1 John Street
1 John Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, Brooklyn
BBL 3000017501 · BIN 3413929
- Year built
- 2016
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 42
- Floors
- 12
- Landmark
- No
- Flip tax
- Park Transfer Fee: 1% of sale price payable to Brooklyn Bridge Park on EVERY sale including initial sponsor sales; unpaid-fee sales void (offering plan)
- Financing
- Standard condominium; no financing contingency; unit mortgages require Unit Mortgage Subordination and Recognition Agreement under the sublease (offering plan)
- Subletting
- Permitted (standard condo); confirm current house rules
- Pied-à-terre
- Permitted (condo)
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2016-01-01). Reported and subject to confirmation. Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
Every recorded sale at this building, 2016–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,962
- Listing discount
- 0.1%
- Recorded sales
- 67
- On record
- 2016–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 1 John Street would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
1 John Street is what happens when a neighborhood's own architects get the neighborhood's last waterfront site. Alloy — the design-development practice headquartered in DUMBO, acting as both architect and, with Monadnock Development, developer — won the parcel at John and Adams Streets through Brooklyn Bridge Park's public RFP in late 2013. The brief was double-edged: build the park's DUMBO-end condominium, and house a public institution while doing it. The building that opened in summer 2016 carries 42 residences over a ground floor shared between a restaurant space and "Spark," the Brooklyn Children's Museum's annex, whose entrance opens directly to the parkland. It is the rare condominium whose base belongs, functionally, to the public.
The architecture earned its awards on a specific idea: the 12-story bar grades its envelope by exposure, with the largest glass at the lower floors — where the views are the lawn, the inlet, and the East River at eye level — and progressively more masonry and smaller openings above, where solar load and bridge-adjacent noise argue for protection. The building is LEED Gold certified and took the AIANY COTE Honor Award and a Building Brooklyn Award in 2017; some 90 percent of the units had sold before construction completed. North-facing residences look across the John Street lawn and the Jay Street inlet to the East River and midtown; the Manhattan Bridge fills the western sky. At 42 units it is the smallest building on this page by an order of magnitude, and it trades on exactly that — a boutique, design-literate address inside an 85-acre park.
The structure underneath is the park's standard, at its most explicit. 1 John Street is a qualified leasehold condominium: sublease from Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation to 2109 with no renewal right, PILOT equal to full tax-equivalent assessment paid through common charges, and — uniquely steep among the park's buildings — a 1 percent Park Transfer Fee on every sale, sponsor sales included. Owners here fund the park at the door and at every closing. Buyers who internalize that framework early find the rest of the diligence conventional; the building's small scale keeps its operations simple.
Architecture and unit composition
The 42 residences run from two-bedroom lines through four-bedroom floor-plate units and a penthouse tier, with Schedule A initial pricing from roughly the low $2 millions to above $6 million and an aggregate initial residential offering near $166.9 million — an average around $4 million that positioned the building, at filing, alongside the borough's most expensive small condominiums. Typical units are large — many lines run 2,300 to 2,600 square feet with three and a half baths — and several carry terraces; ceiling heights are measured to exposed concrete in the plan's convention, consistent with the building's pared, structural finish language. Storage lockers and ancillary amenity licenses were offered separately under the plan.
Line logic follows the park. North and west lines above the fourth floor take the river, the bridge, and the skyline over the John Street lawn; lower floors trade panorama for immediacy — the park at the window. The commercial unit and Spark hold the ground plane, so residences begin above the public program.
Building operations
At 42 units, 1 John Street runs lean: an attended lobby (24-hour coverage from first closing per the plan), fitness room, lounge, roof terrace, and a compact staff — with common charges carrying the building's operations plus each unit's proportionate rent (base rent and PILOT) under the sublease. The Department of Finance does not bill owners directly; the condominium's statements are the record. The sublease's security fund — sized to base rent and PILOT benchmarks — was funded by the sponsor with purchasers reimbursing pro-rata shares at closing, a line item that recurs by negotiation on resales. The Park Unit's common charges are capped at $700 per month (inflation-adjusted after five years) under the sublease, with any excess borne by the residential owners — the operating expression of the building's public-private bargain. The offering plan's tax counsel opined on PILOT's deductibility as real estate taxes for itemizing owners, subject to the standard limitations and any IRS ruling conditions described in the plan; confirm current treatment with your adviser.
