Straddling all of double-breasted 1743 W Augusta and sharply pitched above four simplex units is some fresh bait for young urban professionals: a high-ceilinged and highly transparent two-bedroom penthouse, 10 years old but stripped to the studs and rebuilt.
Built in 2004 when East Village had just become an “it” neighborhood, the building goes along with the safe modernism that stormed the area in the last decade: the look-at-me brick and steel 3-flats with oversized windows and balconies. Still, the architectural flourish that is the third floor condo goes above and beyond the formula’s stipulations.
A recent gut-reno brought new floors and finishes to the space, built-in surround sound, and a chef’s kitchen with quartz counter tops, new cabinetry, and a custom island that seller Jeff Wolff, and owner of contracting and development company WolffHager, constructed with PVC piping and a chopping block. Eighteen-foot vaulted ceilings cut the length of the open floor plan, uniting kitchen, living room, and dining room and with access to two of the four decks—outdoor space that totals almost 1,200 square feet on two ends of the unit and the rooftop. Both bathrooms have also been completely reworked into virtual spas, with natural stone finishes.
“We turned it in about 30 days,” says Wolff, who never intended it to be his home but has been exploring the space’s bachelor pad potential for the past month. “For the single guys who are always at the bar looking at the TV, I did this standing-height chopping block table.” Naturally, there’s a large flat-screen hung 20 feet off, above the wood-burning fireplace.
The south-facing rear windows onto the kitchen and master bedroom are lightly tinted to blunt long-term UV damage to the hardwood floors, paint, and cabinetry, according to listing agent Michael Drommerhausen of Prudential Ruboff. One barely feels the impact considering the even light flooding in from the north.
Another thoughtful detail, though not so closely linked to the unit’s (or owner’s) well-being, is the wet bar snuggled into a landing at the exit to the rooftop deck: meant to facilitate parties, but hopefully not tumbles down the stairs.
Price Points: Wolff paid $415,000 for an almost-unrecognizable space in foreclosure back in mid-January, in a multiple-bid auction. An undisclosed amount was spent on the gut-renovation. The new asking price of $595,000 is obviously designed to recoup the investment and then some, but it only eclipses the unit’s original 2004 sale price by $70,000. So, in a sense, there’s value to be had here. One-and-a-half garage spaces are included in the price.