Middle Village is house country: brick and frame one- and two-families on the blocks between Metropolitan Avenue, Eliot Avenue and Juniper Valley Park, many of them owned by the same family for decades and ready for the first real renovation since the 1970s. The jobs here are full bathrooms, kitchens that open to the dining room, and basements turned into family space. No boards to satisfy, just the DOB and a homeowner who wants it done right. We are a few minutes away across Woodhaven Boulevard.

The housing

Attached and semi-detached brick two-families line the streets off Metropolitan Avenue and 69th Street, with a kitchen on each floor and a shared basement. Detached frame and brick single-family houses sit around Juniper Valley Park and north toward Eliot Avenue, usually with finished or half-finished basements and small original bathrooms. Along Metropolitan and Fresh Pond Road there are mixed-use buildings with apartments above storefronts. The common thread is solid construction, aging plumbing and electrical, and real square footage below grade.

What we are asked to do here

  • Bathroom Remodeling: Full gut of the original 5-by-8 bathroom in a two-family, often adding a second bathroom in the basement with an ejector pump.
  • Kitchen Remodeling: Removing the wall between kitchen and dining room in a detached house near Juniper Valley Park, with a beam sized by an engineer.
  • Basement Finishing: Family rooms, offices and laundry rooms under the two-families off Metropolitan Avenue, with moisture control and proper insulation.

Permits and building rules

Middle Village houses are owner-controlled, so the paperwork is DOB only: permits for plumbing, gas and electrical changes filed by the licensed trades we coordinate, and a plan review when a bearing wall comes out. Two-family owners should know that converting a basement into a separate rental is a different project from finishing it as family space; the city's basement legalization rules and the certificate of occupancy decide what is allowed, and we explain that before design starts.