Sell Your Property in Crown Heights South
We Buy Houses & Buildings in Crown Heights South
From the semi-detached houses on Crown and Montgomery Streets to the prewar apartment buildings near Empire Boulevard, we buy Crown Heights South property directly, for cash, in whatever condition it is in today.
- All-cash, as-is purchases
- Tenants and rent-stabilized units welcome
- Off-market and confidential
- Close on your timeline
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Quick Answers
Who Buys Property in Crown Heights South?
Who buys property in Crown Heights South, Brooklyn?
Red Hook Development buys property throughout Crown Heights South, the part of Crown Heights between Eastern Parkway and Empire Boulevard. We purchase one- to four-family houses, semi-detached and attached homes, walk-ups, mixed-use buildings on Nostrand, Kingston and Utica Avenues, larger prewar apartment buildings and commercial lots along Empire Boulevard. We pay cash, buy as-is, and keep the sale off the open market, so you do not have to renovate, stage a house or empty a building before you sell.
Can I sell a Crown Heights South house with tenants in it?
Yes. Many houses south of Eastern Parkway are two- and three-family homes with long-term tenants on the upper floors, and many apartment buildings are fully occupied. We buy with tenants in place. We review the leases, rent history and any regulated status as part of our offer, and nobody has to move out for the sale to close. You keep collecting rent until the closing date.
Do you buy rent-stabilized buildings in Crown Heights South?
We do. The six-story elevator buildings near Empire Boulevard and the older walk-ups on Crown, Carroll and President Streets often include rent-stabilized apartments. Since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, owners have had far fewer ways to raise regulated rents, which is why many owners decide to sell. Our rent-stabilized building page explains how we price these properties.
How fast can you close on a Crown Heights South property?
When the title is clear, we can usually close a cash purchase in about three to five weeks. Estates, partnership buyouts and buildings with open violations can take longer, but we work around your schedule. Some sellers need to close quickly because of a tax bill or a family deadline. Others want a later date so they can find their next home. We can do either.
What does it cost to sell to Red Hook Development?
You pay no commission, because we are buying directly and no listing broker is involved. You also skip staging, repairs, open houses and the months of carrying costs that come with a listing. You will still have your own attorney and the usual seller closing costs under New York law. We go over those costs with you before you sign anything, so you know your net proceeds ahead of time.
What We Buy in Crown Heights South
Crown Heights South Properties We’re Actively Buying
Semi-Detached & Attached Houses
The brick and limestone semi-detached houses and attached rows on Crown, Montgomery, Carroll and President Streets, many with driveways, side yards or basement apartments. We buy them as single-families or two- and three-family homes, renovated or untouched for decades.
President Street Mansions
The large freestanding and semi-detached houses on the blocks of President and Carroll Streets around Nostrand, New York and Brooklyn Avenues. These are big houses with high carrying costs and often deferred maintenance, and we can buy them without the long listing that a house this size usually needs.
Prewar Apartment Buildings
Six-story elevator buildings and courtyard buildings on Montgomery Street, Crown Street, Empire Boulevard and the side streets near Prospect Park. We buy them occupied, including buildings with a high share of rent-stabilized units, open violations or heavy capital needs.
Walk-Ups & Small Multifamily
Three- and four-story walk-ups with six to twenty units, common on the side streets between Franklin and Utica Avenues. Whether the building is fully stabilized, mixed or mostly free-market, we underwrite it from the actual rent roll.
Mixed-Use on Retail Corridors
Buildings with apartments over stores on Nostrand, Kingston, Utica and Rogers Avenues. These corridors serve very different customers block by block, and we buy with existing commercial tenants and leases in place.
Empire Boulevard Commercial & Lots
Auto-oriented lots, garages, one-story commercial buildings and former industrial sites along Empire Boulevard and near the old Ebbets Field blocks. Some of these may have redevelopment potential, and we evaluate the zoning on each one.
Housing Stock
What Crown Heights South Is Built From
Crown Heights South covers the blocks between Eastern Parkway and Empire Boulevard, running east from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Prospect Park toward Utica Avenue and beyond. Most of it was built in the decades after 1900, as the Eastern Parkway subway, Ebbets Field and the automobile showrooms on Bedford Avenue brought new residents to what had been open farmland.
The housing reflects that era. Brooklyn architects such as Montrose Morris, Axel Hedman and the firm Slee & Bryson designed rows in Renaissance, Colonial, Flemish and Tudor Revival styles. There are also blocks of semi-detached brick houses with porches and driveways, a few blocks of single-family mansions, and large prewar apartment buildings, especially toward Empire Boulevard and the park.
