Brooklyn is known for its baseball players and its blinis, but it’s also known for its great blocks, according to real estate brokers who work in the borough.
While the priciest city blocks in Brooklyn are found along the picturesque, tree-lined streets in Brooklyn Heights, a couple of particular blocks along the even-numbered side of Columbia Heights are the most striking — and expensive — blocks in the borough, brokers said.
Blocks in Park Slope, Bay Ridge and Gravesend are also contenders when it comes to the priciest properties in the borough.
“You can go into every neighborhood and find wonderful blocks,” said Frank Percesepe, regional vice president of Corcoran Brooklyn. “That’s what I love about Brooklyn.”
To narrow it down a bit, The Real Deal gathered data on the top 10 costliest home sales in Brooklyn over the past year and found prices from $4.495 million for a 3,740-square-foot townhouse at 22 Willow Street to $10.75 million for a townhouse with a stunning panoramic view of Manhattan at 140 Columbia Heights. Both are in Brooklyn Heights.
Despite the fact that only one of the 10 sales was on Columbia Heights, brokers said that, unequivocally, the couple of blocks running from Nos. 138 to 222, with about two dozen single-family townhouses overlooking the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, are Brooklyn’s most expensive.
“You’ll see, on average, one trade a year, and that means you can have some years when none trade,” said William S. Ross, executive director of sales for Halstead Brooklyn. “There are about 40 mansions there, and some of those 40 buildings are multi-family that are rent-controlled or rent-stabilized, so you’re down to maybe two dozen properties that could trade. Not many.”
The five-story townhouse at 140 Columbia Heights built in 1840 that sold for $10.75 million had been completely restored, and included an English-style garden, several fireplaces, an elevator, a gym and a library. The previous owner made a huge investment to upgrade and renovate the home before selling.
“These are high-end homes attracting high-end people who spend money on them,” Ross said. “But that’s true of other blocks in Brooklyn Heights. The secret here is the views. Those views are never going away.”
Percesepe agreed, saying, “these homes sell for double what you’re going to get for a townhouse in the rest of Brooklyn Heights.”
Still, most cost less than half of what comparable homes in Manhattan are going for, brokers said, though Brooklyn Heights is only five minutes from the pricier borough.
There are other blocks in Brooklyn Heights that may be nearly as expensive, such as Remsen Street, which saw a 25-foot-wide townhouse built in 1901 at No. 125 sell for $5.5 million in 2006.
“The majority of the townhouses in Brooklyn Heights are 25-feet wide, which is a wonderful thing in a townhouse, because it creates better proportion in the rooms,” Percesepe said. “So that tends to push up the pricing on them.”
Pierrepont Street is another block with sumptuous architecture, while Garden Place’s quaint townhouses also garner steep prices. “It’s a very quiet little block, because there’s no through traffic, and I think that’s extraordinarily appealing to people,” Percesepe said.
But other parts of Brooklyn, not just its Heights, have single-family homes selling for more than $10 million. Among the top 10 sales compiled by The Real Deal, the Gravesend section in the southern portion of the borough, near Sheepshead Bay, saw four homes sell for around $5 million or more. And in 2003, the same area, which is full of Mediterranean-style homes with orange or green terra-cotta roofs, saw a home at 450 Avenue S sell for $11 million.
“Brooklyn Heights is what you think when you look for the most expensive homes, but that’s a bit deceptive,” said Michael Guerra, executive vice president and director of sales for Prudential Douglas Elliman. “It’s entirely possible that at the other end of Brooklyn you’ll find the highest price in the borough, because they’re tearing down bungalows and putting up really elaborate, incredible houses.”
Gravesend, a tight-knit and rapidly growing community of Syrian Jews, has elite homes on Avenues S, T and U and Ocean Parkway, where many smaller homes are being purchased at exorbitant prices and torn down.
“You’ve got $4.9 million paid in ’07, also on Avenue S out there, and it comes out to $1,800 a square foot, because they’re ripping the tiny house down,” Guerra said. “So if you’re looking for high prices paid for square footage, you may get them out there, because small things are selling at huge premiums to mansion builders.”
Another home that closed in 2007, this one at 464 Avenue S, is only about 2,600 square feet but sold for a whopping $4.9 million, or about $1,884 a square foot, Guerra said. “Some of the prices are amazing,” he added.
Another area that can see eye-popping prices, though perhaps not as often, is Park Slope, where the distinguished homes along Prospect Park West attract wealthy buyers.
“There’s also being close to a park,” Percesepe said. “Certainly, if you’re on Prospect Park West, those homes go for extraordinary prices. They’re not the top, but people love a park view.”
Among the top sales last year was a 7,660 square-foot townhouse built in 1901 at 45 Montgomery Place, only a few doors from the park, which sold for $6.05 million.
Another area with a lot of protected pristine early-20th-century town houses is Bay Ridge in southwestern Brooklyn, where an older home at 318 94th Street — well off Bay Ridge’s Shore Drive — sold for $6.9 million.
“Bay Ridge is interesting, because it’s really far from the city,” Ross said. “But you can get some real mansions there.”
Then there’s a sprawling section of homes in Victorian Flatbush, which stretches from Prospect Park to Avenue H, and includes Caton Park, Ditmas Park, and parts of Midwood. Prices there are regularly among the highest in the borough. “Ditmas Park has marvelous homes,” Percesepe said. “It’s the neighborhood where they used one of the old houses in the movie [version of] Sophie’s Choice.”