We Buy Houses, Two-Families & Lots in Mariners’ Harbor, Staten Island

Housing Stock

What Mariners’ Harbor Is Built From

Mariners’ Harbor took its name from the oystermen, ship captains and watermen who lived along the Kill Van Kull in the 19th century. The best-known survivors of that era are the houses of Captains’ Row, which once lined Shore Road, now Richmond Terrace. The Stephen D. Barnes House at 2876 Richmond Terrace, built around 1853 for an oysterman and his wife in a mix of Italianate and Gothic Revival styles, has been a city landmark since 1976.

Shipbuilding and repair followed the oyster beds. Bethlehem Steel and Brewer’s Dry Dock operated here, and the Bethlehem yard built Navy destroyers during World War II. Italian-American families settled the area from the early 1900s through the 1930s. Their frame houses, many with porches and deep lots, still stand on the streets between Richmond Terrace and Forest Avenue.

Much of today’s housing came later. After the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, builders filled open land with attached rows, semi-detached two-families and garden-style complexes, and the Mariners Harbor Houses, a NYCHA development, had opened in 1954. The result: 19th-century captains’ houses a few blocks from 1980s attached rows, with marshland and a container port at the western edge.

Zoning

Zoning Context in Mariners’ Harbor

Most residential blocks in Mariners’ Harbor are mapped for lower-density housing, with commercial overlays along Forest Avenue and manufacturing districts along the Richmond Terrace waterfront and the Port Ivory and Howland Hook industrial area. All of Staten Island is a Lower Density Growth Management Area, so the island’s lower-density districts follow stricter rules than similar districts elsewhere in the city on items like parking, yards and minimum lot sizes. That matters when an owner wonders whether an oversized lot can be split or a house replaced with two.

City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, adopted in December 2024, applies on Staten Island, but more narrowly than in Brooklyn or Queens. Staten Island sits outside the Greater Transit Zone the City Council drew, so most parking requirements remain, backyard accessory dwelling units are limited, and ADUs are not allowed in basements or on ground floors in flood zones. Some lots can still gain from the new rules. Every lot is different, so confirm any zoning question with a zoning attorney or professional. Parts of Arlington also border Mariners’ Marsh Park and other wet ground, where state wetland rules can limit building.

Regulated Buildings

Tenants, Rent Rules & Regulated Units

Rent stabilization is far less common on Staten Island than in Brooklyn, because most of the island’s housing is one- to three-family homes. It generally applies to buildings with six or more units built before 1974, plus some newer buildings that took tax benefits, so most Mariners’ Harbor houses fall outside it. Their tenants still have rights under state law, including the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act.

If you own one of the neighborhood’s larger apartment buildings with regulated units, our rent-stabilized building page explains how we price them. For two-families and houses with a tenant who is behind on rent or will not leave, see our guide to selling with tenants who are not paying. We buy with the tenants in place and take over the tenancies at closing. Speak with a landlord-tenant attorney about your specific situation.

Where We Buy

Where We Buy in Mariners’ Harbor

We buy on every block of Mariners’ Harbor, from Lake Avenue west to Holland Avenue. These are the areas within the neighborhood we hear about most often.

Captains’ Row & Richmond Terrace

Richmond Terrace runs along the Kill Van Kull with views of Bayonne and Newark Bay. The surviving captains’ houses, the Barnes House among them, sit beside 20th-century frame houses, shipyard-era commercial buildings and newer homes. Owners here deal with older structures, flood exposure and waterfront zoning. We buy houses and mixed-use buildings along the Terrace as-is, including ones that need full renovation.

Central Mariners’ Harbor

Between Richmond Terrace and Forest Avenue, the grid of Union Avenue, Van Pelt Avenue, Van Name Avenue, Lockman Avenue, Brabant Street and Maple Parkway holds most of the neighborhood’s frame houses and two-families. Summerfield Methodist Church, founded in 1840, stands on Harbor Road, and the oyster-shaped Mariners Harbor Library opened at 206 South Avenue in 2013. This is where we see the most inherited houses and owner-occupied two-families with long-term tenants.

Arlington

Arlington is the northwestern section of Mariners’ Harbor, west of Harbor Road and north of the old North Shore rail line. It was named by Civil War veteran Moses Henry Leman in honor of Arlington National Cemetery. The housing here includes attached rows, two-families and the Arlington Terrace Apartments on Holland Avenue, next to Mariners’ Marsh Park and the restored Arlington Yard. We buy houses, two-families and lots throughout Arlington, including blocks near the marsh where flood and wetland rules apply.