The building's by-laws, house rules, floor plans, financial statements, and offering plan schedules are maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Policy framework
Ground rent and PILOT: Paid through common charges; PILOT equals full tax-equivalent assessment.
Lease term: Sublease expires July 27, 2109; no renewal right; the ground lease conveys to the City's side at expiration (offering plan).
Park Transfer Fee: 1 percent of the sale price on every sale, including sponsor sales; allocation negotiable on resales; unpaid-fee sales are void (offering plan).
Working capital: Two months' common charges, non-refundable, per purchaser at closing.
Pied-à-terre / LLC / foreign buyers: Permitted (standard condominium; the plan's sovereign-purchaser provisions apply to government buyers).
Subletting: Permitted under standard condominium rules; confirm current house-rule requirements with management.
Pets / specific house rules: Documented in the building's house rules (on file in the Research Library); confirm at application.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $24,056/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $48
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | 3B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,499 sf | $5,400,000 | $2,161/sf | -1.7% |
| May 4, 2026 | 4C | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,477 sf | $2,797,500 | $1,894/sf | off-mkt |
| Apr 22, 2026 | 9D | 3 BR · 4.5 BA · 2,400 sf | $3,650,000 | $1,521/sf | -1.4% |
| Apr 13, 2026 | PHC | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,567 sf | $6,150,000 | $2,396/sf | -2.4% |
| Sep 18, 2025 | 6B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,493 sf | $5,505,000 | $2,208/sf | -2.6% |
| May 12, 2025 | 5C | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,495 sf | $2,950,000 | $1,973/sf | -1.3% |
| Oct 23, 2024 | 4B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,497 sf | $5,400,000 | $2,163/sf | -6.9% |
| Oct 19, 2022 | 7B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,492 sf | $5,757,575 | $2,310/sf | +1.9% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,962/sf across 3 sales. Median listing discount 0.1% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00001-7501) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
Underwrite the park framework first. PILOT-inclusive charges, the 2109 sublease with surrender, the security-fund reimbursement line, and the 1 percent Park Transfer Fee are the building's structure. All are manageable; none should surprise you at contract.
Scarcity cuts both ways. Forty-two units means little inventory, few comparables, and patient timelines on both sides of the market. If a line you want appears, the opportunity cost of waiting for the next one is measured in years.
The design is the product. Alloy's envelope logic, the LEED Gold specification, and the exposed-structure finish language attract a specific buyer; see the actual unit's light and exposure rather than assuming from the floor plan.
Transit is the F at York Street, or the ferry. The building sits past the bridge anchorage at the district's quiet end — a five-plus-minute walk to the subway that residents describe as the point, not the price.
A children's museum shares the ground floor. Spark and the restaurant animate the base; for most owners it is an amenity, but visit at an active hour and decide for yourself.
What to know if you’re selling
Market the building, then the unit. The award pedigree, LEED Gold, the park address, and the museum base make the building's story unusually tellable; the thin comparable set means narrative genuinely moves price here.
Put the leasehold explanation in the deal room. The lease summary, the PILOT walk-through, and the all-in carrying comparison should reach buyers before their counsel raises them.
Net-sheet the Park Transfer Fee. One percent, every sale, allocation negotiable — carry it in your proceeds model from the first conversation.
Price against the park's set. The honest comparables are the building's own history and the park's other leasehold condominiums, adjusted for scale and finish, rather than the loft district's conversions.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 1 John Street, also evaluate:
- 1 Main Street (The Clock Tower) — the trophy Gair conversion across the park's DUMBO section; volume and history against 1 John's design pedigree
- 168 Plymouth Street — the district's acclaimed recent boutique conversion, two blocks inland
- 205 Water Street — modern boutique condominium at similar scale on the district's eastern blocks
- 133 Water Street — small modern condominium in the district core
- 30 Main Street (The Sweeney Building) — refined mid-size loft conversion near the park
- 37 Bridge Street (Kirkman Lofts) — boutique conversion at comparable unit count, inland
- Quay Tower (50 Bridge Park Drive) — the park's tower-scale leasehold peer at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Heights
- One Brooklyn Bridge Park (360 Furman Street) — the park's warehouse conversion; the same PILOT framework at 10x the scale
- Front & York (85 Jay Street) — the district's full-amenity alternative for buyers who want infrastructure over intimacy
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at 1 John Street?
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