Aussie Fund’s Bed-Stuy Buys: 195 and 221 MacDonough St.

Eye On Real Estate

August 6, 2014 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Renovate me, please: The Aussies recently bought 195 MacDonough St. in Bed-Stuy

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More’s the word on MacDonough Street.

The real estate investment trust that Australian transplant Alan Dixon’s involved in scored big on MacDonough Street with the recent $3.15 million purchase of statuesque multi-family building 75 MacDonough St.

The buy, which Brownstoner.com first reported, was one of three recent Aussie deals for properties on the landmark-district street.

The REIT — which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange — bought 195 and 221 MacDonough St. in May, a June 2014 report from the US Masters Residential Property Fund indicates.

The price for 195 MacDonough was $1,024,999 and the seller was 195 Mac Donough St. LLC — which had paid $730,000 for the Italianate-style row house in 2013, according to city Finance Department records. The owner before that had purchased the house for $385,000 in 2012.

A city Buildings Department filing by a previous owner says it’s configured as seven furnished rooms and one apartment. That filing was for a plan to convert the property into a three-family home.

The Aussie purchaser — whose total acquisition cost, including closing-related fees, was $1,071,786 — plans to turn it into a two-family home with monthly rents estimated at $2,200 for one apartment and $6,800 for the other, the fund’s report says.

Will the Australians replace the modern stone façade with something historically appropriate?

By the way, the row house next door at 197 MacDonough St. is padlocked and has boarded-up windows, but that shouldn’t be a long-term drag on the block’s property values. The house is up for sale with a $1.4 million asking price. Corcoran is the listing broker.

As for 221 MacDonough, Dixon’s fund paid Barbara Ann Battle and Tracie Barnes $1.215 million for the Gothic Revival row house, Finance Department records show.

The property, whose total acquisition cost was $1,239,152, will have rents estimated at $1,950 per month for one unit and $5,900 per month for the other, the fund’s report says.