Typical Property Types
- Semi-detached two-family brick houses on Crown and Montgomery Streets
- Limestone and brick attached rows on Carroll, President and Union Streets
- Large freestanding and semi-detached mansions on President Street near Nostrand and New York Avenues
- Six-story elevator and courtyard apartment buildings near Empire Boulevard
- Mixed-use buildings on Nostrand, Kingston and Utica Avenues
None of Crown Heights South has been designated as a city historic district, unlike Crown Heights North across the parkway. Local groups have surveyed the architecture and pushed for preservation, so it is worth watching. For now, most owners here can renovate or expand without Landmarks Preservation Commission review.
Zoning
Zoning Context South of Eastern Parkway
Crown Heights South has not had the kind of broad contextual rezoning that the city completed north of Eastern Parkway in 2013. Much of the residential area still carries older medium-density residential zoning. Commercial overlays run along Nostrand, Kingston and Utica Avenues, and auto-oriented commercial zoning lines Empire Boulevard.
Empire Boulevard is the part of the neighborhood where land use is changing. A privately sponsored rezoning at 73-99 Empire Boulevard, a former industrial site at McKeever and Sullivan Places, went through the city’s land use review in 2025 for a large mixed-use building with income-restricted apartments. Community Board 9 opposed that proposal. The Borough President asked the city to study the whole corridor, noting that the current auto-oriented zoning no longer matches how the area is changing.
City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, adopted in December 2024, also matters here. The Universal Affordability Preference, relaxed parking requirements and new rules for accessory dwelling units can change what a lot is worth, especially a deep lot or a corner. Zoning is parcel-specific, so confirm the details for your property with a zoning professional or attorney.
Regulated Buildings
Selling a Rent-Stabilized Building in Crown Heights South
Crown Heights South has a large stock of prewar apartment buildings, and many of them contain rent-stabilized apartments. Many owners bought these buildings before 2019, when vacancy increases and other ways to raise regulated rents were still available. The 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act took most of those tools away, and since then operating costs have kept climbing while regulated rents have stayed close to flat.
We buy these buildings as they are. We price from the real rent roll, the registered rents, the condition of the boiler, roof and facade, and any HPD or DOB violations, not from a broker’s projection. If the building has long-term tenants, unfinished repairs or a tenant association, tell us up front. It does not end the conversation.
A few newer rental buildings in and around the neighborhood were built with 421-a tax benefits. The program stopped accepting new projects in 2022 and was succeeded by 485-x in 2024, but existing 421-a buildings remain under their benefit schedules and their affordability rules. If you own one, see our 421-a building page.
Where We Buy
Where We Buy in Crown Heights South
We buy on every block between Eastern Parkway and Empire Boulevard. These are the sub-areas we see most often:
- Botanic Garden edge — Washington, Franklin and Bedford Avenues near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Medgar Evers College and the Franklin Avenue shuttle
- Ebbets Field blocks — Bedford Avenue, Sullivan Place, McKeever Place and Montgomery Street around the Ebbets Field Apartments
- Nostrand Avenue corridor — Union, President, Carroll and Crown Streets near the Nostrand Avenue 3 train station
- Kingston Avenue area — the blocks south of Eastern Parkway near Kingston Avenue, home to much of the Lubavitch community
- President Street mansion blocks — President and Carroll Streets around Nostrand, New York and Brooklyn Avenues
- Empire Boulevard — commercial lots, garages and apartment buildings from Flatbush Avenue east to Utica Avenue
- Utica Avenue end — Troy, Schenectady and Utica Avenues near the Utica Avenue 3/4 station
The Lubavitch Community
Crown Heights South is home to one of the largest Hasidic communities in the world, centered on the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, which the movement acquired in 1940. Kingston Avenue’s shops serve the community, and demand for housing on nearby blocks is steady, especially for larger houses and family-sized apartments. Sellers in this part of the neighborhood include long-time residents, families, estates and institutions. We work respectfully with all of them, and we are happy to schedule around Shabbat and holidays.
Why Owners Sell
Why Crown Heights South Owners Sell to Us
- Inherited houses — a semi-detached family home on Crown or Montgomery Street left to siblings who live elsewhere and do not want to be landlords
- Aging landlords — owners of two- and three-family houses who have managed tenants for decades and want to stop
- Regulated rent squeeze — apartment-building owners whose stabilized rents no longer cover taxes, fuel, insurance and repairs
- Deferred maintenance — big houses on President Street that need roofs, boilers or facade work the owner does not want to fund
- Violations and liens — buildings with open HPD or DOB violations, ECB fines or water and tax charges
- Partnership splits — co-owners who disagree on whether to hold, refinance or sell
In each of these situations, a slow public listing makes things harder. A direct sale gives you one buyer, one price and a closing date you choose.
