Has This Boerum Hill Sleeper Awoken?: 82 Dean Street

On and off the market for years, 82 Dean Street in prime-time Boerum Hill is a 4-story brick building that's been trying to find its way.  We covered it some years back, and it was an old listing even then!  Well, what's changed?  Besides the market, we're told there's a Certificate of Non-Harrassment now for this SRO.  Which was the game-changer that made deals like 138 Prospect Place and 660 St. Marks Avenue fetch higher prices than they otherwise could have.  We're told that SRO properties are mortgage-able once they've got the C of NH, and we wouldn't believe it unless we saw it with our own eyes.  So what's with 82 Dean Street?  We were first inside it 2 years ago with some wanna-be developers who were looking the steal the place.  Then we heard a few months ago it was fielding offers above $1.5M.  A few weeks later, we heard it was going into contract for a stunning $1.9M.  Now, one of the busiest brokers in town is telling us he's still got it available for $1.7M.  Our main-man Gavriel Drew at Fillmore is all over town with some of the best on and off-market opportunities.  He says 82 Dean isn't sleeping anymore, it's alive & kicking.

The building's still small, it still needs a gut, it's still barely got a yard... but we're told the zoning issue from before has been resolved too.  The peanut gallery will say, "Over a million and a half for that?!"  And you can't blame them.  However, it's not like there's a ton of product over here either.  Even if you're ready to spend well over $2M, it's slim pickens in BoCoCa these days.  But don't take our word for it.  Walk into any real estate broker's office on Smith or Court Street, and even if you're a cash buyer up to $5M, ask them if they've got any townhouses available.  Then watch them roll their eyes and tell you they have nothing to sell you, with a disinterested glaze over their faces.  It's why brokers get a bad rep and why even fuzzy deals like 82 Dean Street start to look appealing; if not in pictures, then certainly in context.

If a gut like 270 Dean Street in a less desirable locale can fetch $1.55M, and a 3-story around the corner like 200 Wyckoff can get $1.4M last year in a flash, and anything decent over there can command in the high $2M's... only time will tell what 82 Dean Street can do now that it's out of its slumber.



Pro's:  top notch location, delivered vacant, 4-stories, got C of NH now, mortgage-able, finally ready for a deal?

Con's:  small, needs a ton of work, ain't cheap, not much yard

Ideally:  it won't take another 3 years before this is the pimped-out single family of someone's dreams