“You can go up one block and get a $1 million discount”: Ocean Parkway teardowns are hot property

Ocean Parkway may not have the cachet of Park Avenue, but competition for its real estate might be the fiercest in all of New York.

Buyers’ desire for homes along the six-mile stretch of road between Kensington and Gravesend is so strong that many properties sell via private listings or word-of-mouth, and even a teardown or empty lot can sell for up to $3 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Most property owners belong to the tight-knit Sephardic Jewish community, which includes members of New York’s retail real estate royalty (the Sitts, Cayres, Suttons all reportedly have homes). Because their faith means they cannot drive on the Sabbath, proximity to schools, families and synagogues is top priority, and they are willing to pay top dollar to be even a little bit closer.

“You can go up one block and get a $1 million discount,” Madison Estates agent Jack Sardar told the Journal. “You’ll see something sell for a crazy number. To a certain point it’s not worth it for anyone else.”

A total of 19 single-family homes have sold along the stretch of Ocean Parkway since 2010 for more than $1 million, and the intensely private owners can spend additional millions on upgrades after their purchases. Homes built in the 1920s and 1930s tend to go through the biggest changes, and while architectural styles in the neighborhood may differ, the renovations do have one thing in common: the new owners always want to make their homes bigger. According to the New York City Department of Buildings, 35 homes along the road have been enlarged since 1995. [WSJ] – Eddie Small