West Side brownstone market picking up.

As super luxury condos are making a revival on the West Side with the opening of Millennium Tower and the announced plans of a joint venture among General Electric, the Trump Organization and the Galbreath Company to convert the old Gulf & Western office tower to super luxury condominiums, another West Side market is once again showing signs of strength after several years of decline.

Brownstones have long been a staple of Upper West Side housing stock, but since the peak of the market back in 1987, sales activity in this market of approximately 1,500 to 2,000 structures between 70th and 100th Street, bordered by Riverside Drive and Central Park, has been limited. The market bottomed out in 1991, but there has since seen a steady climb back up.

The West Side residential markets as a whole consists of a solid core of 30 blocks of tree-lined streets with a mixture of brownstones, co-ops, condos, investment and storefront properties roughly bordered by Lincoln Center to the south and Columbia University to the north. Consisting of a vast mix of ethnic and economic diversity, it is one of the last vestiges of Manhattan's working and middle class, as well as the wealthy.

In the 1970s, the area benefitted from two massive urban renewal projects which helped to preserve the architectural character of this distinctive New York neighborhood, while spurring private investment by both developers and individual homeowners. With the planned redevelopment of the area surrounding Lincoln Center, the Upper West Side seems posed for a new wave of investment activity.

"It is difficult and inaccurate to generalize on prices and percentages of increases and decreases due to the variety of houses and the limited quantity of transactions," says Dexter Guerrieri, president of Vandenberg Real Estate, Inc., one of the leading residential brokerages in the area representing some 2,000 co-ops and condos and nearly 150 available brownstones. "Perhaps we can say that prices declines up to 25 percent during the depths of the market and now they are back up to almost where they were at the height of the market in 1987."

Vandenberg's team of a dozen brokers has an average of 13 years experience on the West Side. Since its founding in 1990, Guerrieri has built a remarkable team of seasoned professionals who pride themselves on their knowledge of the intricacies that make up the West Side, from the condition of individual buildings to the goings on along various blocks and among the West Side's numerous and active community associations. Guerrieri is president of the West Side Professional Realty Organization and Austin K. Haldenstein, senior vice president of Vandenberg, is a well-known, long-time brownstone specialist, past president of the West Side Chamber of Commerce and first recipient of the Real Estate Board of New York's prestigious Henry Forster Award.

"Because we're talking about a very finite market, there will never be easy statistical measurements of the sales of West Side houses," Guerrieri says. "Too much depends on location, condition, amount of vacancy, etc."

According to Guerrieri, in general there are now three types of brownstones on the market today:

Single-Family Delivered Vacant: This is a house occupied by one family, very often with the rooms being used very much as they were intended when it was built at the turn of the century. The garden level has a kitchen, the parlor level has a living room and formal dining room, and the floors above are bedrooms, usually 2 to a floor. A 17x50-foot house could have a total of about 3400 square feet spread over four floors, while a 25x55-foot brownstone could have up to 7,000 square feet or more spread over 5 floors. Some of these are wider still, with elevators and extensions built into the rear gardens. Prices for these homes are the highest, ranging from $900,000 to $1.5 million and up currently. Vandenberg has an exclusive on one spectacularly renovated townhouse which is listed for nearly $5 million.

Owner's Unit Plus Income: The owner of this type of brownstone typically lives on one, two or three floors of the house, and receives rental income from the remaining apartments. One example would provide the owner with two floors of living space and the use of the garden, with the upper two or three floors providing rental income. Another example would be for the owner to enter their living quarters from the parlor level stoop and rent out the garden level, with its separate entrance. Income from this type of unit would be between $40,000 and $60,000 a year. Expenses, including taxes and insurance, are about $28,000, and the average current sales price of these types of brownstones range from $600,000 to $900,000.

Investment Property/Possible Owner Vacancy: These properties might have one or two small vacancies in a 10-unit townhouse. The rental income would average about $500 a unit per month, or $40,000 to $60,000 a year. This type of property typically sells in the $400,000 to $600,000 range, depending on such variables as number of tenants registered as rent-stabilized or rent-controlled and the building's repair history.

