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It’s the ultimate fixer-upper.
The owners of Broken Angel have quietly been trying to sell their temple-like Clinton Hill home — even as they raise money for the building’s preservation from sympathetic Brooklynites.
“We’re asking $1 million for the building, and $425,000 for the adjacent lot,” said Michael Annunziata, a broker with Massey/Knakal Realty Services who’s been working with Broken Angel owner Arthur Wood to sell the building, but also “keep [the sale] out of the limelight,” he said.
In fact, rather than posting the building on the real-estate broker’s Web site, Annunziata has been personally reaching out to developers he thinks might be interested.
Brownstoner, a real-estate blog, broke the news last week.
The news that the Downing Street building is on the market shocked those who have been intimately involved in rescuing the hand-built ziggurat mansion following a devastating October fire.
The accident sparked a Buildings Department investigation that uncovered myriad code violations and led to Wood’s arrest for violating an order to vacate.
“I didn’t know they put it on the market,” said City Councilwoman Letitia James (D–Fort Greene), who’s been representing Wood pro bono in his negotiations with the Department of Buildings.
Thanks in part to James, the agency agreed to allow Wood to re-occupy Broken Angel if the upper levels are taken down and the central stairwell reconstructed.
Students and experts at Pratt Institute have been volunteering their time and expertise to save the Woods’ unique home.
Wood could not be reached for comment, but James’s chief of staff Kate Suisman reached out to Wood and later told The Brooklyn Paper that, “No matter what happens, [the new owners] would probably include room for the couple to continue to live there. Right now, [Wood] is keeping his options open and is considering selling, if that’s what it comes down to.”
Conceivably, it could come down to Broken Angel coming down.
“It’s a development site,” said Annunziata. “There’s a possibility [that it will be destroyed].”
But Annunziata is hoping to find buyers who would preserve its idiosyncratic shell.
“There’s a lot of value in those bricks,” he said.
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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