houseBrown Harris Stevens has just come to market with what has to be the most expensive townhouse ever in Park Slope. At $7.5 million, the listing price puts Jonathan Safran Foer’s $6.2 million $5.75 million purchase of 646 2nd Street to shame. And what do you get for this kind of cash? The 31-footer at 45 Montgomery Place has over 7,000 square feet of space with oval rooms that have rounded doors and radiators, a grand center staircase, multiple original fireplaces. There’s really not much point in debating the price. It’s worth $7.5 million if some fabulously wealthy person falls in love with it. The question will really be how long that takes and how much patience the seller has. Does anyone know anything about the house’s history? Past Owner? Architectural pedigree?
45 Montgomery Place Townhouse [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP
Foer to Have Bigger Foyer [Brownstoner]


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  1. Whoever said this is overpriced because it’s not a lyrical mansion is absolutely on the money: attached on both sides makes it dark, gloomy and basically standard brownstone layout, with some fancy trim.

    Also, to the person who said it’s not worth it cause it’s only PS, I agree again. While the rest of Brooklyn is gaining in RE value, as they catch up in terms of safety and public schooling, Park Slope is feeling more and more staid and left behind. There are just much more exciting options, with more character, color, dimension, than the dullness of PS.

    So my 2 cents are: 1 mil off tht price because of basic architecture of building, another 1 mil off the price because of location, and you’ve got a house that might sell for maybe 5 mil.

  2. It’s too bad we can’t use green type because we’re all green with envy. Small kitchen, large kithcen. Double lot, triple lot. Whatever. We want it too.
    Where do they get their money…what’s it to ya.

  3. This house COULD be spectacular, if you threw a WHOLE LOTTA CASH at it!!!!! It does need a kitchen desperately, but no one can think of building one on the ground floor until that floor is completely torn out and reconfigured. Currently, it’s a dank, dark rabbit warren, with mechanicals storage breaking up otherwise valuable living space. Electricity and other systems probably need updating, and new baths are also a must. Etc., etc. Under no circumstances is this house justified to command a $7.5 million asking in current condition!!!

  4. Let’s face it … the house was listed at $7.5 mil. so that the realtor at Brown Harris Stevens could get the listing..

    I am sure there have been no showings of this place… My real estate friends say that the market for houses in excess of $3mil. are dead… dead… dead… the market has dropped more in Manhattan than here, however, much of the square footage of this house is wasted in he hallway and stair areas of the home… I understand it needs new bathrooms and definitely a new kitchen… Top floor is also pretty shabby

  5. 642 Second St., The house that Foer and his novelist wife (she of successful Long Island real estate family) bought is a knockout; and considering its size, block though setting, and interior updates (superb; a house designed to accomodate both an active family and large scale entertaining) , it was a relative bargain at 5 plus mil.To my mind, it is one of the most beautiful properties in NYC.
    45 Montgomery Place, on the other hand, is a lumbering white elephant–and wildly overpriced at 7.5 mil. Look closely at the floor plan: the parlor floor kitchen (obviously put in later, as originally it would have been on the ground floor, manned by servants) is hardly family friendly, and not terribly accomodating to caterers/servants either. Ditto with the bathrooms. Has anyone calculated the energy costs to run a place like this? And ad infinitum..
    That said, what’s with this lingering Park Slope inferiority complex? As someone who has owned a house in Brooklyn Heights for over two decades–and loves my neighborhood–I think I can honestly say that Park Slope is not only livlier, has the better public schools (!), more housing stock and a more diverse population, it has Prospect Park, one of the true treasures of NYC–or any other city in the world for that matter. Considering its quality of life attributes, Park Slope is a Billionaire’s neighborhood.

  6. Speak for yourself. I’m a multi-mil, and I own a brownstone in PS. I could live anywhere, but like PS precisely because it is not BH or Manhattan. It has a charm that is very different from other nabes.

    I think the area will continue to be popular with the monied and/or Hollywood set seeking a low-key, urban, but non-Manhattan, place to raise families.

  7. What great restaurants or shops in PS? BH is easy walking distance to Smith Street, Court Street and Atlantic Ave which offer amazing shops and restaurants. The part of PS that people want to live near is above 6th or 7th Ave bet 9th Street and St Johns Pl. Unless you go to a small but growing strip on Fifth Ave or around 14th St and 7th Ave the restaurants are tired and uninteresting.

    What makes PS great is it’s proximity to the park. BH has it’s easy access to Manhattan. I wouldn’t pay 7 mil for a house in Park Slope, I might in BH, but since you can buy one in many desirable parts of Manhattan for $7 mil and less I’ll take my multi millions there.

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