It was once a symbol of the cruelty of landlords in the pandemic’s panicked first months, the scene of a tense summer 2020 standoff between tenants and an owner kicking them out.
Now, what The Cut dubbed the “ eco-yogi slumlords ” house in Crown Heights, Brooklyn is set to become the new home for a lucky winner of the city’s affordable housing lottery.
That’s because of a rare arrangement that let the city Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD) wrest the house away from the former owners, Gennaro Brooks-Church and Loretta Gendville. As part of a 2022 settlement with the state attorney general, the landmarked townhouse on Dean Street became public property.
Later that year, the house passed from HPD to the nonprofit preservation group Neighborhood Restore for $1. Then followed months of work, said Restore’s executive director Salvatore D’Avola, to make it ready for a yet-unknown first-time homebuyer who will take ownership of the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house for just $678,000. The property also now includes a rent-stabilized, one-bedroom rental in the basement.