few dozen) and drop them off?

    Also, as way of reminder, you do not have to drop off a book every time you take a book. The concept is that over time as a member of the community the number of books that you take and the number of books you drop off will balance out. :-)

  • Effective Presenter

    There are still some prime location Brooklyn Heights brownstones chopped up into apartments in the 1950s full of rent control and rent stabilized tenants.

    These are NOT beautiful apartments most are studio, 1 bedroom apartments the once grand brownstones destroyed.

    Tenants take buy-outs $$$ developers spend a tremendous $$$ amount of money and a gracious brownstone single family home reins again.

    It takes alot of work and alot of money to convert a Brooklyn Heights brownstone back into a single family home.

  • Andrew Porter

    Article is Paywalled.

  • Andrew Porter

    When Rent Control—not Rent Stabilization, which is a separate program—was created, there were more than a million aprtments in it. There are now less than 12,000.

    The rules for the program required apartments built before 1947, where the tenant has lived since at least July 1, 1971.

    So nowhere in the city are there a mass of such apartments any more.

  • Andrew Porter

    I saw a box of books outside Books Are Magic, for free. One was for sale inside the store, but had a tear in the cover.

  • Sweeties

    Are there any books you're looking for in particular?

  • Banet

    The books are not for me – they’re for the community. People have left all kinds of books from popular new novels to old classics to outgrown kids books to political non-fiction.

    really, anything you think someone would enjoy. We only ask you only leave books on decent condition. It can be obviously used, but please no water-damaged books or books with no cover or books that are falling apart.

  • clarknt67

    “They’re not beautiful apartments?” For a tiny fraction of the conversion back to single family they could be beautiful studios and one bedrooms.

    I see no reason to celebrate the diminishing of affordable housing, in Brooklyn Heights or anywhere in the city. It’s not like people with $10M+ to spend are hard up to find a place to live. The ultra luxury market is already flooded and units moving slowly.

  • Effective Presenter

    They are NOT beautiful apartments a few of the brownstones are derelict.

    The derelict brownstones are a step above "rooming houses", barely have a bathroom or kitchen.

    NOT beautiful apartments the brownstones had been chopped up usually 2 or 3 units per floor. The hallway the staircase takes a large part of each floor leave room for a studio or a one bedroom apartment.

  • Effective Presenter

    Each year via legal maneuvers or illegal maneuvers rent protections rent controledl, rent stabilized apartments are deregulated and are now fetch market rate rents.

  • clarknt67

    I currently live in a one bedroom In Brooklyn Heights that used to be one floor of a single-family brownstone. It’s rent stabilized and by New York City standards spacious, and I don’t know if it would qualify for you, but many consider it beautiful. This is largely due to my own investment of elbow, grease DIY projects that have made it my home over the last 30 years. It would probably be the end of my New York City time if some rich person decided they needed to buy the whole building and kicked me and a dozen neighbors out.

  • Red Leader

    I don’t think they could legally kick you out if they are planning to gut and resell. At the very least you would be entitled to compensation.

  • Effective Presenter

    Fortunately you have rent protections, Rent Stabilization Laws working for you.

    Some of the brownstones had been chopped up gently others chopped up viciously really wrecked.

    Many had been "rooming houses" put as many rents on the roll as possible.

    We are glad that you have a beautiful rent stabilized home in Brooklyn Heights.