Condo of the Day: 555 Washington Avenue 2 BR
We’ve never been inside any of the apartments at the Cathedral Building at the corner of Atlantic and Washington Avenues in Clinton Hill, but the building certainly has one of the more impressive exteriors in the area. (There’s also an attractive interior courtyard.) Judging from today’s listing, however, the apartments themselves are somewhat unconventional. This…
We’ve never been inside any of the apartments at the Cathedral Building at the corner of Atlantic and Washington Avenues in Clinton Hill, but the building certainly has one of the more impressive exteriors in the area. (There’s also an attractive interior courtyard.) Judging from today’s listing, however, the apartments themselves are somewhat unconventional. This 1,225-square-foot two-bedroom is spread out over three levels and definitely has some of the monumentality you’d expect from a religious building. (It’s also got a private yard.) It’s been on the market for a few weeks, however, suggesting that the $665,000 asking price isn’t knocking the socks off buyers. Has anyone seen it in person yet? Any theories on why it hasn’t sold yet? There’s an open house tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 for the curious.
555 Washington Triplex $665,000 [Craigslist] GMAP
Exterior photo by Miss Jasmine
I don’t agree that the neighborhood is a ghetto. It WAS terrible many years ago when the building was first converted to condos. I’ve lived near the Cathedral Condos for years and the days of drug dealers in the park is long gone. Now it’s a gem and those people who were lucky enough to snag a place in that gorgeous building when the prices were rock bottom are sitting pretty. You can’t build places like that anymore. Thank goodness the people who think poorly of this area have moved! And I hope they’re very happy with their 3 roommates in their cramped overpriced Manhattan walkup. We “hoodrats” love living in a safe, huge space with NO roommates (because we can afford it without them) AND a car that’s only a 2 minute walk to most of the amenities you want and need to be comfortable and happy. If this is a ghetto, then LONG LIVE THE ‘HOOD!
i hate this area. the ghetto element blows and is as bad as you can imagine. lived near there for almost 2 years and it was like getting out of jail when i moved away. poster is right – Atlantic Yards will help clean up the “hood.”
have no clue what the oppostion to Atlantic Yards could possibly be. that part of town is full of low lifes – the only way to go is UP!
This renovation was done 15 or so years ago, before the current kind of upsccale renovations that are popular now. The building was and I guess is, sort of isolated and in a very questionable neighborhood. I live up Washington in PH and we were all amazed when that building was converted as we didn’t think anyone would want to live there. The little park across the street was renovated around then too, I guess the developers had some pull with the city. Too bad they chopped it up, if it were being renovated today it would probably be done differently.
I went to an open house for a different unit in that building about a year ago. The apartment was unimpressive and a really strange layout. It was formerly part of the gym, so they took what could have been an amazing high cieling and turned it into a 2 story duplex with 2 low cielings and 2 bathrooms right next to each other. Odd to say the least.
And then there was the broker who had nothing but great things to say about the building, and casually mentioned he lived there (hmmm… no vested interest in raising prices there, huh?).
The whole building looks like what could have been a great place to live IF they had done the conversion properly and allocated a decent ammount of space to the apartments, but instead they carved them up and crammed as many units into the space as possible, Manhattan-style.
This apartment looks like it has some nice details (the windows look great), but seeing as it’s so small, you would probably have trouble appreciating the huge windows since you can’t get far enough away to take them in completely except when you’re wedged into the corner of the room, as the person taking the picture probably was.
The “private garden” looks nice too, if you’re into spending time outdoors with a friend (singular, not plural), since you probably couldn’t fit 3 people out there. Not for claustrophobics.
I went there with a friend when a 1 bedroom with a lower room with no windows and spiral staircase that sounded like it was about to break. The place was horrible. It had tiny windows, the paint job was scary, and the layout was horrible. Also, my friend said that she felt like the hallways reminded her of a rape scene. I think I am pretty good at seeing potential in spaces, and there was nothing to work with there.
Also, the price was $500,000 and the monthly fees were insane for the space. I think with taxes and maintenance it was something like $800 a month.
I live in the building, and while I haven’t seen the particular apartment, I’ve seen others on the ground floor and they do tend to be a bit dark. But the building is great, and keep in mind, this was a school and it was converted into condos back in the early 80s, so its not a new conversion. And the building used to have parking rights next door before the construction at 545 Washington started, and once that construction is done, tenants will have the right to park there for a monthly fee.
And it is very safe and convenient to the C train (though sadly its not a stop on the A train unless its running local). I like the location – even though its not quite as close to the restaurants on Myrtle as I would like, its also not too far from Vanderbilt Ave in PH, and a reasonable walk to the B/Q train on 7th Ave in PS when necessary.
Does the Institute for Community Living still own units in this building?
Saw this a few ago. The stairs were so small my girlfriend and i had to walk sideways to get to the top floor. i consider the basement room more of a storage than the real estate guy was trying to sell and the asking price. Hell No.
Saw this a few ago. The stairs were so small my girlfriend and i had to walk sideways to get to the top floor. i consider the basement room more of a storage than the real estate guy was trying to sell and the asking price. Hell No.