Of Vandenberg's current database of nearly 1,600 brownstones on the Upper West Side, 17 percent consist of 1 to 5 units; 62 percent are 6 to 10 units; and 21 percent are 11 units and up.

"In general, we're just coming out of a time when there was not a lot of activity," says Guerrieri. "A great many of our sellers were selling because they had come upon rough financial times. With the public perception that this was a tough market, many owners held off from listing their properties."

But in the last 12 months, Guerrieri has seen a return of "normal" sellers who believe that the market has improved sufficiently to list their homes.

"Somebody recently asked me if the West Side brownstone market was hot," Guerrieri says. "My answer is that it is very active right now, but more in the range of where it should be, with a good mix of sellers believing they can get a fair price by selling now, and buyers who realize that interest rates are starting to ease upwards and concerned that perhaps the prices of house will follow suit."

A recent tour of about a dozen examples of the three types of available brownstones revealed the diversity of this versatile design. At 262 West 73rd Street, right next door to Vandenberg's West Side office, a well-kept owner-occupied brownstone consisted of 3 complete apartments, 3 offices, 4 studios and 3 single rooms. The five-story brownstone and brick structure with stoop had a separate entrance to the owner's duplex apartment of approximately 1,600 square feet. It contained many of the original details, including an ornate staircase and was surrounded by a decorative iron fence and gate. The owner's duplex contained a labyrinth of interconnected rooms, a glass enclosed kitchen/dinette and a beautiful backyard garden. Rental income, excluding the duplex, was approximately $4,000 a month, and all but one of the 14 rooms/units was occupied. Because all of the tenants lack leases, the brownstone could be delivered vacant at an asking price of $750,000.

By far the most elegant brownstone on our tour was the completely renovated 350 West End Avenue between 76th and 77th Streets. This 21-foot wide, 100.5-foot tall and 73-foot deep brownstone fronts the finest row of symmetrically-crested historic townhouses on the Upper West Side, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Riverside and Central Parks, Lincoln Center, The Museum of Natural History, Zabars and Fairway. This is a mint-condition, landmarked 7-story elevator townhouse with a finished basement built in the 1890s and completely renovated 100 years later. The current configuration includes the owner's 9-room penthouse plus two rental units, all elegantly finished with modern details. The owners spared no expense in the renovation, which has been ongoing since 1986, and the building features a new, modern elevator; all new electrical and plumbing; five master bedrooms; 3 maid's bedrooms; 3 terraces; 6 wood-burning fireplaces; 2 sun rooms; a bounteous garden with tall trees and loquacious birds; 5 marble baths; 2 jacuzzis; individual temperature controls; 2 powder rooms; 3 designer kitchens; a grand mahogany staircase; cherry wood and marble floors; a plush marble lobby; security system; computerized 10-line state-of-the-art tile roof. A buyer could live in the 4.5-story, 4,500 square-foot upper unit and telephone system; new thermopane windows; and bay windows overlooking West End Avenue. The 10,000 square-foot limestone mansion features outstanding stone detail and an elegant mansard receive $72,000 a year renting out the rest of the house. Delivered vacant, the brownstone lists at $2.64 million.

On the other end of the spectrum, but just a few blocks away, 140 West 82nd Street is about as close to original condition as it gets. Owned and occupied by the same family for over 50 years, the third, fourth and fifth floor of this 18x55-foot, five-story brownstone have been converted to SRO units generating over $20,000 a year in rental income. The owners' garden duplex is raw and contains many original details. The large, open rooms lend themselves to a myriad of sub-divisions. The SRO units are bare, and frankly, this brownstone could use a major renovation. On the other hand, it has unlimited potential, and the asking price of $510,000 making this a quality investment property.

Investors in the Upper West Side brownstone market include families looking for expanded living space and rental income to offset mortgage costs; Wall Street brokers and professionals looking for combination living quarters and office space; out-of-state buyers looking for both an investment opportunity as well as possible apartments for relatives and friends studying and working in the city; foreigners buying foreclosure properties; and a host of other young i investor/professionals looking to take advantage of the true neighborhood flavor of the Upper West Side.