Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo: Compass
For under a million dollars, one can find all sorts of housing configurations: park- and subway-adjacent studios, one-bedrooms hidden in carriage houses or former shoe factories, and even the occasional true two-bedroom. We’re combing the market for particularly spacious, nicely renovated, or otherwise worth-a-look apartments at various six-digit price points.
This week, we find ourselves back on the Upper West Side for some lovely pocket shutters and in Brooklyn Heights for a statement window.
133 West 75th Street, Parlour A
A one-bedroom on the parlour floor of a brownstone that has 12-foot ceilings and ten-foot south-facing windows with pocket shutters. I’m just in, you know? The renovation here also speaks without shouting: blonde herringbone floors, custom built-ins, and a bathroom update that retains the rest of the apartment’s prewar styling. (The lofted area above the living room is either additional storage or guest accommodations — you pick.) The kitchen is small and stashed in a corner off the living room, but it’s been nicely cleaned up with a new refrigerator and a dishwasher that looks very Home Depot floor model to me. The bedroom is long and narrow but offers a decent amount of storage in a closet that runs nearly the width of the room. It’s in a small eight-unit co-op building with no amenities to speak of (in-building laundry is pretty much it), but the monthly maintenance actually shocked me — just $770 a month. If you are in need of more convincing: It’s a quick walk to Central Park and quite close to multiple train lines.
212 East 48th Street, 5A
Much like Jackson Heights and Riverdale, I believe life is somehow just better in Turtle Bay. This week’s case in point: a two-bedroom, one-bath in a prewar co-op with a private garden. (The lobby is also very good.) As for the apartment, it’s quite spacious at 1,124 square feet and has plenty of prewar charm: moldings and beamed ceilings, nicely maintained hardwood floors, and updated tiling that seems to match the appropriate period. Each bedroom is nicely sized and closeted, and the primary has dual exposures. Maintenance stings a bit at $2,586 a month, but gets you a live-in super, laundry in the building, storage, and a “virtual doorman” (an updated buzzer system). It’s been relisted after seemingly languishing on the market for a bit, so maybe try to make a deal.
150 Joralemon Street, 2D
This one-bedroom has a large arched window that’s bisected between the bedroom and the living room — the charming by-product of the building’s conversion from offices to co-ops in 1985. The rest of the space is very new, very tidy: The living room feels spacious thanks to its 11-foot ceilings and has views of the original St. Ann’s and Clinton Street. The kitchen cabinetry is custom and reaches to the ceiling, and the adjacent entryway has a built-in bookshelf for some storage. The bedroom is king-size with a cedar-lined closet. The building itself is an elevator co-op with laundry on every floor (I’m always touched by this). Maintenance is a humane $1,270 a month (with an ongoing capital assessment of $135.24 per month), and that gets you basement storage, bike storage, a package room, a live-in super, a gym, and a truly ideal location: minutes from the Promenade and about every subway line you can name.
75 Prospect Park SW, E8
A perfectly nice two-bedroom in a co-op building right off Prospect Park. Yes, this is a conversion of an oversize one-bedroom, but at least it was nicely executed: The smaller bedroom is directly off the living room through a pocket door. A small office has been added as well, and though the glass-wall thing is not to my taste, it’s a smart use of the space. (There’s also another office near the entryway, should you need another.) The main bedroom has closets and two exposures with views, naturally, of the park. Maintenance is $1,108 with a J-51 tax abatement that expires soon — suspenseful. The elevator building includes a live-in super, basement storage, bike storage, a laundry room that’s been recently updated, and, per the listing, “a tradition of excellent financial management.” It’s within walking distance of Nighthawk Cinema and the F and G at Bartel-Pritchard Square, and I appreciate both of those things.