Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

In the world of quick flips and maximizing purchase and construction dollars, renovating and restoring a brownstone for profit is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest for some exercise. Stripping and sanding and staining intricate wainscoting and moldings is a painstaking and costly affair that doesn’t result in a bump in resale value. Rather than restore the houses are denuded of their original charm, replaced by paint, expensive stone, light wood floors, sputnik lighting and gleaming commercial grade appliances. A scan of the NY Times real estate section shows a number of these type of townhouses asking top dollar.

59 Lincoln Place (photo courtesy of the New York Times)

Park Slope’s 59 Lincoln Place ($4,490,00), 151 President St in Carroll Gardens ($3,500,000) and 453 DeGraw Street in Gowanus ($4,200,000) are visually stunning and have a classic brownstone facade but inside are hardly recognizable from the conventional detail dripping Victorian houses we expect

292 16th St, Park Slope Brooklyn (photo courtesy of Zillow)

“There’s a difference between a restoration and renovation,” says Abdel Tarchid, a designer with Scavolini Kitchens in Brooklyn, who has been involved in many such renovations including  292 16th St in Park Slope. “Developers are not in the business of restoring. Certainly many of our clients, come to us for something very modern but tasteful, with clean lines where the electric and plumbing along with heating and cooling systems can be installed in an efficient manner. It would be painstaking to do if you had to navigate around old pipes and woodwork,” he says.

Doug Bowen a broker with Douglas Elliman has sold around 100 Brooklyn townhouses. He sees the kitchen as a driver for large-scale renovations in historic townhouses.

“The most successful townhouse renovations manage to craft open-plan kitchens seamlessly into these antique properties,” he told the Appliances Connection blog. “Townhouse configurations in the prime parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan trend to either a single family or a two family. Most commonly an upper triplex with a garden rental. Both are most successful with kitchens at the rear that bring the outdoors inside and visa versa.”

For those attached to these historic townhomes, who believe stripping them of their Victorian majesty is almost sacrilegious, a replacing battered vintage molding with newly made ones is often a faster, if still expensive, undertaking, resulting in something truly spectacular.

1 Verona Plce courtesy of Zillow.com

In 2017, 1 Verona Place shattered the sales record for a townhouse in Bed-Stuy when it sold for $3.3 million. The entire interior was gut renovated and with all new moldings custom built apart from part of the staircase and painted in black lacquer as was fashionable a century ago. The developers were Christiaan Bunce, a principal at the design firm KGBL, and Adam Dahill, a mortgage broker. 

What their renovation budget was, they didn’t disclose. The lofty sale though, succeeded in raising the comps for the neighborhood of other houses without their meticulous renovation.

“Old houses have layers of visual interest created by the elaborate details, but you don’t have to keep them all,” said Kimberly Neuhaus, founder of the full-service architecture firm Neuhaus Design who recently renovated 167 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. 

“When you renovate an old home many of the materials are pre-existing. Your new interventions should be constructed of materials that you love.”

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Park Slope has long been considered one of the top tier neighborhoods in Brooklyn for luxe lifestyles. The rich history of the neighborhood combined with the rows of beautiful brownstone mansions offer a unique glimpse into the New York of yesteryear.

At Tracy Mansion, the beautiful ivory colored mansion at 105 Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn, has one opening still in the historic building, unit three. Elliman’s own Alex Maroni, coming in at just under $4 Million dollars, just issued the listing. The home, featuring three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms is spread across a duplex residence that has the ornate beauty of a pre-war home with interior craftsmanship, moldings, and design that makes one feel as though they’re in the Astors’ mansion. The ceilings of the space are a towering 11.5 feet high and come alongside a wood burning fireplace, original chandelier, custom built ins, and original floors. The space also overlooks a fifty-foot rear garden and the rest of Park Slopes quiet, peaceful properties.

While the home is steeped in the area’s history, this model mansion also comes outfitted with a modern kitchen and state of the art appliances ready to bring any resident into the 21^st century while still appreciating the past.

The post This Brooklyn Mansion Has One More Open Unit appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.

After designing the renowned New York spa Aire Ancient Baths, architect Ignacio Alonso has designed a new listing by Douglas Elliman that feel more like a Sanctuary for the Park Slope resident.

Residence 3 at 505 2nd Street in the neighborhood is a 3 bedroom, two and a half bathroom unit coming in at just under three million at $2,795,000. The home boasts incredible floor to ceiling windows looking out onto 7th Avenue, with huge space in the living room. ASH NYC designed the beautiful home with a modern aesthetic that feels perfectly in sync with the chic Brooklyn neighborhood while still feeling comfortable and homey enough for anyone coming back after a long day at the office. The building also features top of the line Meile appliances along with a Summit wine cooler, gourmet kitchen, and dining room space perfect for entertaining friends. The residence is also accessible from a high speed private elevator with key-card access.

The location of the building also can’t be beat. For those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, particularly any potential tenant with kids, Park Slope has become the go-to neighborhood with its quiet peaceful brownstone lined streets, easy proximity to Prospect Park, and recent trend of chic new restaurants, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, and more coming to the neighborhood. 505 2nd Street is a four unit corner boutique elevator condominium.. Most importantly, the building offers a landscaped roof deck where one can lounge in the sun or throw a dinner party with their summer kitchen equipped with sink and BBQ while having the backdrop of panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline and beyond.

Buying in Brooklyn in today’s market also comes with the added fear of the looming L train shutdown this winter. This building will be completely unaffected by the shutdown with near access to subways reaching all across the city like the D, N, R, W, F, and G lines, giving you the ultimate reach to what New York has to offer with a quiet basecamp in Brooklyn.

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