PLG Shocker! 185 Ocean Closes 33% Above Ask
The award for the craziest bidding war of the year so far has to go to 185 Ocean Avenue, home of blogger Planet PLG. After hitting the market with a price tag of $899,000 in early March, the turn-of-the-century brick house in PLG generated a torrent of offers; when the music stopped, the winner bidder…
The award for the craziest bidding war of the year so far has to go to 185 Ocean Avenue, home of blogger Planet PLG. After hitting the market with a price tag of $899,000 in early March, the turn-of-the-century brick house in PLG generated a torrent of offers; when the music stopped, the winner bidder had signed a contract for $1.2 million. He closed for all cash yesterday. The new buyer has been feeding locals the line that he plans on renovating and moving in with his family but the smart money, unfortunately, is on a tear-down. Man, do we hope we’re wrong.
185 Ocean Avenue [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Blogger Sells His Home [Planet PLG]
Open House Picks 3/2/07 [Brownstoner]
What are people talking about????? Another condo or another apartment building is not going to change the area at all. All the buildings along Ocean Avenue across from Prospect Park (except for a few stragglers adjacent to 185 Ocean) are apartment buildings. PLG or LM will always be without the amenities many residents desire. It’s a financially depressed area without the deep pockets found across the park. The schools are horrible and that is what will move this neighborhood. Not woodwork or details. A coffee shop and a restaurant in the 15 years I’ve been here. The slow erosion of the real estate market. Inventories will rise and prices will fall and the money stays across the park, i.e. Park Slope, etc, etc. Why buy a house here in PLG. Let’s face facts.
I agree with P. There’s no reason to complain about about a well thought-out condo in this location.
Remember what happened in Riverdale… Big time domino effect. No reason (I know of) why it can’t happen here. Scary.
I agree that about 90% of the new buildings going up are crap but if any site is suitable have its FAR beefed up this is it- it is adjacent to a six story building.
On the one hand Lefferts Garden gentrifiers are trying to get better amenities in addition to the new cafe and Mexican restaurant that have recently opened. On the other hand they seem to oppose projects that could add up to 5 families (in high end apartments) or up to 11 families (in moderately priced apartments.)
The city is going to add 1 million people- they have to live somewhere- a block away from the subway and across the street from Brooklyn’s biggest park doesn’t seem like a bad place.
As long as the developer doesn’t screw it up with a piece of crap…
6:24, I currently live in downtown Manhattan, though I have been looking in PLG (and in many other Brooklyn neighborhoods, from Brooklyn Heights to Fort Greene/Clinton Hill to Ditmas Park).
The only bodega I know of on Lincoln is smack on the corner of Flatbush, making it next to impossible to avoid that street.
At least you’re acknowledging that the seafood joint on Rutland/Flatbush is a cut above what’s already there. You can’t go from Kennedy Fried Chicken to Jean Georges overnight, but each bright and appealing new place that isn’t a nail salon or a fast food joint seems to be a step in the right direction.
And I wasn’t out there for the few days the cop tower/art installation was up (at the above mentioned Lincoln/Flatbush intersection), but it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing that the NYPD is focused on improving the area. Would they be taking such an interest if there weren’t more and more gentrifiers moving in? Sad to think, but probably true.
No one’s saying the area doesn’t need some help. I wouldn’t mind if that tower parked next to Beekman Place for a month. But don’t assume someone buying a new condo on Ocean is patently going to avoid the rest of the neighborhood. Dozens of people have paid well over a million to live in Lefferts Manor in the past year, and they need to walk or cross Flatbush everyday.
There are also other draws to PLG, that have nothing to do with services or the establishments on Lincoln Road. The other day when the wintery weather finally broke, I saw loads of young kids of an array of ethnic backgrounds out playing together with their parents and nannies on the sidewalk of one of the landmarked streets, about a half a block from Flatbush Ave. If I had a little one and lived on Ocean, I would certainly be venturing further into the neighborhood.
Bob, relative to much of the country, PLG is a huge success in preservation. PLG has hundreds of houses landmarked and the community should be very proud of it. It should not be considered a hand-wringing failure if all the other limestones in a one-mile radius can’t be protected. And then it’s like, protected from what? Progress? We welcome progress on many levels in PLG. It’s also time to start thinking about new ways of approaching the developing PLG. Think about what’s working vs. what wasn’t working in the past.
As for 6:24 there’s a cop tower on the Upper East Side too. As for me, I don’t care if I lived in the safest upscale neighborhood in the world, I love seeing a police presence. This city needs more regular patrols, in all ‘hoods.
Anon 11:01AM,
I completely agree that “not ALL old buildings are important and beautiful. They just aren’t”. That’s not the point here. This row of 13 homes,facing the park, is unique in PLG. The rest of the very long block, from Lincoln to Parkside is made up entirely of apartment buildings. We (the committee of the old PLGNA, working on HD designation) tried very hard to have this row included in the original PLG HD dsesignation, but it was a losing battle. The LPC didn’t even consider Ocean Ave to be IN PLG in their 1977 Preliminary Designation Report and a number of blocks in THAT report (most notably Parkside Ave.) weren’t designated in 1979 because they weren’t contiguous with the final HD. That doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be oned or more additional HDs in PLG.
Do I think that the three brick houses on Ocean are as worthy of designation as the ten limestones? Perhaps not, but IMO to loose them would disturb the integrity of this unique stretch of Ocean Avenue.
5:48, they’ll get their milk on Lincoln, not Flatbush. But I don’t see the word “never” in my comment. And the little seafood place you mention is a take-out joint and is just a small step above the other crap on the avenue. I know PLGers are desperate for any possible sign of change, but please don’t try to pass that off as any kind of improvement or new development. I suppose that Cop tower you had on Flatbush was actually an art installation, right?
1:38, it’s a bit absurd to suggest that anyone living in a new condo on Ocean would NEVER venture one or two blocks away and onto Flatbush Avenue. If you ran out of milk, you wouldn’t take a subway to a deli in Park Slope, simply because Flatbush so offended your aesthetic sensibilities that you couldn’t bear to set foot on its sidewalks.
As new businesses come to the area, it will only make Flatbush a more attractive place to shop, eat, and hopefully bank in the near future. Yes, the trend toward better businesses started on Lincoln Road, but there’s only so much retail space on that particular block. It’s inevitable that development will trickle over onto Flatbush, and in fact it already has.
A very nice little seafood place opened on, gasp!, Flatbush Ave. and Rutland just a few weeks ago. The owners heard about the area, saw that it was underserved, and found a location with a rent they could afford. It’s been crowded every time I’ve been in there.
I can’t say I’ll be happy if this charming home on the park gets demolished. But as any longtime resident will tell you, it’s the young people now moving into rental apartments and buildings gone condo and coop in PLG that’s finally bringing about real change here. Hopefully, if this developer is planning a tear down, he’s got some foresight and can see where the neighborhood is headed and build accordingly.