Sad, but not unexpected: 1871 house off to the dumpster

123 Park Avenue (the Greenwich Park Avenue) is scheduled for demolition. Its former owners paid $4,111 million for it in 2007 and poured a huge amount into renovating it before they ran out of money. leaving much to be done (check the patched roof), and the lender came in and forced a sale at $2.650 million this past June.

Which is a shame, but understandable: I showed the house to clients a few years ago and, even knowing that the place was in foreclosure and a bargain could be had, they passed, because of the million-plus in renovations still needed. At some point, a house reaches obsoleteness, and there are few, if any, buyers willing to pay to restore it. So call in the dozers.

The new owners strike me as decent, good people with excellent taste, so I'm sure they'll be putting up a beautiful new house. There's bound to be grumbling, just as, I'm sure, there were complaints when this house went up on a pasture back in 1871, but the cycle continues.