SAVED FROM WRECKER’S BALL, A HARLEM BROWNSTONE, CIRCA 1878, STARTS ANEW
The
offer made by State Supreme Court Justice William P. McCooe outside his chambers
in October of 1997 left little room for compromise - - either a responsible
party immediately stepped up to the plate to repair the vacant 120 year-old
Neo Grec brownstone structure at 2011 Fifth Avenue (between 124th and 125th
Streets) or he’d allow the City’s Department of Buildings to demolish
the property.
Harlem developer Nina DeMartini-Day, who had responded to pleas from neighbors urging her to try to save the 4-story, 19th century house that still boasted two marble mantelpieces on each floor, detailed woodwork, etched glass windows, elaborate plaster wall motifs and moldings and 15-foot ceilings on the parlor floor, felt she had no choice. "I couldn’t bear to see such a beautiful and potentially vibrant building destroyed, and in the process, an entire block of residences jeopardized."
Designed as the first in an unbroken row of six identical brownstones by architect D.J. Jardine in 1878, the demolition of 2011, at the gateway to Morris historic district, would not only have created an unsightly hole in the middle of the block, but also would seriously threaten the security of residences along both Fifth Avenue and 125th Street.
Given such a limited choice, Ms. Day, who together with Terrence Moan are partners of DDM Development & Services, an active builder in the Harlem community, agreed to purchase the property. She also signed an agreement to immediately rebuild the brownstone’s rear brick wall, which had been removed by the city in August after the owner’s estate had failed to respond to an "Unsafe Building Order" to repair a menacing crack that Department of Building inspectors feared could possibly cause the structure to collapse.
Ms. Day, whose firm had previously stabilized a neighboring building that was in similar condition, recognized that 2011 was not an appropriate candidate for the wrecker’s ball — it simply needed a new rear wall. She completed the work last March and the violation was dismissed.
That’s when DDM took on its biggest challenge — to return 2011 back to its original grandeur. With the help of Republic National Bank, which provided over $200,000 in financing, the brownstone was totally restored and transformed into an owner’s five-bedroom, 3-bath triplex and a two-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath garden apartment. It has been put on the market by Harlem broker Willie Kathryn Suggs at an asking price of $535,000.
According to Ms. Day, 2011 fell on hard times in the early 1990’s when its new owner died shortly after purchasing the brownstone. It became the sole asset of the estate and the beneficiary, an elderly gentleman, was financially unable to keep the mortgage and taxes current or properly maintain the vacant property.
Ms. Day and Mr. Moan, both former New York City real estate commissioners in the Koch administration, operate companies that develop, construct and manage real estate in Harlem. While they occasionally take on projects for their own account, most of their work is on behalf of non-profit clients, for whom they build and finance housing to serve low income and working families.
