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Community Corner

The Keyhole Condo and the Clinton Ave. Roomshare

Looking for luxury? Looking for a place to crash? GreeneListed has something for everyone.

This week in GreeneListed we look at a luxury penthouse unit on the fringe of prime Fort Greene and a crashpad offered up for $900 by a 25-year-old serial roommate switcher.

82 Adelphi Street #5C

This block of Adephi wouldn't be an obvious first stop for Fort Greene shoppers — it suffers from a common neighborhood problem: It’s extremely close to Manhattan (Chinatown is only about a 2.5 mile walk), but far enough from trains to make it seem far.

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But that distance from the train is the ticket to a luxury condo at this price.

The last-available condo at 80 Adelphi is truly a showstopper. The unit exudes luxury with features like a floor-to-ceiling keyhole window and two private outdoor spaces.

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An elevator opens directly into the condo, which features two full baths. A large balcony off the sunny living room could accommodate about 20 people.

The 10-unit condo sits on a block lined with a hodgepodge of architectural styles. Simple rowhouses, low-rise condos and single family homes bump against an elevated section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — the traffic is right there, but the noise was undetectable in the condo.

Pros

  • Green-Ville Garden, a new organic grocery store, is nearby on Myrtle Avenue.
  • Two shared outdoor spaces plus a common roof deck; spacious living room.
  • Views of Manhattan from the back balcony.
  • 15 year reduced taxes through 421 Abatement.

Cons

  • A bit of a walk to the Manhattan-bound subway lines at the Dekalb Avenue station (about .8 miles). Though, from that station, Canal Street is only one stop away on the Q line.
  • Close proximity to the BQE.

82 Adelphi #5C

$499,000

$613 /mo. common charge

For showings contact:

Erin Brennan

Corcoran Group

917-568-5902

eeb@corcoran.com

________________________

A serial roommate switcher, is offering up a large bedroom on the best stretch of Clinton Avenue

Meet Maria Arutunyan, a 25-year old architecture project associate at RAND Engineering & Architecture, PC in Chelsea.

It takes her 35 minutes to make it to her office at 25th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan.

She stays anchored in her fifth floor apartment, in an elevator building on a prime stretch of Clinton Avenue. She rents out the other two rooms to people who stay for weeks, months or years at a time. Often, she said, they're people who just arrived to the city.

This isn't an uncommon arrangement. In fact, roomshares are a huge segment of the real estate landscape in the city. They are traded in a realm without brokers, without landlords and are largely unregulated.

A roomshare — essentially a bedroom in someone else's apartment — is often ideal for a new arrival to Brooklyn. Unlike renting from a traditional landlord, there's usually no lease or credit check involved. 

Arutunyan has lived at her apartment on Clinton Avenue at Gates Avenue for five and a half years and had a total of 14 roommates (for sure, she keeps a list). The available room has a big closet and oversized bay windows.

She has had all kinds of roomies over the years, but Arutunya didn't hesitate when asked who her least favorite was. A couple that cooked in the kitchen for three hours together every night drove her up the wall. "It was like foreplay to them," she said.

Pros:

  •  A half block to C train at Clinton-Washington
  • On a gorgeous stretch of brownstones and pre-war buildings on Clinton Avenue
  • Close to stores on Fulton Street.

Cons:

  • The living room and kitchen are the same room.
  • You have no idea who your roommates might be!

 ______________________

Clinton Avenue at Gates Avenue

$900/month + utilities

Right after we came through, Maria found a roommate — these roomshares go quick!

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