We Buy Hillside Houses, Two-Families & Lots in Grymes Hill, Staten Island

Housing Stock

What Grymes Hill Is Built From

Grymes Hill takes its name from Suzette Grymes, widow of Louisiana’s first governor and wife of New Orleans lawyer John Randolph Grymes, who bought land around Howard Avenue in 1836. Before that it was called Signal Hill, for a British signal station. Developer George Howard, for whom Howard Avenue is named, built many of the early houses after buying land in the 1830s, and through the 19th century wealthy New Yorkers built estates on the ridge, among them shipping heir Sir Edward Cunard.

A few of those estates survive. Casa Belvedere, the 1908 Stirn house at 77 Howard Avenue, is a city landmark and Italian cultural center. Others became institutional campuses: Wagner College on Howard Avenue, Notre Dame Academy on the former Dreyfus estate, and the former St. John’s University campus, which closed in 2024. Most of the rest of the hill is private houses, including many 1920s homes with harbor views, plus garden apartment complexes from the late 1940s and 1950s and two high-rise condominium buildings near the foot of Howard Avenue.

The surrounding sections differ. Silver Lake has detached houses near the park and several large apartment buildings. Sunnyside is mostly detached houses on former farmland along Clove Road. Emerson Hill is wooded, with large houses on winding roads, some of them private.

Typical Property Types

• 1920s and later detached houses on Howard Avenue, Louis Street and Stratford Avenue
• Older estates and large homes on deep, sloped lots
• Two-families and rentals near Wagner College and Van Duzer Street
• Garden apartment complexes, co-ops and condos (we buy whole buildings, not units)
• Wooded and steep lots in the hillside and natural-area districts

Zoning

Zoning Context: Hillsides & Natural Areas

Zoning on Grymes Hill is shaped as much by special districts as by the base residential districts. The Special Hillsides Preservation District, created in 1987, covers Grymes Hill, Silver Lake and other North Shore hills. It was designed to reduce erosion, landslides and storm-water runoff and to protect trees and natural terrain, so grading, tree removal and building on steep slopes face more review than on flat lots. Emerson Hill sits in the Special Natural Area District, where proposed site alterations need City Planning Commission review and tree removal generally needs approval.

On top of that, all of Staten Island is a Lower Density Growth Management Area, with stricter parking, yard and lot-size rules than other boroughs, and City of Yes for Housing Opportunity applies more narrowly here because the island is outside the Greater Transit Zone. Together, these rules decide whether a large lot can be split or a teardown replaced. We review them before we price any lot. Confirm any zoning question with a zoning attorney or professional.

Regulated Buildings

Apartment Buildings, Tenants & Rent Rules

Grymes Hill and Silver Lake have more apartment buildings than most Staten Island neighborhoods, from postwar garden complexes to larger buildings near Victory Boulevard. In New York City, rent stabilization generally applies to buildings with six or more units built before 1974, plus some newer buildings that took tax benefits, so some of these rental buildings may include regulated apartments. Since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, owners have had few ways to raise regulated rents.

We buy whole rental buildings with tenants in place, including regulated ones; our rent-stabilized building page explains how we price them. For two-families with a tenant who has stopped paying, see our guide to selling with tenants who are not paying. Talk to a landlord-tenant attorney about your situation.

Where We Buy

Where We Buy: Grymes Hill, Silver Lake, Sunnyside & Emerson Hill

We buy across the whole hill and the sections around it.

Grymes Hill

The top of the hill runs along Howard Avenue, past Wagner College, Casa Belvedere and Hero Park, a small park donated in 1920 by Dr. and Mrs. Louis A. Dreyfus. Side streets such as Louis Street, Stratford Avenue, Arlo Road and Grymes Hill Road hold detached houses, many with harbor views. The eastern slope drops toward Van Duzer Street and Stapleton, where houses are older and two-families more common. The Serpentine Ridge Nature Preserve and the Serpentine Art and Nature Commons keep a band of the hillside wooded.

Silver Lake

Silver Lake surrounds the park and reservoir bounded by Forest Avenue, Victory Boulevard and Clove Road. The city began converting the spring-fed lake, once called Fresh Pond, into a reservoir in 1913, and Silver Lake Park has an 18-hole public golf course. Detached houses line the dead-end streets above Forest Avenue and Hart Boulevard, and there are several large privately owned apartment buildings to the east and south. Silver Lake Cemetery and Woodland Cemetery front Victory Boulevard. We buy houses, two-families and whole apartment buildings here.

