Duplex

**Showing July 5th for early-mid August availability.

**$2600 per month

**Photos are 2 years old. It won’t look this good in person! (But we’ll make it shine again.)

The Neighborhood

Bed Stuy is huge! It’s bordered by Crown Heights to the south, Bushwick to the north, Clinton Hill to the west and Brownsville to the east.

The neighborhood has a dark history. During the 60’s and 70’s the crime rate was among the highest in the city. Some parts of Bed Stuy are still a bit shady, but for the most part, the entire area has been touched by gentrification.

The most desirable part of Bed Stuy is Stuyvesant Heights on the southeast. This area never suffered the way the rest of the neighborhood did and it shows.

The apartment is located in an equally desirable section of Bed Stuy. This is the southwest area, where the A express train takes a mere 10 minutes to get into Manhattan. Better still is the fact that the house is located within half a block to the train!

Although you won’t find many hip restaurants and bars, some cafes and shops have popped up on Tompkins Avenue. Fulton Street is the main shopping thoroughfare. Here you’ll find lots of useless discount stores, but also some very necessary conveniences such as the Super Foodtown, banks, post office, hardware, etc.

But enough about the shops! What about the neighbors? They are what make Bed Stuy great! You can’t walk half a block without a friendly hello and a smile. It’s very old school Brooklyn around here, where neighbors actually speak to each other and kids play on the sidewalk. Don’t move here if this sort of thing freaks you out.

Bed Stuy Blog
Bed Stuy Banana

The House

We bought the 4 story brownstone in 2005. We fell in love with it because it retained so much detail but we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us to restore her to her former glory. We had done some extensive DIY renovations in our day, but this was by far the biggest project we ever took on! It took us 9 months just to finish the duplex. This involved running new plumbing, heating and electric as well as restoring the walls, flooring and woodwork.

The parlor floor is a 1BR apartment. A quiet couple lives there with their small, yappy dog.

The garden apartment is ours. We don’t actually live there. It’s pretty much our “pied a terre” when we swing in from upstate.

The shared laundry room leads out to the shared backyard. It’s a nice space, but we’re still waiting for those tenants who love to garden! Of course, with 3 dogs out there (we bring our 2 when we come down), it makes gardening a challenge.

The Apartment

This is a 3rd and 4th floor duplex, renovated in 2006. Main entrance on the parlor level and your private entrance is upstairs. The third floor has high ceilings, 2 marble fireplaces, original shutters and of course, hardwood floors.

The galley kitchen features a hand painted antique tile backsplash on one side and tin on the other. The stainless refrigerator and dishwasher are 2 years old. The stove wasn’t replaced during renovation. Floors are tumbled marble.

To the right of the kitchen is a large L shaped living room. You have the option to use the separate room off the other side of the kitchen as a formal dining room or third en suite bedroom.

The 4th floor has 2 bedrooms and a full bath. Although it lacks the impressive high ceilings that the 3rd floor has, it’s not too shabby up here! The bigger bedroom has 2 rather large closets and 2 skylights. The smaller bedroom features wide plank floors. Full bath on this floor as well.