The Forgotten Borough? I Don’t Think So.

I grew up on Staten Island. I’ve spent most of my life defending that, at dinner tables, in Manhattan offices, in conversations where people nod politely and then make a Godfather joke. (The wedding scene, by the way, was filmed there.) The borough has always had history, architecture, and character. And it has always deserved a real audience.

My client grew up there too. A Columbia graduate now living in Manhattan, working in private equity. Every day of his childhood, he looked out at 190 Meisner Avenue, an 1856 Italianate villa on Lighthouse Hill, a designated New York City landmark and one of only four surviving villas of its type in the borough. He never imagined he would own it.

When he found out it was on the market, his first call was to me.

He’s in private equity. He knows how to source a deal and he knows how to find the right people to execute one. He didn’t call me because our families go back decades, though they do. He called me because he knew I understood this borough AND knew how to get a complex transaction across the finish line.

190 Meisner Avenue was built in 1856 for Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, a Harvard-educated attorney, New York State legislator, and civic leader who studied Dante under Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The street it sits on, Meisner Avenue, was named for the family whose land surrounded it, whose connection to bridge engineer John Roebling makes this corner of Staten Island a specific, traceable piece of New York history. The rooftop belvedere once offered sweeping views toward the bay and ocean. It has been standing for nearly 170 years.

This house was in desperate need of love and attention. My buyer had the passion and imagination to give it that. I needed to make sure he got the chance.

The property was in foreclosure. It required patience, persistence, and the kind of problem-solving that goes well beyond a standard transaction. My work in the Brooklyn and Manhattan townhouse market had prepared me for exactly this, but I also knew I needed the right local partner.

So I called Herman Herrera. We went to high school together on Staten Island and hadn’t spoken in nearly 20 years. He is now the broker/owner of CENTURY 21 Standard Real Estate with more than two decades building one of the borough’s most respected brokerages, with over $1 billion in completed sales.

We stayed with it. And we got it done.

At the closing, I kept thinking this is my first deal on Staten Island. And it was worth every bit of the wait.

A Columbia graduate buying the house a Harvard-educated legislator built. On the street named for John Roebling’s family. In the borough everyone forgot to pay attention to.

That is the kind of story Staten Island has always had. A borough with real history, real architecture, and clients who know the difference.

The forgotten borough? I don’t think so.