At Cherry Blossom Time, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights shine: Part Two

Eye On Real Estate: Recent home sales near Brooklyn Botanic Garden

April 29, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

It's Cherry Blossom Time in Brooklyn Botanic Garden — and there are also flowering cherry trees on nearby residential blocks, including this tree on Sterling Place. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan

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It’s Cherry Blossom Time — which shines a spotlight on the neighborhoods near Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Besides Sakura Matsuri, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which just took place on April 25 and 26, the stunning blooms along the garden’s Esplanade keep crowds coming for the next couple weeks to BBG. And nearby blocks of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights get lots of attention from the visitors.

While the two neighborhoods are in the limelight, it seems like a good time to peruse property records to see who has been buying homes.

* In February, Nancy G. Chaffetz paid $1.19 million for 639 St. Johns Place, city Finance Department records show. She is the chairwoman of the city Civil Service Commission. The seller of the Crown Heights property was an LLC with Arthur Raab as a member, the deed indicates.

Raab’s LLC had purchased the charming red-brick rowhouse for $775,000 in October 2013.

* A handsome yellow-brick rowhouse right next door, 641 St. Johns Place, also changed hands recently. An LLC bought it last October for $930,000, according to Finance Department records. Yossi Ariel, a local developer, is identified in a mortgage as a member of the purchasing LLC.

In December, the city Buildings Department issued a “partial job” permit for 641 St. Johns Place for interior renovation and plumbing work. The estimated total cost of the property’s renovation is $81,480, agency records indicate.

The two houses are located between Franklin Avenue and St. Francis Place.

* In Prospect Heights near BBG, 398 Sterling Place, a stunning bow-windowed house on a landmarked block, sold for $2.6 million in January 2014, according to Finance Department records.

The purchasing LLC is affiliated with Angel Group Holdings, a real estate company founded by developer David Angel, the firm’s website indicates.

The price tag for renovations is an estimated $104,500, a Buildings Department filing indicates.

The two units in the house have since been offered for re-sale as two separate condos. Jerry Minsky, a veteran broker in Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods who’s with Douglas Elliman Real Estate, handled the marketing. There are signed sale contracts for both, according to Minsky’s web page.

The asking price for 3.5-bedroom Unit 1 was $2.39 million.

The asking price for four-bedroom Unit 2 was $2.395 million.

* A stunning brownstone on another landmarked Prospect Heights block, 391 Park Place, sold in February to an LLC for $2.975 million.

Online records about the LLC identify the man who formed it as Daniel Cayley Chung. He’s the CEO of Fred Alger Management, a high-profile investment management firm.