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SELECT PRESS | 223 WARREN STREET

House of the Day: 223 Warren Street

By Cate Corcoran

September 18, 2012

We’re getting used to asks of $5 million and above in Brooklyn Heights, but as Curbed has already pointed out, $6 million is quite the ticket for a townhouse in Cobble Hill. As one might expect, the restoration of this one-family Italianate brownstone at 223 Warren Street appears pristine, at least in the photos. We’re lusting after the

laboratory-like kitchen in the extension, and there are plenty of historic details as well, such as fireplaces and inlaid floors. But perhaps what accounts for the $6,000,000 price tag of this particular property is that it sits on a double lot and comes with a two-car garage. What do you think — will they get their ask?

Best Place of the Week: Classic But Modern Cobble Hill Home

By Gina Pace September 27, 2012

This classic townhouse has

sleek additions – and will be

part of the upcoming City

Modern home tour.

How do you make something

old new again?

Architect Joseph Tanney took

this 1875 townhouse at 223

Warren St. in Cobble Hill,

Brooklyn, and made it

modern.

The structure, which had been broken up into multiple apartments, was remade into a single-family

home. Tanney preserved classic brownstone touches, like the molding, wood flooring and marble

fireplace mantels, while a steel and glass extension on the home, which houses the kitchen and a roof

deck, gives the home a contemporary feel. Additional modern conveniences include central air

conditioning and all-new plumbing and electrical systems.

The 3,900-square-foot home also has 2,250 square feet of outdoor space, said listing broker

Terry Naini, a senior vice president with Town Residential. There’s also a two-car garage.

Want to get a glimpse of the home, which is on the market for $6 million? It is part of the City

Modern home tour, sponsored by Dwell and New York magazines.

TOWN sales exclusive 223 Warren Street

House of the Day: A Divided Brooklyn Home Made Whole

By Jackie Bischof October 4, 2012

Price: $6,000,000

Location: Cobble Hill, NY

Type of Home: Townhouse

The owners of this five-bedroom

Brooklyn brownstone converted it

back to a single-family home with a

renovation that integrated the old

with the new.

George Gilpin and Kathryn 'Gigi' Sharpe bought this Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, home in 2003 for $2.3

million. Prior to this, they lived in a loft in the East Village, 'using the city the way you do when

you're younger,' says Mr. Gilpin. 'But two dogs and a child and a stroller and five flights of stairs and

a baby on the way … we decided to trade our roof deck for a back yard,' he says.

Here, the home's front living room. The couple focused their search on Cobble Hill, drawn to its

brownstone buildings, trees and the 'continuity of the blocks' says Mr. Gilpin. They found a multi-

family townhouse on Warren Street that had tenants. The property had a back yard and two-car

garage. 'I remember Gigi and I standing in the backyard and [thinking], this is a huge premium … a

lot of extra space and land that's included in the price,' says Mr. Gilpin

Another view of the front living room. The 3,900-square-feet home, believed to have been built

around 1880, is on a double lot with the townhouse on Warren Street and the 400-square-feet garage

on Verandah Place, a dead-end. The property has 2,250 square-feet of outdoor space, and at nearly

170-feet-deep could have an additional 4,000 square feet, according to Terry Naini of Town

Residential, which holds the listing.

TOWN sales exclusive 223 Warren Street

Here, the dining room. Ms. Sharpe, 44 years old, describes herself as a 'small-time real estate

developer,' while Mr. Gilpin, also 44, is an antique dealer. They owned and renovated the building

they lived in prior to this home, later turning it into a condo and selling the floors. At the start of

their house hunt, they were intent on finding something they did not have to renovate, that didn't

have tenants and that did not require that they take on debt. They ended up taking on all three, says

Mr. Gilpin.

Pictured, a recreation and family room. The couple lived with their children for two years in the

bottom two floors of the house, while tenants occupied the other two apartments. They then moved

to a rental for a year while renovating the house.

