The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

99 Cents Now Equals $1.7 Million

Recognize this?

That corner building just sold for $1.7 million, says a tipster. It has three stores - the 99-center, the laundry and the tailor/sew shop. It has two two-bedroom apartments and two three-bedroom apartments. Back of the playing card Q-estimate says the new buyer could, if he wanted to, renovate a bit, hit the Craigslist, and gross $15k a month easy. Is there any wonder that the smart money follows the gentrifiers? Or rather, the REALLY smart money LEADS the gentrifiers. Remembering that you live in NYC, home to some awfully smart people, the odds are stacked against the budget-conscious renter. Unless, of course, your version of budget conscious is another man's budget buster. Ah, life.

5 comments:

Alex said...

I like that 99 cent shop. I was surprised to find helpful shop owners and items that I couldn't find elsewhere - like potting soil. My guess is that the new owner, if s/he is a "savvy" landlord, will try to get rid of the current commercial tenants and push for someone to combine the spaces into something bigger. Place a wager, anyone?

Seth said...

I'm not so sure about the 15K figure, Tim.

If you ever wondered how all these bodegas, nail salons and barbers make their bills each month... well, many of them don't. One of the secrets of our neighborhood is a lot of commercial tenants don't pay their rent in full each month. And the landlords kind of deal with it because they can't do much better.

Whether the future leads to a different paradigm, I don't know...

babs said...

Rent for the apartments alone would be $8K - $10K right there, and if three storefronts can't come up with $5K - $7K among the three of them that's pretty sad.

babs said...

But actually demo might be the way to go. Knock the building down, build up higher (cause there's no zoning change yet), get lots of tax breaks (hey, this is still at 421a area, if you want to build condos), and take that to the bank! One bedrooms are way more profitable per sq. ft. than larger apartments and screw you for having a family and wanting to live like a human being. Please note that I am being ironic here and these are not my real feelings :)

babs said...

Even in "contextual" zoning you could certainly go six stories. No reason to leave this as is [please note irony].