Saturday, February 23, 2013

The $700K Condo Game Creeps East: 475 Sterling Place, #3A



Gone are the days of the $700K 2BR condo in the neighborhoods that even Brooklyn novices can get their heads around.  Not long gone, mind you.  We kept you laced all last year with some of the finest looks at $700K condos in the top neighb's.  Not just once, or twice, or even thrice, but four times!  We even read the tea leaves for you.  And we told you to fear not the brownstone.  And while that was busy sinking in, we were busy moving some of the sweetest pieces of $700K townhome in all of Brooklyn - including Crown Heights winners like 1379 Pacific Street and 1148 Sterling Place.  While we watched developers chop Park Slope 8-Fam's into million dollar condos, we showed you where to go to get the best places ~$700K can buy.  Gems like 1054 Dean Street, 1077 Dean Street, 272 Sterling Street, and 986 Park Place.  Where do you find all these winners?  Usually in Crown Heights.  Now guess who's got multiple offers, including cash offers, for two different $700K+ condos these days?  Gulp... the edge of Crown Heights!  You heard that right.  Crown Heights - once your personal Discount Shoe Warehouse of $700K brownstones - now has cash offers on $700K+ condos??

People slice Prospect Heights and Crown Heights differently.  Ask the hipster girl who moved here two years ago working at the coffee shop on Classon, and she'll tell you she's in Prospect Heights.  We'll call Classon the cut-off, which puts the condo at 475 Sterling Place, #3A for $715K smack-dab in the cross-hairs.  If we actually need to tell you how this place is close to the 2/3 train, the Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park, the best of both worlds between Franklin Avenue, Washington Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue... then you're already tardy to the party.  Rest assured, this isn't your father's Crown Heights from a generation ago, or even Cappa Donna's Crown Heights from a decade ago.





It may not wow you, but this is a totally legit look at 2 real bedrooms, 2 real bathrooms, washer/dryer in the unit, a roof deck, a gym, parking behind the building, floor-to-ceiling windows & new finishes, all in a prime location that's only getting primer.  Around the corner from fixer-uppers pushing $2M, buyers of these condos step out their front door to feast on kimchi tacos, garlic shrimp, various boudgie pizza options, and all the things that give even the grimiest neighb's that certain seal of approval.  If you missed your chance to hear live music from Bar Tabac pouring into your window in Boerum Hill for these prices last year, now you can hear the old-timey music from Tom's Restaurant out your front window at 475 Sterling Place...




We guarantee you that shovels in the ground across the street from here will be asking more per square foot than this by the time they're done.  Activity like this may be why that search for a renovated townhouse for $700K that pays for itself in rental income is getting harder & harder to find within earshot of the Franklin-Washington Avenue corridor.  But don't take our word for it.  We've said plenty.  Let the market tell the story...


Pro's:  legit 2BR/2bath, fresh condos in a nice building, prime location, great value

Con's:  the secret's out, generic by many's standards, if you can swing it - why not go a mile east and get a townhouse?

Ideally:  if you missed this rush, or want a smaller slice, there's still a 1BR available here under $500K

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