Potential
Where the Value Is in Crown Heights South
Crown Heights South has a lot going for it: the Eastern Parkway subway line, Prospect Park and the Botanic Garden at the western edge, and solid housing stock that has never been landmarked. Converting semi-detached two-families back to large single-family homes, or the other way, is common. Corner lots and deep lots may have room to expand under current zoning and City of Yes.
On Empire Boulevard, auto-oriented lots and low commercial buildings are the parcels that look most like development sites, and the 2025 rezoning activity shows that the city is open to change on the corridor. Every site still depends on its own zoning, lot size, tenants and environmental history. We look at all of that when we make an offer.
Your Options
Your Options for Selling Crown Heights South Property
List With a Broker
A vacant, renovated house on a good block can do well on the open market. Listing still means repairs, showings, a buyer’s financing contingency and often several months before closing. Occupied buildings and houses that need work narrow the buyer pool considerably.
Develop or Renovate Yourself
If you have capital, time and an appetite for construction, renovating or building can capture more value. It also means permits, contractors, carrying costs and risk, and working with tenants in place makes it harder still.
Sell Directly to Red Hook Development
We buy as-is, with tenants, violations and all. The process is confidential, you pay no commission, and you choose the closing date. Many owners compare our offer against a listing before they decide, and we encourage that. See what we buy or submit your property.
How It Works
How Selling to Us Works
- Tell us about the property — address, units, rents and condition, by form, phone or email
- We review it — zoning, tax records, violations, registered rents and comparable sales
- Walkthrough — one visit, scheduled around your tenants and your calendar
- Written cash offer — clear terms, no financing contingency
- Close with your attorney — usually in about three to five weeks once title is clear
Market Context
The Crown Heights South Market
Crown Heights South draws buyers who want space near Prospect Park and the Eastern Parkway subway line at prices below Park Slope and Prospect Heights. Renovated single-family and two-family houses attract the most competition. Occupied multifamily buildings, regulated apartment buildings and houses that need major work sell to a much narrower group of investors and developers.
That second group is where we buy. If your property needs work, has tenants or brings regulatory complications, a direct sale is often the cleanest route. Neighboring markets in Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Wingate and East Flatbush follow similar patterns, and we buy in all of them.
FAQ
Crown Heights South Seller Questions
Where exactly is Crown Heights South?
Crown Heights South is the part of Crown Heights south of Eastern Parkway, running down to Empire Boulevard. It starts near Washington Avenue and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the west and extends east past Utica Avenue. Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Wingate lie to the south, and it is part of Brooklyn Community District 9.
Is Crown Heights South landmarked?
No historic district has been designated south of Eastern Parkway. The Crown Heights North Historic District is across the parkway. Without landmark status, exterior work here generally does not need Landmarks Preservation Commission approval, though normal DOB permits and zoning rules still apply.
Which subway lines serve Crown Heights South?
The IRT Eastern Parkway line runs along the northern edge. Franklin Avenue is served by the 2, 3, 4 and 5; Nostrand Avenue and Kingston Avenue by the 3; and Utica Avenue by the 3 and 4. The Franklin Avenue shuttle stops near the Botanic Garden, and the B and Q stop at Prospect Park station near the western end of Empire Boulevard.
Do you buy semi-detached houses with shared driveways?
Yes. Many semi-detached houses on Crown, Montgomery and the nearby streets share a driveway or a party wall with the neighbor. We review the survey and any easements as part of due diligence, and an unclear driveway arrangement will not stop us from making an offer.
Can you buy a house that is in an estate?
Yes. We often buy inherited Crown Heights South houses from estates. We can sign a contract while probate or administration is still underway and close once the executor or administrator has authority to sell. Your estate attorney handles the court side, and we work around their timeline.
Will you buy a commercial lot on Empire Boulevard?
Yes. We look at garages, auto lots, one-story commercial buildings and vacant parcels along Empire Boulevard. Our offer depends on the lot size, current zoning, existing leases and any environmental history, which is common on former auto-use sites. Confirm the zoning details with a professional before relying on them.
Other Neighborhoods
We Also Buy Nearby
We also buy houses, walk-ups and apartment buildings in the neighborhoods surrounding Crown Heights South.
Own Property in Crown Heights South?
Find out what a developer will pay — privately, with no obligation. Call 718-500-3423 or email bklyn@redhookdevelopment.com.