Port Ivory

West of Arlington, Port Ivory takes its name from the Procter & Gamble plant that made Ivory soap there from 1907 until 1991. The area was originally called Milliken. Today it is almost entirely industrial, tied to the marine terminal and the rail yard, with only a few older single-family homes along Forest Avenue and a mobile home park. We buy the remaining residential and small commercial parcels here when they come up, and we understand that industrial neighbors change how a buyer values a lot.

Howland Hook

Howland Hook is the far northwestern tip of Staten Island, where the Arthur Kill meets the Kill Van Kull. It holds the Howland Hook Marine Terminal, a Port Authority container facility, at the foot of the Goethals Bridge, whose replacement spans opened in 2017 and 2018. Property here is mostly industrial and commercial, and we review those sites case by case.

Inherited Property

Selling an Inherited House in Mariners’ Harbor

A large share of the Mariners’ Harbor houses that come up for sale are inherited: a parent’s frame house on Van Pelt Avenue, a two-family off Forest Avenue with a tenant upstairs, an older house on Richmond Terrace that nobody has lived in for a year. Estates in Staten Island are handled by the Richmond County Surrogate’s Court, at 18 Richmond Terrace in St. George, across from the ferry terminal.

Executors and Administrators

If there is a will, the named executor usually asks the court for letters testamentary, which give authority to sell. If there is no will, a family member applies for letters of administration and becomes the administrator. We can review the property and make a written offer before those papers are issued, then sign once the executor or administrator has authority. Your estate attorney handles the court side, and we work on the timeline that process sets.

Common Estate Problems We Buy Through

• Siblings who disagree on whether to sell, keep or rent the house; a written offer gives everyone one number to look at
• Heirs out of state who cannot keep driving over the Goethals or Bayonne Bridge to check on a house; we can arrange access and handle the walkthrough
• Vacant houses with taxes, water bills, insurance and heat running every month
• Houses that need work, from old roofs to full clean-outs; we buy with the contents
• Two-families with a tenant in one unit; we take over the tenancy at closing

Our guide to selling inherited property in Staten Island explains the probate steps, carrying costs and options in more detail. This is general information, not legal advice; your estate attorney should guide the court process.

Why Owners Sell

Why Mariners’ Harbor Owners Sell to Us

• Estates and inherited houses, often with heirs living elsewhere
• Tired landlords with a two-family and a long-term tenant who want out of managing it
• Flood-related costs, from insurance premiums to repairs on low-lying blocks near the Kill Van Kull
• Older frame houses that need roofs, foundations, wiring or porches
• Open DOB or ECB violations, or an extra unit that was never legalized
• Partnership or family splits, where co-owners need a clean buyout; see our partnership dispute guide
• Tax or water liens; see selling with tax and water liens

Potential

Where the Value Is in Mariners’ Harbor

Mariners’ Harbor has real long-term assets: waterfront on the Kill Van Kull, the Goethals Bridge and Staten Island Expressway a few minutes away, the shopping on Forest Avenue, and the old North Shore rail right-of-way, which the MTA has studied for a North Shore bus rapid transit line running toward St. George. That project is still in planning, so we do not price on it, but it is part of why buyers watch this area.

Value here often comes from the lot as much as the house. Oversized, side and corner lots can support new construction where zoning, flood and wetland rules allow, and two-families with stable tenants hold steady rental demand. We look at both before we write an offer.

Your Options

Your Options for Selling Mariners’ Harbor Property

List With a Broker

A renovated, vacant house on a dry block can do well on the open market, and listing may net you more. It also means repairs, showings, a buyer’s mortgage contingency and appraisal, and usually months before closing. Tenants, flood exposure, violations or an estate still in probate narrow the pool of financed buyers.

Renovate or Build Yourself

If you have capital and patience, renovating a frame house or building on an oversized lot can add value. It also means DOB permits, contractors, flood-resistant construction where required, carrying costs and risk.

Sell Directly to Red Hook Development

We buy as-is, with tenants, violations, contents and estate paperwork in progress. You get a written offer, pay no commission and choose the closing date. You are welcome to compare our offer against 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: address, units, tenants and condition
• We respond within one business day and review zoning, flood maps, tax and violation records
• One walkthrough, scheduled around your tenants; if you live out of state, we can arrange access
• Written offer, with no obligation to accept
• Attorney-run contract, with your attorney representing you
• You choose the closing date, and we take over any tenancies at closing

Market Context

The Mariners’ Harbor Market

Mariners’ Harbor draws buyers looking for North Shore houses and two-families. Updated, vacant houses on dry blocks get the most attention from financed buyers. Older frame houses, occupied two-families, flood-zone homes and inherited properties that need work move more slowly.

Those are the properties we focus on. We also buy across the surrounding neighborhoods: Elm Park, Graniteville, Port Richmond and Westerleigh, and the rest of the North Shore.