Halsey Street Reno: Garden Level Part II

Working With Raw Spaces

After a few years of renovating old homes, I have to say that the garden floor of our Halsey Street brownstone is the hardest job I've ever done. Why was it so hard? Because I basically started with a raw space.

Starting with a raw space can have some pluses: you have the option of making additions, like adding bedrooms. Of course I tried to turn the garden into a two bedroom apartment, but after consulting with Mrs. Renovation, some relatives and my contractors, we decided that it looked too tight as a two bedroom.


We also figured that a potential tenant would enjoy a more open one-bedroom instead of a tight two-bedroom.
So, we got our mason R., on the job. Two and a half months later, we had a nice, sparkly, spacious one bedroom that was rented two weeks after we began showing it.

Halsey Street Reno: Garden Level Kitchen

Like I mentioned before, the garden floor of our Halsey Street brownstone was a challenge. Fortunately, it was easy to renovate the kitchen, because the former owner left the appliances and cabinets intact, giving us a pretty good idea of how the kitchen should be designed. Mrs. Reno thought that we should keep a similar layout, but that we should extend the cabinet space across the length of the kitchen wall and add more top cabinets. Our mason, R., came through to spruce up the walls with a skim coat and some new paint. Three weeks later, voila! We had new walls and a new leash on the kitchen. Our cabinets came from Bratchi out on Foster in East Flabush. Their cabinets never fail to make a lasting impression on potential tenants.

Foreclosures Hit NYC's Minority Communities

According to WNYC, "Homeowners in New York are defaulting on their mortgages in record numbers as the nationwide housing crisis has hit the city harder than anyone predicted. Data suggests that foreclosures will reach at least 15,000 by the end of the year, more than double those filed in the city in 2005 as the number of new cases continues to increase."

The stats also show that most of the foreclosures are in the heavily Black and Latino communities of Brooklyn: Bedford Stuyvesant, Bushwick, East New York and Flatbush lead the city in foreclosures.

Data provided by Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, "shows a disturbing trend among victims of the housing crisis in New York. Many of them are elderly or disabled, and the majority are African American or Latino."

According to the report, "these newly vulnerable areas have traditionally been the backbone of New York’s middle class minority communities. But for decades they have been underserved by traditional banking institutions, which opened the door to independent brokers and loan sharks."
Will this crisis erode the thriving middle class of Brooklyn in these areas? Some experts would argue that without a middle class, these communities may not be able to survive the onslaught of gentrification. Time will tell.
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Crown Heights Video Tour

"There are many worlds and cultures in Crown Heights and somehow, they all manage to get along. Take a tour of Crown Heights, Brooklyn."

Video from turnhere.com

PLG Stoop Sale (Sterling Street)

Come support Sterling Street at the last stoop sale of the year. Drinks will be served.

100 Sterling Block Association Stoop Sale

Location: Sterling Street

Btwn: Bedford and Rogers Aves

Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Bed-Stuy Is Alive