Here, the office. The couple recall meeting with architects whose suggestions ranged from a historic

renovation to some 'really creative ideas' that were a bit 'wild' for the family, says Mr. Gilpin. They

settled with Joseph Tanney and Robert Luntz of Resolution: 4 Architecture, who recommended

mixing a modern look with the historic aspects of the home. 'Joe and Rob had the best ideas about

how to marry those two styles together,' says Mr. Gilpin.

One time-consuming project was the kitchen, which has wrap-around windows and is Ms. Sharpe's

favorite part of the house. They enlisted the help of a friend, artist David Nyzio, who employs

natural materials in his work, to create custom-made windows for the space. Mr. Nyzio's artwork also

features in the home.

The stairway has a walnut railing and steps, which Mr. Gilpin says helps create a transition between

the original inlaid oak flooring on the parlor floor and other bedrooms, and the walnut flooring

installed during the renovation.

The couple would not disclose the cost of the renovation, saying only that it was 'more than they

anticipated.' They rewired the house, replaced the plumbing and added new radiators and central air,

as well as replacing some windows.

The master bedroom is one of Mr. Gilpin's favorite spots in the house, a place to relax and 'hope [the

children] are not jumping on the bed. The room overlooks Warren Street. 'When you're lying in bed

you can see all the trees rustling in the wind. Warren Street is a pretty quiet block,' says Mr. Gilpin.

The master bathroom on the second floor. The four-floor home has five bedrooms, three full

bathrooms, a play room, media room, office space, terrace and cellar.

Here, one of the home's bedrooms. 'I like stuff, objects and furniture,' says Mr. Gilpin. 'As an antique

dealer you might discover something you like, it might come home for a while.'

The couple have found a larger space in the Prospect Park South area that 'really excited us,' says Mr.

Gilpin, who adds that their children are excited about being able to walk to the park and fish. 'In a

way it's kind of a project that this house has been for the last eight years.'

Another guest bedroom is pictured. Details original to the home include etched glass doors and

shutters. 'The challenge was bringing it back to a single-family home and retaining the integrity and

character of what was once there, says architect Joseph Tanney. In particular, 'deciding what could be

saved and saving what could be.'

The couple say the many schools, restaurants and markets in the area make it a draw. 'We really loved

living here, it's a great neighborhood for kids and family,' says Mr. Gilpin. Here, another one of the

home's bedrooms.

Friends also advised on the colors used in the home and in the landscaping of the garden, which

separates the outdoor space into an area for dining and grilling, a walkway and the play area.

The garden features a silo-like playhouse next to the garage, pictured, and designed by their children.

'It's funny sometimes when you get kids involved,' Mr. Gilpin says of the playhouse, a two-level

cylinder with cone-shaped roof. The home was listed in September for $6 million. Terry Naini of

Town Residential holds the listing.

Warren Street Townhouse

October 7, 2012

When approached to renovate a Brooklyn brownstone for a family of four, architect Joseph Tanney had his work cut out for him. Stitching together old and new, a perfect storm of classic Brooklyn brownstone and modernism was created. The structure was broken up into several separate apartments and had to be reassembled into one family home. Architect Joseph Tanney preserved classic brownstone details including the original molding, flooring and fireplace mantles and integrated

new and modern interventions including built-ins, new bathrooms, mechanical systems, roof deck and a sculptural carving skylight which filters light throughout the staircase (another preserved element). Rebuilding the dilapidated rear addition created a home for the kitchen and a roof deck. Off the addition, an exterior aluminum subway grating stair provides access to the garden. Custom steel windows were fabricated by an artist and friend of the homeowners (who chose and sourced the classic midcentury furniture which fills the home). The detached garage - a rare luxury in Brooklyn - is accessed via an alley.

