Red Hook is a Brooklyn neighborhood where imagination, optimism and a bit of determination go a long way — useful, when situated in a particularly high-risk flood zone.
But if you thought its modest three- and four-story wood-framed and brick-fronted houses — often needing considerable work and lacking in the majesty of brownstones found in nearby Carroll Gardens — were a bargain, think again.
Take, for example, 398 Van Brunt St. The property — containing two apartments, a storefront and a carriage house — was purchased as a wreck (with pajamas blocking up large gaps in the brick) for $525,000 in 2005. Two years later, massively renovated, it went for $1.795 million. Now it’s back on the market with a commanding $2.495 million price tag.
It’s the kind of appreciation that independent broker Frank Galeano, who grew up in Red Hook and has been selling there for 13 years, describes as “something I couldn’t have imagined. If I could have, I’d own half the neighborhood. But I have two buildings, so I can’t complain.”
Pricing today may be aggressive, but Red Hook has a way of getting under one’s skin. Such was the case for Brent Richardson and Terumi Matthews, who just moved into a three-story house on Wolcott Street. Longtime SoHo-ites, the couple secured their $1.3 million property as it was being overhauled by Red Hook-based architect Thomas Warnke. In classic Warnke fashion, the place is all sleek, clean lines shot through with gritty detailing: a roughly hewn pocket door was scavenged from a Harlem brownstone.
At first, the couple was unsure about living in an area that is a bit cut off (it’s separated from the rest of Brooklyn by the BQE). “Then we realized the benefits of living in small town New York City,” says Richardson, adding that the neighborhood emits gritty hipness. “SoHo is like a giant mall now. Red Hook, with its factories and low density, feels like what SoHo used to be.”
With a gargantuan outpost of Fairway for food shopping, Fort Defiance shaking artisanal cocktails, Lobster Pound offering some of the best crustaceans in town and cute boutiques popping up along Van Brunt Street, Red Hook has a lot of what makes Manhattan desirable. Unlike Manhattan, it sorely lacks public transportation and can feel desolate in the winter. But a bike path that will stretch from Greenpoint to Fairway promises to help.
“People come here because this neighborhood has heart and you can see the sky,” Eva Zurek says of the low-rise enclave. A broker with Corcoran, she moved from Park Slope to Red Hook in 2009, after buying a home there for $900,000 three years earlier and spending $1 million on a renovation.
For a few years, she acknowledges, the property could not be sold for what she put in. But Zurek believes in the neighborhood and has a long-term plan to stay. Now, she says, the market has caught up with her investment and she could get at least $2 million for her house with its wall of windows and California-modern meets New York-industrial design.
“Last year, 17 Dikeman sold for $1.55 million and that was the one house [to fetch such a high number],” she recalls. “Today, it’s [nearly] $2 million at 80 Pioneer,” a property with three attached units that Zurek is brokering. Douglas Elliman has a townhouse at Beard and Dikeman for $1.995 million. Zurek adds, “Anyone who comes here looking to buy a finished place at $1.1 million needs to know that it is non-existent.”
On the other hand, relative bargain-hunters can turn to Galeano and his $990,000 three-family fixer-upper (with one floor in newly livable but far from high-end condition) at 271 Van Brunt.
On the downside, there is the flooding. No matter how you cut it, and even assuming that a Sandy-style storm is unlikely to repeat, living in Red Hook — most of which sits within the high-risk AE flood zone, delineated as the second most hazardous by FEMA — means dealing with water in the basement. That requires a certain amount of resiliency and some planning ahead. Warnke, for instance, places all heating mechanicals on upper floors, so they won’t get water damage.
John Bemelmans Marciano, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, developed a thick skin in the wake of Sandy. “We had five feet of water in the basement after the storm,” says the author and illustrator of “Madeline and the Old House in Paris” (his grandfather originated the beloved series). Marciano adds, “After the hurricane, we put in a high-efficiency wood stove that can heat the whole house. Now, no matter what happens, we’re in good shape with some candles and extra food.”
Marciano and his family occupy a three-story, freestanding home that feels a lot like a country cabin, with a vacant lot next door that almost resembles a field. Original, exposed ceiling beams above the woodburning stove in his modestly proportioned living room help to complete the rustic illusion. Its downhome appearance has become increasingly uncommon in a neighborhood where residents embrace stark and lofty stylings.
A new condo project called Imlay promises to expand on that loft look. Formerly used as a storage space by a dock company, the building at 160 Imlay St. was purchased for approximately $25 million by LA-based developer Est4te Four. Plans call for it to have 134,000 square feet of residential space on the upper four floors, carved up into 72 units with ceiling heights of 12 to 16 feet. Another 90,000 square feet of commercial space, plus parking, will take up the lower two levels. Up top, there’ll be a landscaped rooftop lounge with an outdoor projection space and herb garden.
Brooklyn architects Adjmi & Andreoli have completed the design work and construction is expected to commence within the next two months. “I think Imlay will be good for Red Hook,” says Corcoran broker Kim Soule. “It may pressure the development of more goods and services, which will enhance the neighborhood.”
Already, there have been telltale sightings of black SUVs convoying down the main drag of Van Brunt. Marciano recalls seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and posse scoping out artist and photographer spaces. “Who knows,” muses Marciano, “maybe he wants to be the De Niro of Red Hook.”