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February 23, 2007
Grand Avenue Wreck Getting a Makeover
The old woodframe house on Grand Avenue that has fallen into extreme disrepair over the last decade is finally getting a makeover. For years, the son of the owner has lived there (along with assorted unsavory neighborhood characters) without heat or hot water. The older woman who has owned the house in absentia for years recently died, leaving the house to her granddaughter. A few days ago, this dumpster showed up. This morning there was a cleaning crew working on the place. We were able to take a quick look around. It was hard to believe that people had been living in this place: Paint and wallpaper peeling off the walls, puddles everywhere, windows boarded up. It will be interesting to see if this changes the dynamic of the drug trade and loitering at this end of the block. Only the warmer weather will tell.
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Comments
What is avenues is this between..what a shame that it got to this.....I wonder why she didnt leave it to her son>?
Posted by: ke at February 23, 2007 9:57 AM
I like the house on the left. Something about a home that needs some tlc that just makes me want to hug it and tell it everything will be ok.
Posted by: Yente at February 23, 2007 10:43 AM
Yeah, me too Yente, but if you hug too many sick homes you might catch some of that sickness yourself. Trust me.
Posted by: Shahn Andersen at February 23, 2007 11:08 AM
Unfortunately, Shahn, it's too late for me. I've already caught it. I'll need years of therapy to get over my last one.
Posted by: Yente at February 23, 2007 11:56 AM
Actionable?
Rude? Maybe.
But now I can tell my mother that Adrian, uh who is?, lives around the corner. I think Grand has some great buildings. (One block over from one of the open houses featured this week). Funny that the condo projects and house for sale on Irving just seem to be sitting there. And it seems like half the houses on Gates from Grand to Classon are for sale. Maybe all because of the excitement generated by the Gates reno!
Posted by: Putnam-denizen at February 23, 2007 12:14 PM
the house next door is its siamese-twin, and was for sale 2-3 years ago for over a million - which seemed high at the time, especially given it was attached to what was obviously a drug den and just up the street from serious corner dealing - some one got it and reno'd - so now they get payback!
Posted by: apk at February 23, 2007 12:46 PM
Regarding Shaun and yente's comments, I am not sure how long it will take to get over my renovation (STOP ME before I BUY AGAIN!) but I must be partially over it because I am now longer looking at these dilapidated beauties as agents of personal torture anymore. I would look at the pictures and think - You know how much it would COST to repair those dormers. I also knew the 20 ways the contractor could screw it up...
Posted by: donatella at February 23, 2007 12:47 PM
I feel your pain Donatella. All I can think about is how difficult it will be to get Landmarks to approve their facade renovation.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 23, 2007 1:11 PM
Halloween is really going to suck in Clinton Hill next year. All of the haunted houses are disappearing one at a time.
Posted by: Shahn Andersen at February 23, 2007 1:58 PM
as a general matter, brownstoner should have good legal advice about what constitutes libel, defamation, invasion of privacy etc. - this is a good site and I'd hate to see it disappear over legal fees defending claims
Posted by: anonymous at February 23, 2007 3:53 PM
re: anonymous 3:53 -- Was that a veiled threat or genuine concern? And over what?
As a homeowner who bought a while back (wood frame, no less), done extensive renovations, and is not planning to sell, I usually have no dog in the fights that appear in Brownstoner's threads, although I do have opinions and have very occasionally expressed them. I enjoy reading the myriad opinions and sifting through the BS. Nevertheless, anyone who wants to post a suggestion that this site has engaged in legally actionable conduct ought to at least have the guts to come forward and specify exactly what they think is actionable and why. Otherwise, hold your fire.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 23, 2007 4:34 PM
3:53 is one of the nasty people who comes to this site for nothing.
Posted by: anon at February 23, 2007 5:37 PM
wow- what used to be the pink house (now light blue) next door certainly got rehabbed. we also looked at that house several years ago and walked away due to the amount of work it needed. anybody know anything about that house and what's going on with it?
Posted by: Anonymous at February 23, 2007 6:06 PM
As the co-enabler of another wood-frame wreck, I feel the urge overtake me...puddles, rotting eaves, sagging porch, horrible history of abusive owners? Come to Momma!!! Especially when the "after" picture is right next door. Why this would still make my heart race when we still haven't gotten past 2nd base with ours after 20 years, is a question that could only perhaps be answered by a brain biopsy...
Posted by: Brenda from Brooklyn at February 23, 2007 7:16 PM
anon 6:06 don't you read this blog all of time? i mean everyone else does. the blue house belongs to adrian grenier from entourage. he has renovated it using all green materials. it's a masterpiece indeed helps to make grand avenue, a truly grand avenue despite the drug dealers on the corner.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 23, 2007 8:14 PM
Those drug dealers are people just like you and me, and they're trying to make a living just like anybody else. Yes, yes...I know, what they're doing is illegal; but that doesn't make it wrong anymore than the legality of our government's production of chemical weapons makes that right. Think before you post. Stop your hatin'.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 24, 2007 7:34 AM
fact: drug trade brings crime beyond the trade. that means kids being killed by stray bullets. spare me.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 24, 2007 12:04 PM
please tell me you're joking. or at least fess up to being in the trade...you remind me of the lame kids in college who had che posters on their rooms and when pressed, didn't really know much about marxism et al.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 25, 2007 5:51 PM
You remind me of all the conservative claptrap about the war on drugs.
If you don't want people to deal drugs, send 'em to college. Otherwise, shut your pie hole.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 25, 2007 8:28 PM
Waaaait just one second...
Someone has pie?
Since were on the subject of this general area, I noticed two new modern condo buildings one block into Bed Sty on Franklin Avenue, one on the NE corner of Quincy and Franklin, and the other on the SW corner of Lexington and Franklin.
At the quick glance I had whilst conducting my autocar, they both looked like the might be quite nice, as far as condo buildings go.
Have either of those been covered here yet?
Posted by: webster at February 26, 2007 10:27 AM
Just because the house looks that way doesn't make it a "drug" environment. Maybe the owner was sick. I bet no one thought of that. Oh yes, and it does cost money to rehab. Doesn't it? Those of you with negative opinions should have taken up an offering so that this process could have been expedited. Anyhow. let's see how gorgeous this project is upon completion.
Posted by: guest at December 10, 2007 9:36 PM
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