Inside a Just-Sold Townhouse Asking $6M in Cobble Hill

By Sarah Polsky October 8, 2012

Architect Joseph Tanney designed two homes on this weekend's City Modern home tours schedule: the all-white apartment near Union Square and 223 Warren Street, the lovely Cobble Hill townhouse that came to market in mid-September for a whopping $6 million. We stopped by the house yesterday for a look, and while our amateur photos admittedly pale in comparison to the listing pics, we did come away from the place with some intel from Tanney: the place has already sold. Given the speed at which that happened, we're guessing the price was somewhere around what the owners were asking. Tanney says he's already started work on the owners' next place south of Prospect Park.

Beep Beep! Cobble Hill Townhouse With Garage Sets

Neighborhood Record With $6 M. Sale

By Kim Velsey November 16, 2012

Mirror, mirror on the exposed-brick wall, who has the

fairest Cobble Hill townhouse of them all? Well, that’s

not for us to say, but 223 Warren Street is certainly

the most expensive.

The four-story brownstone has set a neighborhood record, fetching a king’s ransom of $6.05 million. The sale, which closed yesterday, was slightly above the $6 million asking price. And what’s more, the townhouse also breaks the neighborhoods price-per-square foot townhouse record even if you don’t count the garage. (Yes, there’s a garage. And it fits two cars.) The new owners, who prefer to remain

anonymous (they bought the place under an LLC named after the address), shelled out $1.55 for each of the home’s meticulously renovated 3,900 square feet.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Manhattan! Of course, Truman Capote’s old place in Brooklyn Heights sold for $12.5 million this spring, setting the borough record. Meanwhile, a massive townhouse/art studio is listed for $10 million in Fort Greene, but we all know it isn’t what you ask for that counts, it’s what you actually get.

The last impressive get in Cobble Hill was significantly lower and pre-Lehman: 155 Warren Street, a 7,000-square-foot townhouse took $5.4 million back in 2008, a steep discount for the $8.7 million it had asked a year before. Right now there’s a $7 million property on the market, but as we said before, the proof is in the sale.

What put the price for 223 Warren so much higher than its similarly-lovely predecessors? Town Residential broker Terry Naini, who represented sellers George Gilpin and Kathryn “Gigi” Sharpe, said that it was partially the double lot—a huge plot that can accommodate the home’s garage and a large landscaped garden; it’s also the only one on the block that doesn’t have an easement to Veranda Place.

And of course, the 1875 brownstone that the Gilpin Sharpes bought for $2.3 million back in 2003 and tapped architect Joe Tanney to covert from a five-family to a five-bedroom single-family home also helped get that smidgen more than the ask.

“It’s hard to replicate,” said Ms. Naini. “It’s like buying something from Zara versus Prada. It’s the design. And people pay for that.”

Ms. Naini told us that it hadn’t been a bidding war—she didn’t believe in bidding wars—but more than one buyer had certainly been interested and she’d encouraged the buyers to “put their best foot forward.”

Apparently they were all too eager.

“People used to move to Brooklyn because they couldn’t afford to be in Manhattan,” she said. “Now they’re moving to Brooklyn because they want to be in Brooklyn.” And they’re paying handsomely for it.

TOWN sales exclusive 223 Warren Street

$6M Townhouse Sale Breaks Cobble Hill Record

By Zachary Kussin November 16, 2012

A Cobble Hill townhouse located at 223 Warren Street has traded hands for $6.05 million, setting a neighborhood record, the New York Observer reported. The sale also broke Cobble Hill’s price-per-square-foot record for townhouses — even without including the garage square footage.

This purchase breaks the previous pre-Lehman collapse record of 155 Warren Street, which traded in 2008 for $5.4 million. The purchaser, who bought the home for slightly more than the home’s $6 million ask, was hidden behind an LLC named for the townhouse’s address. Town Residential’s Terry Naini had the listing.

Naini said the property commanded the price because it occupies a double lot and is the only home on its block that does not have an easement to Veranda Place. The townhouse was converted by Joe Tanney into a single-family residence after the previous owners bought it for $2.3 million in 2003.

TOWN sales exclusive 223 Warren Street

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT ASSOCIATE BROKER

O: (917) 841-1826 E: tnaini@townrealestate.com

TERRY NAINI

PLEASE CONTACT