Most of the houses in Verona were built decades ago, and among them are more than a few that have good bones but the floor plans and amenities of a different era. So it was with 65 South Prospect Street. Was, but most definitely is no longer.
The house has been gutted and rebuilt by Cynthia and Steve Mierzwa, serial remodelers of homes in Verona and North Caldwell. Steve, who operates as SCM Construction, also built the new house at 36 Oakridge Road. Cynthia is a Realtor-Associate at Prudential New Jersey Properties’ Janett division in Verona. So it’s no surprise that, now that the house is on the market, it’s Cynthia’s listing.
The ground floor walls of the old house have been opened up, replaced by a flowing design that lets in plenty of natural light. But the Mierzwas remodeled smart, with Anderson high-performance, low-E windows that let in the light but block UV rays, which means your beautiful upholstery will keep its beautiful color for a long time. The robust windows also block all the noise from South Prospect, which can be a busy street.
The old house got a new addition on the back, which added a generous, well-planned designer kitchen (with a full pantry!) and a truly great great room. It also got a back staircase, which leads from kitchen up to the house’s 6 bedrooms. To give you a sense of how far the remodel took the house, the old master bedroom is now styled as a baby’s room. There are 3 full and 2 half bathrooms to go with all those bedrooms, and the master bathroom looks for all the world like something you’d find in a luxury spa. (Look for it in the photo slideshow on the listing page.) Quibbles: The master suite walk-in closet could be a tad bigger, and the mud-room closet is in the basement, rather than just inside the back door.
A house this big could come with big heating bills, but here again, the the Mierzwas remodeled smart. They installed radiant heating on the first floor as well as in the finished basement and attached, two-car garage.
[mappress]It can be hard, for those of us who grew up in Verona, to accept that our humble town now has million-dollar houses, and 65 South Prospect is one of them: $1.19 million to be exact. But if you take a look at the comparable properties page on the real estate Web site Trulia you could conclude that the price is reasonable.
