New to the Listings section of the blog, we checked out this new construction brownstone 2-Family yesterday on the north end of Bed-Stuy towards Bushwick. 906A Lafayette Avenue is almost finished, and coming to market for $1.5M. Now you might've doubted the listing broker Nevo before, when he dropped Crown Heights' 852 Park Place on ya for over $1.5M a few months ago. Platinum Members passed on it at $1M-$1.1M a few months earlier, but the house is now closing above $1.5M this month. So we can't say where the price goes next, but this Lafayette house sure is an upgrade from the vacant lot that was there before...
With high ceilings on all floors, large windows, and a good brownstone look on the facade - especially as new construction goes - this house is a welcome addition to the row...
The height and the bare modern interior space remind us of Williamsburg new construction. The width is barely 17', but we're told it's 60' deep. Set up as a double-duplex plus finished basement, there's separate central heat & A/C for each unit. We're told the larger duplex could rent for as much as $4,000/month. We don't the rents on this exact block, but there are plenty of beds and baths to back up the potential. Even if it's not your taste, it is all new...
Generic is often a decent trade-off for functional. Like lots of these renovations, the house has little affordable touches here and there, much like 610 Willoughby Avenue. Washer/dryer, skylights, lots of closets wherever possible, creative layouts. We're not feeling the skylight instead of a window for a bedroom, but might make a living room solution.
Oh, and did we mention the roof deck in the back??
That's the stuff we go for in Fort Greene executed properly on the outskirts of Bed-Stuy. Some landscaping yet to be done before the yard reaches its fullest potential...
Lots of would-be buyers tell us they want a vacant lot to build a house on, but few realize it takes years, lots of capital, headache, and know-how even for the pros to pull it off. If you can do it better than them, then you do it. It's definitely lame when developers rip original details out of historic houses to make them cheap & modern, but if someone goes modern ground up and throws a nice brownstone facade out front, it's actually kind of a cool blend.
90% of Bed-Stuy buyers are bound to find this house too far, too expensive, and too generic - and we can't really argue with them. But a few people might cop themselves another freshly finished hipster hideout at a good price, much like 179 Park Avenue, that's still plenty of profit for the developer. It took a few years, but the whole here is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.
Pro's: ground-up new construction with a brownstone look, rentable double-duplex, high ceilings, 60' deep, finished basement, roof deck, skylights, central heat & A/C, interesting look for the Bed-Stuy/Bushwick tweener buyer
Con's: off the beaten path, generic style, skylight as only window in some rooms, not the price we expected
Ideally: not where we'd head first at this price, but the right buyer will appreciate it
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