Bensonhurst, a neighborhood known more for working-class renters than luxury
penthouse owners, is the new frontier for prospective homebuyers seeking
Manhattan-style frills.
This summer, apartments will likely sell out in the neighborhood’s
most pricey condominium complex to date, a 20-unit, six-story building at
105 Kings Highway, near Stillwell Avenue.
The apartments will start at $649,000 and reach to $1 million, said broker
Jack Potak, whose firm on 20th Avenue at 71st Street is handling the sales.
Five of the building’s 18 units have already been sold, said Potak,
but its two penthouses have yet to fetch the $1 million asking price. New
tenants will be able to move in this August.
“Bensonhurst has always been a very quiet, safe community, very middle
class,” said Potak. “It’s a good neighborhood and this will
be its first luxury elevator condo building.”
The building features a heated, underground garage, and a marble-floored
lobby replete with waterfalls and surveillance cameras.
Apartments have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, said Potak, and range
in size from 1,550 to 1,850 square feet. They have oak floors and washers
and dryers. The kitchens feature marble floors, granite countertops, stainless
steel appliances and dishwashers. Potak said that each apartment would be
furnished with a washer and dryer.
The 2,200- to 2,800-square-foot penthouses, said Potak, each have four bedrooms
and three bathrooms. They afford terrace views of Coney Island and the Verrazano
Narrows Bridge.
The ground floor is expected to include 4,800 square feet of retail space,
which Potak said would be partly filled by a pharmacy and a clothing boutique.
Like its neighbor Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst is experiencing an unlikely condominium
boom as the price of an average single-family home has shot to more than
$750,000, according to Potak.
But area real estate brokers say that prices for those ritzy condos aren’t
such a big stretch, considering that neighboring areas have also seen a
similar boom.
Joseph Madaio, a broker and the owner of RE/Max 1st Choice Realty, said
that over the past five years property prices in Bay Ridge have shot up
with the rest of newly hip Brooklyn.
Last week, new residents began moving into The Vistas, a new, eight-story
luxury condominium on Shore Road at 99th Street that includes apartments
going for more than $1 million. Its 24 units will include unobstructed views
of the harbor, a gym and indoor parking.
But some residents say that that building and others like it are diluting
the character of both neighborhoods. Victoria Hofmo, a member of the Bay
Ridge Conservancy, said that the largest of those complexes are often built
at the expense of older homes with character.
Hofmo said that two single-family stone houses were razed five years ago
so that construction could begin on The Vistas. Despite an outcry from
nearby residents and Fontebonne Hall Academy, the private girl’s
high school situated nearby, the building was erected with few difficulties.
“Luxury is a relative term,” said Hofmo, who along with Councilman
Vincent Gentile released a report in February that recommended changes
to zoning codes in both Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst.
“What matters is that there’s no consideration for the neighbors,”
said Hofmo. “It’s just about the almighty buck. I’m just
not impressed.”
