Another Record Being Broken in Bed-Stuy: 101 Hancock Street

Just in time for the new year, it's another new record for a townhouse in Bed-Stuy.  This time at 101 Hancock Street, which listed for $2.45M to much fanfare and is now in contract slightly over that asking price.  From the developers who brought you another Bed-Stuy record breaker over $2M at 22 Arlington Place, and who landed $3.5M not far away on the Clinton Hill / Fort Greene border at 384 Vanderbilt Avenue, this renovated 2-Family is part modern, part generic, part stunner.

From the same broker team that dropped a restoration stunner on ya in Bed-Stuy at 260 Decatur Street, and hit an at-the-time shocking number of $1.95M in May, this market that's "cooling down" (to hear some people tell it) was poised to hit over $2M multiple times the rest of the year in neighborhoods no one thought "deserved" it.  But hitting almost $2.5M in Bed-Stuy when people still think that's Clinton Hill prices?  You've gotta just sit back and say, "Wow!"  We have been for a few months now.  Can we officially say the metamorphosis is complete now?  Bed-Stuy is no longer your creepy crawler caterpillar, but a butterfly ready to spread its wings and fly with any other top neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The style of 101 Hancock isn't for everyone, but you can't please all the people all the time.  These developers were some of the first to really grasp that high-end end users would make their way east and pay a premium for even slightly unique product.  And nifty little stylistic touches that are a turn-off to some really appeal to others.  Playing middle of the road isn't the way to knock it out of the park for that one right buyer.  Remember, the peanut gallery masses don't by this building, one person or couple does.  These developers have employed a medley of styles, and "additional photos of past projects [of theirs] have also been included in this listing to provide a better frame of reference for this project..."

Sure, spiral staircases are impractical, but so are useless garden floors with no ceiling height.

How about the double height on the back half of the parlor with all those windows (dubbed "wall of glass") creating a little atrium in the back?

Maybe not the way you would've landscaped the yard, but it's a totally serviceable landscaped yard...

What the house lacks in character it tries to make up for in newness and nifty touches.  Say what you want about Bed-Stuy.  Say what you want about the quality of renovation of this house.  But you can't say that it's not another record breaker.  And if you think this renovation is only "meh", then what will an even better renovation go for next year?


Pro's:  full-sized 4-story renovated 2-Family, lots of nifty little touches, kinda stylish, one of Bed-Stuy's top blocks, central A/C and Nostrand A/C train is right there for ya

Con's:  omg - the price!, kinda generic, not everyone's taste, where's the original details?, where's the soul?

Ideally:  a modern renovation at a startling price, way above our pay grade.  Possible harbinger of another new normal for the area