President Obama's Park Slope Pad Hits The Market

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — The Park Slope pad where President Obama spent his post-undergrad years has just hit the market. The brownstone at 640 Second St., just a few steps from Prospect Park West, is up for sale for $4,295,000.

Obama is said to have moved into the home with his girlfriend at the time, Genevieve Cook, in 1984 after he graduated from Columbia University. The couple shared a top-floor apartment, according to a biography by David Maraniss.

The former president's stay there is being touted as a feature of the home, which was built in 1903. "This home also has the unique distinction of being the residence of President Obama after he graduated Columbia University," the listing, from agents Charles Ruoff and Alexis Kravitz at Brown Harris Stevens, says.

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The home features an original china cabinet, four decorative fireplaces and a sunny office overlooking the private garden.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses for Obama at the home, obviously, as he'd eventually go on to marry Michelle Obama. Before then, though, Cook wrote in her diary about how distant she felt from Obama, according to Maraniss' biography.

"The sexual warmth is definitely there — but the rest of it has sharp edges and I’m finding it all unsettling and finding myself wanting to withdraw from it all," she wrote.

"I have to admit that I am feeling anger at him for some reason, multi-stranded reasons. His warmth can be deceptive. Tho he speaks sweet words and can be open and trusting, there is also that coolness — and I begin to have an inkling of some things about him that could get to me."

Read more about the home here.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on Thursday, April 27