3 Victorian wood-frames coming down on Bedford Ave (Lenox and Caton)

suppleknuckles

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I'd known these 3 victorian houses on Bedford Ave sold last year for a while now--altogether netting something like almost $4 million for the owner, who had apparently own all 3 houses for decades now. I haven't heard of any plans for the site, but had a foreboding feeling that nothing good could come from purchasing the lots to make a combined super-lot. 

last week they started demolition:

the fence info:

I live around the corner from these, and while some of them have been in poor condition for many years, i was really kind of in love with them for surviving literally a hundred years of changes. Not anymore though.

Plglife

I saw this the other day as well, looks like a huge building is on it way to plg. I feel sometimes people don't realize the beauty of their home I am 26 and I own and live in a Victorian in the neighborhood. I get offers every week. Last week some guy came to my door with a 10,000 check! I won't sell.

suppleknuckles

Man, i have more photos of this weekend's rubble pile, but it won't let me upload them for some reason. anyway, at the moment the cream house is a pile of misc rubble (men with a truck were hauling off pipes and beams this saturday) and the green house, arguably the loveliest of the three, has a sad half-caved in roof, the little spire cut in half. The red house remains mostly untouched--i suspect they have yet to fully prep it for demolition.

Plglife, don't sell! and if you ever do i hope it'll be in a climate where these houses are a bit more "in vogue" if that ever happens. right now everyone seems to have brownstone fever...perhaps the infamous stories of difficult upkeep have kept end users from investing in these wood frame homes. it's a damn shame... especially when we think of how enormous the building on the combined plot could be :S does anyone understand zoning enough to comment on the height/size potential? 

suppleknuckles

here we go:

whynot_31

2010 bedford
2012 bedford
2014 bedford
2016 bedford
2018 bedford
2010 Bedford Avenue

@suppleknuckles
Plans are presently being reviewed for an 8 story, 78 unit building.

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/JobsQueryByLocationServlet?requestid=1&allbin=3116617&allstrt=BEDFORD AVENUE&allnumbhous=2100

BTW, we have been picked up by Brownstoner: http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2015/03/demo-comes-for-three-wood-frame-houses-in-flatbush/#comments

Rebecca writes:
"They’re coming down to make way for an eight-story Karl Fischer-designed building at 2100 Bedford Avenue, according to permits filed in December. The new development will have 78 units spread across 60,074 square feet, as well as 40 parking spaces on the cellar and first floor.

The properties at 2100-2110 Bedford Avenue sold for a combined $4,600,000 last year, public records show. Each of the homes sits on a lot that’s 40 feet wide and at least 100 feet deep, which means that a developer will have a 15,000-square-foot plot once the houses have bitten the dust.

Wood frame houses are falling prey to development all over the borough, and activity is especially intense in PLG and Flatbush right now."

doublen00b

I think that the wood frame houses will be as desirable as brownstones if they keep interiors in tact. What's the point of a brownstone if they whole thing has been gutted? I understand exteriors aren't as pretty, but that doesn't make it a lost cause. It just needs to be maintained really well.

As for my place, I'm excited about it. It's fully detached, good luck finding that in a brownstone! I have never hear my neighbors. I have a 2 car garage and a yard! Yeah I don't live somewhere super cool with vegan organic free range coffee, but I love to come home every day, and if I want that free range coffee it's only a 5 minute walk. 

suppleknuckles

This lot has been empty for a while now with now activity. Just walked past today and saw they posted a new "rendering" (architectural drawing, really):

RudolfAhrens

Nobody in San Francisco thinks Victorian wood frame houses are undesirable! 

whynot_31

That might have something to do with their weather vs ours. And, the relative profit one can make from a modern multi family structure vs a wood house on the same lot.

RudolfAhrens

This one is going up quick! They're already working on the third floor. 

Meanwhile the grey house on the corner just sold for $2.6m. 

100 Lenox Road

 http://streeteasy.com/building/100-lenox-road-brooklyn 

No permits filed yet. 

