513 1/2 E 118th Street

Agent's Note

From Curtis Bain. Details about the apartment are drawn from the listing information provided through RLS by Compass.

Three separate units under one roof give this 1899 East Harlem townhouse its flexibility, and the walk-up layout is the trade-off. The ground floor is a duplex, with two full floor units above it, so moving between them means taking stairs. Owning the whole building also means handling maintenance for every unit, and that's worth weighing alongside the separation a townhouse can offer.

The listing gives 3,072 square feet, four bedrooms and four bathrooms, with a depth of 48 feet. A brand new roof is already in place, which takes one large near-term project off the list. The listing also notes this is the only non-renovated townhouse on the block, and it invites an architect or contractor to shape the plan, so the rooms are open to a fresh layout.

The back yard is the other big question. It has outstanding potential, and I'd walk it with your architect before deciding how much of the plan it should carry.

East River Esplanade is about 3 minutes away on foot, and ALDI is about 1 minute away. East River Plaza is also about 1 minute on foot, and Thomas Jefferson Park is about 6 minutes.