Even though temperatures are still in the 80s, it’s post-Labor Day, which means the fall season is under way in New York. To celebrate the soon-to-come weather changes, this week’s Open House Agenda features apartments with working wood-burning fireplaces.
86 Horatio St., Apt. 1B, West Village, Manhattan
Studio/1 Bath
Co-op
275 square feet
$375,000
Maintenance: $490/month
Open House: Sunday, Sept. 8, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Lowdown: This studio may be on the small side, but it comes with a large walk-in closet, gets good southern light and has a working fireplace.
“The current owners had the fireplace and chimney cleaned and refurbished, so it doesn’t draft any smoke into the apartment, and they’ve loved using it,” said Stephen Brooks, of the Corcoran Group. “When they went through [Hurricane] Sandy, they used it a lot because of the lack of power.”
The kitchen and bathroom were last renovated about five years ago, but “they’re in great condition,” Brooks added. The kitchen has a three-burner stove and cabinets that extend to the ceiling.
The apartment overlooks a well-manicured, peaceful, private courtyard. There are 20 units in the building, which along with three other buildings on the block make up a single co-op, with 80 apartments altogether.
Location: There aren’t many neighborhoods in New York City more highly desired than the West Village. The apartment is in the heart of the area, between Greenwich and Washington streets, just south of the popular Meatpacking District, with the High Line, Chelsea Market and the new Whitney Museum, due to open in 2015. Hudson River Park is two blocks west. The A, C, E and L subway lines are within four blocks.
Why put it on your open house calendar? Aside from the location, it’s affordably priced for a Manhattan starter apartment. It’s also good from an investment standpoint, Brooks said. “You can use it as a pied-a-terre, there’s immediate subletting, it requires only 10 percent down, and carrying costs are low because there’s no mortgage on the building.”
18 E. 84th St., Apt. 2A, Upper East Side, Manhattan
1 Bedroom/1 Bath
Co-op
800 square feet
$1.05 million
Maintenance: $1,648/month
Open House: Sunday, Sept. 8, 1:30-3 p.m.
Lowdown: The interiors of this opulent one-bedroom in a landmarked Georgian town house were designed by Ogden Codman, Jr., who, in 1897 with Edith Wharton, wrote “The Decoration of Houses,” which “changed the face of interior design,” said Bonnie Wyper, of the Corcoran Group.
Codman completed 16 E. 84th St., and the owner then commissioned him to design the interiors at 18 and 20 on the block for his two daughters, explained Wyper. They are basically mirror images of each other and together compose a single co-op that was created when the buildings were converted into one-bedroom apartments in the 1950s.
Unit 2A, with its oversized windows, French doors, 12-foot ceilings and hand-carved marble fireplace, was originally part of the building’s ballroom. Renovations were last made in the 1980s, Wyper said, but “the kitchen is in great shape since the [owner] is away a lot and doesn’t really cook.”
The co-op board requires a 40 percent down payment.
Location: This apartment is the epitome of luxury Upper East Side living, and was even featured in House & Garden magazine in the late 1980s. Located just east of Fifth Avenue, it’s steps from Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim and Madison Avenue's upscale boutiques.
“You look out the huge windows and across at trees and beautiful buildings,” Wyper said. “There’s an embassy across the street, a cute Italian cafe up the block, Dean & DeLuca around the corner. The bus stops at the top near Fifth, but my client has never worried about noise on that street.”
Why put it on your open house calendar? The beautiful apartment evokes New York at the turn of the 20th century.
“It’s incredibly reasonably priced given its location and historic value of the building and apartment,” Wyper said. “It’s the kind of apartment you want to keep for the rest of your life and pass down from generation to generation.”
25 Joralemon St., Apt. 1, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
4 Bedrooms/3 Baths
Co-op
2,500 square feet
$1.975 million
Maintenance: $2,059/month
Open House: Sunday, Sept. 8, noon to 2 p.m.
Lowdown: The price just came down from $2.15 million on this sprawling four-bedroom duplex in the landmarked Pumphouse Mews. A working fireplace, 20-foot vaulted ceilings, large arched windows and nine closets are just a few of this unique apartment’s features.
The building was constructed in the late 1920s as a holding tank for water from the East River to be used if any of the high-rise buildings being built in Brooklyn Heights caught fire, said Joseph Tedeschi, of Bond New York.
An architect bought the building in the late 1970s and carved out six apartment units. The space hasn't been renovated since then, so a new owner will likely want to update it.
“There are several walls but only five that can’t be touched, so everything else can be recreated,” Tedeschi said. “It’s beautifully laid out now, with two sunken bedrooms and a tremendous great room.”
The windows are being replaced at no cost to the new owners, Tedeschi said. The maintenance is 45 percent tax deductible, and there is no flip tax.
Location: Though it’s located next to the BQE, the new Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 and Pier 6 are just steps away, as is the Brooklyn Heights promenade. Down a block and around the corner are Atlantic Avenue’s shops, restaurants and bars, and the area along the river between Red Hook and Brooklyn Heights is filling in with new hot spots, such as Pok Pok. The subway is a bit of a hike at just under a mile, but the options include nine different train lines.
Why put it on your open house calendar? The apartment is an unusual find in the city. “It’s a town house, a brownstone, a duplex, a loft,” Tedeschi said. “You walk in, and it’s not really an apartment, it’s a home. It shows like a brownstone. For people who can’t afford a $5 million brownstone or they’re looking for an apartment in a brownstone can be perfectly happy in this space.”
