BKLYN’s fascinating fixer-uppers: Crown Heights North rowhouses in need of some TLC

Eye On Real Estate

September 16, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

To find 1339 Bergen St. in this row of historic Crown Heights North homes, look for its boarded-up windows.

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In manicured, marvelous Brooklyn, fixer-upper buildings really stand out.

Some are splendid despite their disrepair. The messiness adds to their allure. Some are just a mess.

The Coignet Building, a sweet little landmark surrounded by a big Gowanus Whole Foods, is the most famous of the fixer-uppers we’ve been obsessing about lately. Here are two fixer-upper rowhouses we can’t take our Eye off of:

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1339 Bergen St.

Renovators are busy fixing up some of the historic homes on a Bergen Street block — part of which is in the newly designated Crown Heights North III Historic District. Other houses are waiting to be rescued from decay.

One of the latter is the bow-windowed rowhouse at 1339 Bergen St. The Renaissance Revival-style two-family home, which was built around 1902, has a dignified air. But the boarded-up windows are a saddening sight — especially since it’s part of a row of 13 landmarked homes that are handsome and for the most part well-maintained.

The fixer-upper belongs to Amit Management Inc., whose president is Yakov Zuaretz, Finance Department records indicate.

Earlier this year, 1339 Bergen was slapped with an Environmental Control Board violation because of cracking, disintegrating and missing mortar on the exterior walls, Buildings Department records indicate.

The rowhouse next door, 1337 Bergen St., is undergoing a renovation right this minute. Liev LLC, with Gilad Block as a member, bought 1337 Bergen in December 2014 for $500,000, Finance Department records show.

According to two permits issued by the Buildings Department, the total estimated cost of interior renovation will be $132,200.

Hmm. Wouldn’t it be nice if Amit Management decided to play catch-up with the new owner next door and rehab decrepit 1339 Bergen?

1360 Bergen St.

Another eye-catching fixer-upper, 1360 Bergen St., is on the end of the block that’s not included in the landmarked district.

The red-brick rowhouse has a multistory vertical expanse of plywood where windows probably were.

In 2006, Tyra Sanders bought the house for $230,000 from the estate of Mabel Smith, who had died intestate in 1991, Finance Department records indicate.

Renovation is underway at oh-so-close-by 1364 Bergen St., which also is located outside the landmarked district.

Joseph Ostreicher bought that house through an LLC for $250,000 in 2013, Finance Department records indicate. The seller, Michael Johnson, had purchased the property for $675,000 in March 2007.

The entity from which Johnson bought 1364 Bergen, Shefa Trading LLC, had paid $425,000 for it in February 2007, Finance Department Records show.