Carroll Gardens

Carroll Gardens row houses are worth a bundle — for willing sellers

Eye On Real Estate: Mario Rizzuto, who bought his home for $40,000, isn't one of them

September 10, 2014 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Meet Mario Rizzuto, who has owned his Carroll Gardens row house since 1981. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
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Viva Italia, baby!

Mario Rizzuto, an old timer from the old country, would never part with his Carroll Gardens row house.

“I paid $40,000 for it,” the Sicilian-born retiree said of 504 Court St., the two-family brick home he has owned since 1981, city Finance Department records indicate.

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Rizzuto, a great-grandfather of five who has lived in the area since 1951, is having the top-floor apartment renovated. He had been charging $1,600 per month rent for the seven-room unit before the prior tenant departed.

“I’m not the guy who wants to choke people,” he said, noting that other neighborhood landlords are charging as much as $3,500 per month for similar rental apartments.

There was a storefront in the house, but he closed it up.

For an idea of what a property like his could be worth, nearby 372 Court St., a two-family row house with an office and an occupied storefront, is for sale. The asking price is $2,599,999, according to a posting by listing broker Corcoran.

The current owners are Helen Mangano McCabe and Ann R. Mangano, who paid Ann Mangano (a different person) $497,000 for her half interest in the building in 2003, city Finance Department records indicate.

Row houses on prime streets, some with deep front gardens, are being offered for sale for around $3 million.

Century 21 has a “Sold” sign outside 130 2nd Place, a four-family brownstone. The asking price had been $3.025 million, the firm’s online listing indicates. The sale either hasn’t closed or hasn’t yet shown up in online city Finance Department records.

Corcoran is marketing single-family brick townhouse 28 2nd St. for an asking price of $3.3 million and single-family brownstone 48 2nd Place for an asking price of $3.2 million.

Douglas Elliman is marketing single-family 8 4th Place for a $2.999 million asking price and four-family 148 Summit St. for a $2.891 million asking price.

Completed residential sales have brought solid sums.

The Stella Lopresti Trust and the Mary Lopresti Trust sold 238 Carroll St. last year for $2.5 million to RM Family Realty LLC, according to Finance Department records. Ellen Marks is a member of the purchasing LLC, the records indicate. Now the five-unit apartment building across from Carroll Park is undergoing a renovation.

Timothy Reilley and Sarah Meyer bought 305A President St. for $2.38 million last year from Suzanne Malvasio, Finance Department records indicate. Renovation is also underway on this four-story, two-family brownstone.

The neighborhood’s rental apartments are sought after as well — even ones thisclose to the elevated line where the F train runs.

“The first couple months I said, ‘I’m moving,’” recalled Richard Flagg, who rents an apartment at 205 Luquer St., which is separated from the train tracks by a narrow parking lot. “Now I don’t hear it.”

Flagg moved to Carroll Gardens 15 years ago from upstate New York.

“I was single again. I wanted to be somewhere where the juice is flowing,” he said.

He’s got great neighbors. He and a dozen or so of them, all Jets fans, travel to the team’s games in an RV.  

His rent for his 950-square-foot apartment is cheap, he said — he has been in the building for a long time.

Two apartments at 205 Luquer were rented for an average $2,500 per month in the last 180 days, according to real estate site StreetEasy.com.

The end of Luquer Street where Flagg lives is referenced in one of the summer’s hot novels, “We Are Not Ourselves” by Matthew Thomas. See related story.

A representative sampling of Carroll Gardens apartments currently on the rental market includes an $1,800-per-month studio, a one-bedroom for $2,600 per month, a $3,200-per-month two-bedroom and a three-bedroom for $4,170 per month, according to real estate site Zillow.com.

 


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