DESIGNER FIXTURES Kevin Reid is renting a two-bedroom in the Mynt in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He decorated his living/dining area with a wraparound couch and sleek kitchen stools.
WHILE condominium developers across the country are trying to unload thousands of apartments that they can’t sell, some builders in Brooklyn have found the real estate equivalent of a golden parachute. Having turned their new units into high-priced rentals, they have found a surprising number of eager takers.
Kevin Reid, who is renting a two-bedroom in the Mynt at 756 Myrtle Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, is a perfect example. His 72-unit building was originally planned as condominiums, but the developer converted it into rentals and kept the appliances and fixtures meant for buyers.
Mr. Reid pays $2,550 a month for perks like views of the Empire State Building and a deep Kohler bathtub that reminds him of tubs in a luxury hotel room. The brokerage firm Aptsandlofts.com has rented all but five units. A similar unit in Manhattan would rent for an average of $6,853, according to Citi Habitats.
Mr. Reid, 30, an event planner, decorated his living/dining area with a white wraparound couch and sleek kitchen stools. He and his friends, he said, had no interest in living in brownstones or older Brooklyn properties. When he eventually buys in Brooklyn, he wants a condo like his current rental.
“My peers who have their M.B.A.’s and their new master’s degrees and new jobs, they’re looking for new condos; they’re not into the traditional houses or brownstones,” he said. “This is the lifestyle we like. You cannot put a fitness center in a brownstone. You don’t have a doorman in a brownstone.”
The taste preferences of these new renters worry some longtime Brooklyn residents who wonder how the borough will change if these renters, who are not seeking Brooklyn’s characteristic tight-knit neighborhood feel, decide to stay and buy.
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