In 2001, one month into the gut-renovation of the Harlem townhouse he had just purchased, Bill Rohlfing was laid off from his job at an Internet company.
“I decided that the best thing I could do at that point was to get my family into this house as soon as possible, because I was paying a mortgage as well as a rent,” he says.
So to work on his townhouse he went – marble counters, custom cabinets, heated-tile bathrooms and the lofting of every floor. Modern was the word.
Five months later, when he was moving into the townhouse, Rohlfing realized that he might have stumbled into another career.
So he found himself some investors, and in October 2002, away he went on his second renovation. Once the property was completed and sold, his investors netted a 30 percent return and forked over money for more townhouse renovations.
Now, a couple years later, Rohlfing is selling his modernized Harlem townhouses for $500 a square foot and calling his business Uptown Townhouse (www.uptownt.com). Here are the goods on two of his works in progress.
BUYIT:
737 St. Nicholas: Rohlfing purchased this shell of a four-floor townhouse for less than $1 million in April 2005, knowing that one-third of the roof was missing. Come July, the home will be lofted throughout and feature a staircase that doglegs twice and leads up to a skylight. It’s on the market for $2.4 million.
243 W. 120th St.: Though contractors are just bidding right now, the plans for this residential building with commercial overlay are “over-the-top.” Reinforcements are planned for the roof so a hot tub can be added. There will be back-to-back fireplaces in the dining room and outside in the garden.