Nice Try in Vinegar Hill
We’ve always got our antennae up for decent affordable housing on a brownstone scale. We’re not sure whether this example on Evans Street in Vinegar Hill qualifies as affordable (lowercase or uppercase) but it does strike us as a good attempt at modest townhouse-style homes. It uses nice brick, the scale is contextual and the…
We’ve always got our antennae up for decent affordable housing on a brownstone scale. We’re not sure whether this example on Evans Street in Vinegar Hill qualifies as affordable (lowercase or uppercase) but it does strike us as a good attempt at modest townhouse-style homes. It uses nice brick, the scale is contextual and the driveways on not too conspicuous. And while the cornices and lintels aren’t perfect, they show effort. And look: No Con Ed meters on the facade. It can be done! These places also have the added benefit of looking out at the Commandant’s House. These three-story houses were developed by a group called Vinegar Hill Group, LLC and sold in 2005 in the low $800,000’s. Does anyone know if there was any government funding or subsidies involved and/or income requirements of buyers? GMAP P*Shark
Tolerable. I usually don’t condone fauxld-world, but at least the embellishments aren’t overdone. This sort of attempt usually results in a tragic scale, but these buildings have scale on their side. You’ve identified the wrong errors, though. Those look like snap-in windowpanes, and there are other charm-barn elements that while in this case remain subtle, are nonetheless what I would consider flaws. I’d honestly rather see meters outside than the silly lanterns and paneled garage doors (it’s a GARAGE for keeping your honda, not a carriage house on waverly ave).
When we moved in we supposedly had the kind of remote Keyspan reader that they could read from the front courtyard of our brownstone, but after about six months of estimated bills (and me being too lazy to go read the meter for them) they put in a new remote reader that they can read as they drive down the street – they don’t even have to stop. They did this completely at their expense (but our meter was already inside).
I asked them if ConEd had remote readers and they said yes, but you have to pay. They guessed that they charged about $100-150 to do it, but I never checked it out. It’s on the list of things to do around here…
exactly, seamus.
Great from the street, not perfect but compared to what what we usually see going up, terrific. Nice brick!!! Can’t tell what the windows are made of or if they are real divided light, but the 6 over 6 is a nice touch, especially if real.
And again, how much more expensive would it be to build these than the typical fedders? Can’t be that much, so why build a fedders???
When I looked at these, I was escorted by the builder/broker guy. a guy who bought there was looking at his unit and stopped by to ask this guy where the washer/dryer hookup was that was supposed to be in garage. The builder/broker said, “maybe those didn’t get done. You can fight me about it later if you really want to make a big deal out of it” and later turned to me to say what a moron people were. I thought he was the moron.
The work looked like crap to me.
The buildings were all sold by the builder for approx. $750,000 each a few years ago. No income restrictions, and the owners got the tax abatement credit from the city.
F.Y.I. the builder, Vinegar Hill Group, LLC, is the worst. They did some big screw-ups, one being a defective roof, in these buildings which have cost the current owners a decent amount of money to correct.
Well, I guess these do try to fit in with the warehouse district surroundings. I am struck by the finishing on the fronts of these new constructs. The ones in the neighborhood townhouse context with nice doorway finishing seem to most attractive. And the quality of the bricks makes a huge difference too.
Well, most of these townhouse-style developments you see around Brooklyn are affordable/subsidized. And while they look better than most of those, they don’t look nice enough to have been made on a purely for-profit basis. Then again, when they were in the planning stages 3 or 4 years ago, the developers may not have though that this corner of Vinegar Hill could attract high-end buyers. Frankly, we love how peaceful it is on this street.
question for our host – what made you think that these may have been affordable housing?