Cortland st

I thought this was listed a few weeks back ? 8k ?

What do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/65-Unit-Apartmen...d#ht_500wt_951

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...=%7Bkeyword%7D

I am quite familiar with this building having grown up a stone's throw away from it. In its day, it was a beautiful building, I can still see the lobby in my mind's eye. The floors were beautiful and immaculate. During the early 60's a guy lived there who played trumpet. I still associate spring, when the windows opened, with the sound of his trumpet in late afternoon. It was a very well maintained building and the bricks and the roof [[Spanish tile) made for an eye-pleasing exterior as well. I was told you could see the fireworks from the roof, but I cannot personally verify that. There is an apartment building on Elmhurst and Woodrow Wilson that seems to be almost a twin.

Sadly, the Cortland building has fallen on very hard times. From the Lodge freeway, it appears to be a see-through building - the windows are gone. I don't know if it had a fire or not. The location would seem to be a great one, very close to the Lodge freeway which would yield a 10-20 minute commute downtown and lots of alternate routes as well.

The problem is the neighborhood. Starting in the late 60's and reaching a crescendo in the late 70's early 80's, the neighborhood became a pharmaceutical distribution center. Young Boys Incorporated delivered the coup de grace. The surrounding area is a desert. There are no standing houses on Cortland between Woodrow Wilson and the Lodge freeway. This is true of many of the streets in that area.

The last time I visited Cortland I almost got caught in the middle of a transactional dispute between pharmaceutical distributors. This, in broad daylight. Since weapons were brandished, I have not returned.

This is an area you wouldn't want to have a flat tire in, much less lay your head to sleep. If the public safety issues were ever resolved it would be a great location, but until then, best of luck to you.

Thanks

The location does seem good ,I wonder if it is a neighborhood under siege where the pharmaceutical distributors have chased the stable ones away or it is a case of they are just hiding in terror.

From the sat pictures I can see along the freeway the barren but there still seems to be an okay stock of homes left in general.

There's okay stock of houses left all over the city, mainly because the original construction was exceptional. Doesn't mean you'd necessarily want to invest there. If you head south along Woodrow Wilson, towards Webb, or even Lawrence, the stock is gorgeous and the neighborhood is hanging on, [[and it's not even Boston Edison).

However, for the Cortland, it's only a matter of weeks before the obituary shows up on the pages of DYes as a four alarm fire as the result of some crackhead will spell its demise.

Something like that would be considered long term as far as a place to lay my head in the mean time I need to find something behind you HT to be close to what I am going to be doing.