Ta-Nehisi Coates Says He's No Longer Moving to Brooklyn (Update)

Photos courtesy of Corcoran

UPDATE, Monday, May 9: Coates announced today that he will not, in fact, be moving into the brownstone he purchased in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, due to the "horrifying" detail in which local media outlets — including this one — reported on his move to Brooklyn. "Within a day of seeing these articles, my wife and I knew that we could never live in Prospect-Lefferts Garden, that we could never go back home," Coates wrote. "If anything happened to either of us, if anything happened to our son, we’d never forgive ourselves."

Coates wrote that "you can’t really be a black writer in this country, take certain positions, and not think about your personal safety. That’s just the history. And you can’t really be a human being and not want some place to retreat into yourself, some place to collapse, some place to be at peace. That’s just neurology."

It's honestly a little nauseating to think our coverage could have helped push a mind as strong and daring and indispensable as Ta-Nehisi Coates' into feeling unsafe in this beautiful community. For that, we apologize, knowing it's not enough.

Original story below.

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS — Don't let this go to your head, Lefferts Gardens, but a MacAurthur Foundation-certified, 21st century "genius" just autographed a $2.1 million deal to become your humble new neighbor, according to the guy on the other end of the deal.

Atlantic national correspondent and author Ta-Nehisi Coates was awarded a $625,000 "genius grant" last year for his writing, which the MacAurthur Foundation hailed as having a "profound impact on the discussion of race and racism in this country.”

Now, it looks like he may have found a purchase worthy of his first grant installment. (That, or his growing stack of book advances.)

In a phone conversation Thursday, Corcoran real-estate agent Keith Mack confirmed Coates to be the mystery buyer who, back in February, purchased the century-old, three-story brownstone at 207 Lincoln Road near Bedford Avenue, along a sleepy, leafy block just steps from Prospect Park.

According to the brownstone's online listing, it's "dripping with meticulously restored pre-war detail: wedding cake moldings, ornate banisters, fantastic woodwork, 4 decorative mantles, 5 sets of pocket doors, Pier mirrors, beautiful original hardwood floors made up of Tiger Oak, Maple, and Mahogany Inlay."

It also has tin ceilings, a deck and a backyard garden.

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Mack said that while Coates is still living in Paris, "his wife is going to move in around June, and he'll move in around August."

The couple's teenage son, beneath a recent Instagram post aptly captioned "I want a brand new whip, I want a brand new house," told his friends he'd also be arriving in August.

The Coates family previously lived in Harlem.

Because their new brownstone at 207 Lincoln is landmarked, they won't be able to make any major changes to its facade without city approval. However, Mack told Patch that neighbors can expect construction crews all up on Lincoln Road sometime between now and July to make some renovations to the inside of the five-bedroom home.

Brooklyn's resident genius better not touch his new mint-green bathroom, though. That's the dopest part.