Fabulous Refab

It had been bothering me for a while that the stained glass windows on this house could only be seen from the outside. The previous owners wanted to put a circular curtain rod in, and they decided to cover the windows with sheetrock, and bring the windows down. Terrible. I couldn't quite figure out whether the windows were intact on the side that was inside the house, but I had to try. Hey, you never know.

Unfortunately, by knocking down the wall, I created two new jobs for myself. One, I had to strip the wood mouldings and two, I had to rebuild the mouldings that were missing. I kept thinking, How the hell would I go about doing this? The easiest thing to do would have been to replace the original mouldings with stuff from Home Depot. But I decided to go to Dykes Lumber and refabricate the missing mouldings. Since lumber yards no longer make these mouldings, we had to replicate them as best as possible using 3 or 4 different mouldings.
The finished product? Priceless.

Sterling Street Stoop Sale: Saturday July 19th

The Sterling Street-100 Block Association is having a multiple home stoop sale this Saturday, July 19th from 10AM to 3PM.

The stoop sale will be on Sterling Street between Bedford and Rogers Avenues in Prospect-Lefferts Garden. Proceeds will go towards funding their first annual block party.

Visit their stoop sale and see what treasures you may find. Furniture, Clothing, books, bric-a-bracs, etc. Hope you all can make it.

Please click here or on picture to view flyer.

New Condos Come to PLG

Formerly an abandoned building, 411 Rogers Avenue in Prospect-Lefferts Garden has been turned into a six-unit condo building. When I spoke to Alyssa Morris, a Corcoran agent, she said that only three of the six units were available for showing.

For $375, 000 (common charge: $269), you can get Unit 2, a two bedroom, one bathroom duplex with access to your half of the manicured private garden. Unit 4, a two bedroom, is going for $350,000 (common charge: $227). Unit 6, a 2 bedroom, is going for $365,000 (common charge: $269) and includes access to the roof deck.

According to Corcoran's website, "There are six new residential homes set up as duplexes with private gardens for entertaining and outdoor leisure, as well as 2-bedroom floor-through apartments-- some with private roof decks for those ring-side firework views."

When I visited 411 Rogers Avenue last weekend, I saw two duplex apartments that share the backyard. The first level of the duplexes is in the cellar, which is small and kind of cramped. The other four apartments are relaid single units. Also, don't get your hopes up about the roof deck. The roof deck is just an asphalt roof that is not fit to walk on. From the roof you have a nice view of a huge tree in my backyard; so much for seeing fireworks. But with the right plants, and some railings for those evenings you have a couple too many beers with your friends, it could be a cool chill-out space.

Still, in today's market, these units are reasonably priced. The common charges are almost too good to be true. I’d definitely negotiate them down on the asking price of the condo, because there are a few things that will need work.

In general, I thought the rehab was a bit shoddy and they really didn't put too much money into the bathroom or kitchen materials. There was another downside too--the duplexes have one bathroom. Anyway, I'm sure that to someone looking to buy the pros will outweigh the cons. The building is in a great location--just a block and a half from the 2 and 5 trains, and two blocks from Prospect Park and the Botanical Gardens.

Related articles:
1) Condo Conversion on Rogers Ave.
2) Corcoran's listing for 411 Rogers Ave.