Co-op of the Day: Turner Towers Two-Bedroom
Longtime readers should know by now that we’re suckers for the pre-war charm and relative affordability of Turner Towers, the 186-unit co-op building at 135 Eastern Parkway overlooking the Brooklyn Museum. It doesn’t appear that this particular apartment overlooks the museum (is that a brick wall we see out the living room window), but the…
Longtime readers should know by now that we’re suckers for the pre-war charm and relative affordability of Turner Towers, the 186-unit co-op building at 135 Eastern Parkway overlooking the Brooklyn Museum. It doesn’t appear that this particular apartment overlooks the museum (is that a brick wall we see out the living room window), but the details and scale are both intact. The kitchen is the only downer. Asking price on the 1,127-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bath unit? $689,000. About right?
135 Eastern Parkway 2BR [Aguayo & Huebener] GMAP P*Shark
I’ve been in one unit of this building a couple of times, and I like it. While the building’s location is not exactly ideal (I agree w/posters who want to be closer to Vanderbilt or Flatbush), it’s far from horrible, and the building itself is great. You’re also really close to the EP/BK Museum stop on the 2/3. In the nice weather you can walk, but these days I might hop the 2/3 1 or 2 stops to either GAP or Bergen. For the right price, I wouldn’t hesitate to move in here. I can’t get to the A&H listing to look at the floorplan (site down?). Don’t know if $689 +$1K/month is it, however. I also agree with the poster who asked what *is* right these days.
Dittoburg:
Gee, I’m not that old! (“Fifties are the new forties” — remember?)
But ask me to tell you the difference between calculus and algebra and I’ll draw a blank!
NOP
NOP, I love reading your recollections. How do you keep your memory in such tip top shape? Exercise, crosswords, gingko?
I’ll provide some perspective.
When you walk into Turner Towers, this apartment (from the window placement on the floorplan) is in the left tower and on a low floor – low enough that the brick wall you see outside of the side windows in the pics are of the building a few doors down and the “back” windows look out over the courtyard. The second door in the kitchen is the “maid’s” door. The toilet in the closet means this apartment was never renovated.
Numbers-wise, the price is really good but the maintenance is absurd since, and I know this for a fact, the elevators were replaced about 7 years ago. So, I don’t know what the maintenance is going for. Actually, the doormen there do an excellent job. They’re personable and helpful. Also, as pointed out above, there is a flip-tax and it’s high – I think 35%.
As for location, it’s within walking distance of several neighborhoods and amenities…
Brownstoner:
As I remember growing up in Crown Heights during the 1950s, this line of apartments were at the rear of Turner Towers. That meant if you were low in the building you faced the brick walls of apartments on Lincoln Place but if you were above their roofs you had clear views all the way to the Manhattan skyline.
Where this apartment is perched has everything to do with its quality. But from my familiarity with the building, this line is among the least interesting.
Some apartments at Turner Towers are truly “houses in the sky” with real foyers, dining rooms, maids’ rooms, etc. Some, like this one, are pretty bland. My guess is that it was very deliberate on the part of the developers who provided a range of choices and rents for the well-heeled down to the aspiring middle-class — very logical for Eastern Parkway, where such apartments were a step up from the tenements in East New York and Brownsville (at the end of the old “IRT” that connected both workers and factory owners of Eastern European Jewish descent to the Garment District).
A family friend from Brooklyn Heights, growing up in a “restricted” (i.e. Christian building) during the 1930s, remembers being shushed by her mother in one of Turner Towers’ elevators while visiting an acquaintance.
“Be respectful,” she was told.
Apparently, 135 Eastern Parkway was quite the address back then. Even for “old” Brooklyn families ordinarilly unimpressed by nouveau-riche gilt and swag.
Nostalgic on Park Avenue
Why, thank you, Ditto!
I have a view of the museum from my window too, and it is quite nice at night, all lit up.
The best subway stops are also right there.
There are pharmacies / laundry / bars / delis / groceries on Washington Ave. You just have to be comfortable with shopping with black people.
Anyway, I think the apartment is a bit overpriced, mainly because of the high maintenance. But Turner Towers is a beautiful building, and it’s a solid community of people. Quite a few artists, weirdly enough.
In any case, we can’t all live off 7th Avenue in Park Slope.
It’s wonderful to look out your window and see the museum lit up at night and the botanical garden.
Living nearby is not the same.
Not saying anything about this apartmetn or the price (I’m not even sure it faces that way), but it’s a big plus, IMHO
real square footage (rsf) is a tad under 900 square feet.
It should be listed as 900 square feet, but then everyone would assume it was actually 600 Square feet.