5500 sq ft corner lot. The FAR is something like 3 or 4 here so that would be maybe 15,000-20,000 sq ft? another 6 or 7 stories and 20-25 rental units?

ehgee

Nobody in San Francisco thinks Victorian wood frame houses are undesirable! 

Nobody in San Francisco is allowed to demolish wood frame Victorian houses and put up 8 story buildings.

And there are plenty of wood frame Victorians in the Midwest that are so undesirable that they are abandoned and demolished. Here's a lovely one for under $26,000:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3218105463-1534-N-40th-St-Milwaukee-WI-53208

pragmaticguy

It's $26k because the schools suck and it's a somewhat high crime area. So, it may not even sell that quickly.

whynot_31

There are lots of houses in the Midwest for very reasonable prices in areas with ok schools and tolerable amounts of crime.

....however, good luck getting a job that pays over $50k and uses more than 50% of your brain.

suppleknuckles

argggggh. this is a huge bummer. not that i couldn't have seen this coming. it was a matter of time, really. but this corner house is a real gem of the lot--i saw its 1940's tax photo when i was looking for one of my own building--there was no fence, just a trim lawn with little girls playing on it. i'm glad the sellers got a decent amount of money, and i'm not opposed to more units with more residents...i'm just incredibly wary of what the design will be like. all the buildings and houses on Lenox are set back, and the chance whatever replaces this will also be set back are slim to none. and i'm worried how much it could ruin the look of the block by jutting out on the corner of all places.

ehgee

There are lots of houses in the Midwest for very reasonable prices in areas with ok schools and tolerable amounts of crime.

....however, good luck getting a job that pays over $50k and uses more than 50% of your brain.

It's not quite that bad, unless one is in a small remote town.

But it's true that employment opportunities are far worse in much of the Midwest. That is why so many of us Midwesterners are here— not because of our trust funds, which our parents somehow accumulated by working jobs that pay significantly less than on the coasts.

ehgee

It's $26k because the schools suck and it's a somewhat high crime area. So, it may not even sell that quickly.

True. If you want such a house in a good school district with low crime near hip new bars and a food coop and Scott Walker's house, you might need to shell out $200k, which means you'd need to pay over $1000 PITI:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3214472481-2240-N-64th-St-2242-Wauwatosa-WI-53213

Fortunately, your rental unit will probably cover around $800 of that:

http://www.padmapper.com/show.php?source=8&id=245128389&src=main

suppleknuckles

2100 Bedford ave has topped out and a rendering is on YIMBY:

http://newyorkyimby.com/2016/02/revealed-2100-bedford-avenue-flatbush.html

RudolfAhrens

They have a website. It's going to be condos. 

http://www.2100bedford.com

suppleknuckles

looks classy! not surprising. i noticed some time ago they have central air, which seems to be a rarity with rentals. and the brick facade is going up fast. they may even be done by spring 2017 as advertised.

RudolfAhrens

The website has a picture of a tunnel in Prospect Park that is about a 20 minute walk from the building.

RudolfAhrens

BTW speaking of big old houses being torn down and replaced with apartment buildings, this is from a 1930s redlining map of Flatbush. 

" 4-story walk-ups and 6-story elevator apartments renting $12-23 per room. New apartment construction is replacing palatial but obsolete singles except in Lefforts Manor (south side of Lincoln Rd. to north side of Fennimore and from Flatbush Ave. to Rogers Ave.) which has a perpetual restriction to 1-family houses."

RudolfAhrens

The listings are describing this project as "75% sold". Prices were about $800/sq ft. Most of the other new projects in Flatbush are rentals but I wonder if this will encourage developers to build more condos. From what I've heard, there are still plenty of buyers looking for condos around here.

suppleknuckles

i hope so. all the new rental buildings in the area are ugly as sin. personally, i'm waiting to see these all pop up as rentals. i just rented out my 1 bedroom around the corner and i wanna see how they stack up.

RudolfAhrens

People started to move in. I see xmas lights.