Sunday’s Open House 9/9/07

By on September 9, 2007 7:00 am in Uncategorized

226555-1.jpg57 Montague Street #4K
Studio
$349k/$433 maintainence/month
Broker: Corcoran Agent: Lisa Sulfaro
Open House 9/9/07 2:30PM – 4:00 PM 

 

Steps to the promenade, a very pretty L-shaped studio in The Breukelen offers a rare combination of space, location and amenities. Located on the 4th floor and facing South, this unit is flooded with sunlight which highlights the interior of the apartment making its parquet floors shine like glass. Additional features include hi ceilings, casement windows, stainless appliances and new cabinetry, murphy bed as well as great built-ins. This fabulous studio also offers full time doormen, concierge, and on-site maintenance staff, newly renovated lobby and elevators, exercise room, bike room, and laundry room. Not to mention, the fabulous teak wood roof deck overlooking the NY Harbor, South Street Seaport and the Brooklyn Bridge. Fabulous for sunning and dining with friends or just relaxing on a sleepy Sunday morning with coffee. Pet-friendly building."

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  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    As a Breukelen resident (whoever wrote the ad obviously flunked Dutch 101, as I had to correct the spelling), I can attest to just about every claim made for this magnificent building. The roof deck is just as described, and we do enjoy 24 hour door coverage, an exercise room, etc. However, I furrowed my brow when I saw the word “concierge.” I’m not sure who on the staff fulfills that job description. Perhaps I should try asking Jimmy, the afternoon doorman, if he can get me tickets for a Friday night performance of Spring Awakening, or a table at Per Se. As they say in the Lotto ads, “Hey! You never know.”

  • CJP

    Saw 4U’s comment about it being overpriced and have a two-part response. I looked at the listing (I’m not in the market, mind you) and thought “Wow! What a reasonably priced studio, especially given the maintenance.” I’ve never been in the building but know the location and don’t think you can do much better in Brooklyn Heights if a doorman building and this prime location are priorities for you.

    My other point is about my own experience with neighborhood real estate values and it lends a little more credibility to the asking price on this apartment. We bought a one-bedroom about 10 years ago (a real fixer-upper) for about $85,000. We then poured another $75,000 into the place to do the bathroom, a bedroom, kitchen and floors. We sold that about 3 years ago for $425,000 and considered ourselves lucky with what we got because we had it listed at $399,000.

    You can imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when that same apartment was on the market, listed for $760,000!

    So given that set of numbers the Bruekelen asking price doesn’t seem off the charts to me.

  • fishermb

    i just couldnt imagine putting up to $400K into an apartment and having to sleep on a murphy bed every night.

  • lady montague

    Hi Claude, let me preface my comment by saying I love the Breukelen. But do you agree with the broker’s listing that says the windows are a “feature”? (Not the light but the windows themselves.) I always thought the windows were a weak point in an otherwise fine building and they could use an overhaul (killer expensive, I know, we did it in my 9 floor building down the block a few years ago).

  • spm

    60 Remsen: No pets and we don’t know what the maintenance is. Also, the Breukelen is closer to the Promenade. That particular apartment advertised in the Breukelen has been up for sale before, currently it is being subleased, but it needs work – floors especially.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Lady Montague: I glossed over the window issue. I like casement windows, and think they are an essential part of the building’s art deco look. They could use some maintenance.

  • Heights

    60 Remsen allows pets. One bedroom maintenance is about $1,100 per month.

  • wayne

    Markets for studios are in the mid $300k’s…greed or not, that’s what they’re trading at.

  • Cranky

    It seems high to me too. I know someone that just bought in the Heights for $210 and saw another studio advertised for $179.

  • wayne

    I think it’s too broad of a brush to just say that another studio sold somewhere in the neighborhood for a much lower px. what’s the size, location, maintenance, actual location, age, condition. for the listing above, something in the $300s is appropriate…not saying the mkt could go lower, but it would be the broader mkt, not necessarily just this one property.

  • Annette

    Hi (to Claude especially, and please tell Lizzie I say hello!) –

    I used to live in the Breukelen. To protect my buyer I won’t disclose my sale price, although it probably made the rounds months ago (I sold in May), but the buidling does command – and get – high prices.

    Claude is right, there is no concierge, but all else is true.

    I do have to disagree, however, about the casement windows. I *HATED* those windows. HATED, hated, HATED. They leaked in the winter, no matter how much insulation I used, and the single panes are like a strong saran wrap – yes, they keep out the elements most of the time (it *snowed* in my kitchen twice; windows closed, the wind must have blown “just right” and I literally had a snow drift on my window sill), but these windows are nothing during a frigid winter, believe me. Not to mention that they don’t have crank handles, so a strong gust of wind either smashes them open or, worse, closed, scaring the bejesus out of you and hopefully not raining glass down upon any hapless passersby. I spent at least two years trying to find cranks that could be mounted, but the windows are steel and the frames not tall enough at the bottom to attach anything, so I could never fix it. Homemade contraptions failed, too – I tried everything.

    The windows aside, the buidling IS very nice, as are the staff and most of the people who live there. Regardless of what 4K eventually sells for, fear not: the value will only go up.

    Best of luck to all,
    Annette Lellis

  • Anon

    To Cranky: do you know any further details of where your friends bought their studios? I’ve been lookin online for a while now, and the cheapest studios I’ve ever seen were in Concord Village, a complex that, while valuable, I simply cannot see myself buying in. Any help you can give would be most appreciated

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Annette,

    So good to hear from you. I hope you are happily settled into your new home. Liz sends hugs and kisses to you and your furry friend.

    Please stay in touch. BHB is a great way to keep up with the old neighborhood.

    Claude

  • GHB

    At 160 Columbia Hts we got new casement windows (which had to pass Landmarks) about 4 or 5 years back. We had the same issues with our original casements as the Breukelen has, but that’s been resolved. No more indoor precipitation. If I remember correctly, Skyline did them. Expensive as hell, but totally worth it in the long run!

  • Cranky

    Hi Anon,

    One was the little building on Clark Street (I think it is number 70). I saw a unit at 30 Clinton advertised for $179. I was bummed I didn’t have the down payment. :-(

  • Annette

    BTW – I did forget to mention that the apartment I sold in 57 Montague was a studio, as well, although considerably larger than 4K and also having a huge, *huge* separate kitchen by studio standards (8’x8′), and 3 big closets, one being a walk-in. I was also on a much higher floor (10th) and had partial northern city views of the Chrysler building (I can never spell that right), Manhattan Bridge and Brownstone Brooklyn (4k has a partial view, way to the right, of the SoL).

    It’s a nice apartment, but the kitchen is a pass-thru (aka in the foyer) and the full-sized fridge is in the LR. If I had to venture a guess for a sale price, I would say $315 – $320 (although the other poster is right, it was on the market even before mine was, over a year ago, then taken off for a while).

    So far as “4U’s” comment about $349 being “sheer greed”, that’s just plain wrong – it is not greed, it’s what the area will support. 4k was listed at $349 from the get-go and, after comparing other area studio listings, I priced mine a bit higher. Again, I do not want to divulge the sale price for the sake of my buyer’s privacy, but suffice it to say I wasn’t too far from the mark.

    On another note, Hi, Claude! Please have Liz (or you, if she doesn’t have email) email me and I’ll send her some photos of her furry friends (net827@optonline.net).

    I do miss the ol’ ‘hood, by the way, but I love my new house and yard in da’ Bronx!

    Best,
    Annette

  • splash

    It’s what the market is….get educated people and welcome to NY