Saturday, March 24, 2007

3 House deal on Duffield. Asking price $33 million

The claims that the homes were part of the underground railroad have not been substantiated. Recent investigations show these claims to be false.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

That better not be the east side of the block BellTel is on - i.e. Duffield north of Willoughby. The A, O, and P units would all lose their windows (not views, windows) since they are on the property line.

tonino said...

No the ones south of Willouhby are under landmark protection and can't be torn down. They are talking about the ones north of it and to be honest to you this would be great if they get rid of them.

guyfromdobro said...

Let's not get too nervous. I believe one of the addresses in question is 227 Duffield St.
Here's a map link. It's between Fulton and Willoughby and not right next to Belltel. I'll dig further on this matter.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=&level=&addtohistory=&cat=&address=227+Duffield+street&city=brooklyn&state=ny&zipcode=11201

Unknown said...

Hope you're right GFDB - I thought south of Willoughby was called Oratory Place, so I didn't really consider that block.

It does make more sense to be south of Willoughby, though - that's actually across from Albee Square.

(btw, tonino - I think you have your north/south reversed? P.S. - does the landmark designation apply to all the buildings there - the houses, the church, and the Willoughby facing buildings?)

Anonymous said...

The Willoughby facing buildings are the church rectory, so kind of goes with the church. Landmark designation doesn't apply to these or the church, but I think its kind of difficult to just up and tear down a church.

I believe the buildings in question are the ones south of Willoughby (not the landmarked ones next to BellTel). FYI, the landmarked ones were moved to this location from another part of Brooklyn sometime in the 1990s.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, if you go on Google and search for "Albee Square Assemblage" you can find a pdf of the listing by the broker, Massey Knackal. The addresses are 223, 225 and 231 Duffield (south of Willoughby) along with some Albee Square buildings.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info "m". I had been unsuccessful with a Google search earlier - don't know why.

A major relief!

THe chuch is likely to stay, unless the Catholic Church decides to close that one, too, at some point in the future... doesn't seem likely.

Anonymous said...

EJ,
How would the A, O, and P lines lose their windows? I am in the M line above the 9th floor (which has the same layout as the O line on floors 4-9), and I am concerned about the property line. The building birthday cakes above the 9th floor; so, which property lines are in danger?

Unknown said...

b -

No property lines are in danger, as it turns out.

Here was my concern spelled out - that any eastward facing windows could be imperiled] because if the property next to BellTel was sold, and a large building went up, it could build to the property line. That in turn would mean the windows along the property line would be filled in. After all, that is why many of the rooms alomg the east side cannot legally be called bedrooms - because the windows abut the property line.

An M above the 9th floor (which is the same as O below 9) wouldn't lose its windows because they're not on the property line. However, my concerns still would have applied somewhat, because the windows would lose all view and space.

HOWEVER - and this is the important part in the end - as many in this thread have pointed out to me, the odds of such a thing happening are VERY remote. First, the church isn't likely to go anywhere. Second, the houses to the north of the church are landmarked, and thus cannot be razed and replaced. Finally, because the lots facing Willoughby are small, it is highly unlikely those 3-story buidlings will get replaced with a skyscraper, either.

In other words, I had the wrong block in mind when I read that three houses were being sold and could be built upon; moreover, nothing tall will go up directly next to BellTel anytime in the foreseeable future.