Sunnyside

Sunnyside lies south of Clove Lakes and Silver Lake Parks, along Clove Road, Little Clove Road, Ontario Avenue and Slosson Avenue, with Ocean Terrace and Clove Road roughly marking its edge with Grymes Hill and Emerson Hill. Once farmland called Clove Valley, it took its name from an 1889 boarding house. Two Vanderbilt family houses still stand near Victory Boulevard and Clove Road. The College of Staten Island once had a campus at the foot of Emerson Hill before moving to Willowbrook in 1993, and the Staten Island Expressway replaced the old Sunnyside Hospital in the 1960s. Housing is mostly detached single-families, which we buy dated or updated.

Emerson Hill

Emerson Hill rises south of the Staten Island Expressway, between Grymes Hill and Todt Hill. It is named for Judge William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s older brother, whose household Henry David Thoreau joined as a tutor in 1843. Its roads wind up through woods from entrances at Douglas Road and Emerson Drive, and some are private, with signs restricting through traffic. Houses are large and lots wooded, and the area is in the Special Natural Area District. We buy houses and lots here, including ones with private-road or tree-removal questions.

Inherited Property

Selling an Inherited House on Grymes Hill

Inherited houses here are often large, old and costly to carry, with heating bills, insurance and retaining walls to maintain on a steep lot. Staten Island estates go through the Richmond County Surrogate’s Court at 18 Richmond Terrace in St. George, across from the ferry terminal.

Executors and Administrators

With a will, the named executor generally applies for letters testamentary. Without one, a relative applies for letters of administration and becomes the administrator. Once the court grants authority, that person can sign the sale. We can inspect the house and give a written offer earlier, so the family has a firm number while the court process runs, and close when your estate attorney says the estate is ready.

Estate Situations We Handle

• Siblings who disagree about keeping or selling a family house
• Heirs out of state; we can arrange access and handle the walkthrough
• Vacant large houses with heat, insurance, taxes and upkeep running every month
• Houses needing major work, from roofs to retaining walls; we buy with the contents
• A two-family or rental with tenants; we take over the tenancies at closing

Our guide to selling inherited property in Staten Island explains more. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why Owners Sell

Why Grymes Hill Owners Sell to Us

• Estates and inherited houses
• Large houses that cost too much to carry
• Retaining walls, drainage or slope problems on hillside lots
• Lots that are hard to build under hillside or natural-area rules
• Landlords with student or long-term tenants near Wagner College
• Co-owners splitting up; see our partnership dispute guide

Potential

Where the Value Is on Grymes Hill

Grymes Hill has views, trees, Silver Lake and Clove Lakes Parks nearby and a short trip to the St. George ferry. Howard Avenue is one of the island’s most sought-after streets, and well-kept detached houses hold strong demand.

Value beyond the house usually comes from land, but on the hill that land is tightly regulated. Large lots, subdividable parcels and older estates can carry real value when the hillside or natural-area rules allow new building, and little when they do not. We do that analysis before we write an offer.

Your Options

Your Options for Selling Grymes Hill Property

List With a Broker

A well-kept view house can do well on the open market, and listing may net you more. It also means repairs, showings, a buyer’s mortgage and appraisal, and usually months before closing. Old systems, slope problems, tenants or an estate in probate narrow the pool.

Build or Subdivide Yourself

Developing a hillside lot can add value, but it means special-district review, engineering, tree approvals, permits, carrying costs and time.

Sell Directly to Red Hook Development

We buy as-is, with tenants, contents and estate paperwork in progress. You get a written offer, pay no commission and choose the closing date, and you can compare it with a listing first. See what we buy or submit your property.

How It Works

How Selling to Us Works

• Tell us about the property by form, phone or email
• We respond within one business day and review zoning, special-district, deed, tax and violation records
• One walkthrough, scheduled around you and any tenants; we can arrange access for out-of-state owners
• Written offer, with no obligation
• Attorney-run contract, with your attorney representing you
• You choose the closing date, and we take over any tenancies at closing

Market Context

The Grymes Hill Market

Grymes Hill draws buyers who want a detached house with space, trees or a harbor view near the North Shore. Updated houses on good lots sell well. Large older houses, homes with slope or wall problems, occupied two-families, hard-to-build lots and estate properties take longer with financed buyers.

Those are the properties we focus on. We also buy in Stapleton, Concord, Todt Hill, Castleton Corners and across the North Shore.