132 Remsen Street

The building presents as a four-story Anglo-Italianate house on Remsen Street and runs deep behind that frontage, which is where the apartments come from. The roughly 9, 550 square feet divided by twelve recorded units gives about 796 gross building square feet per unit, not average apartment interior area or a bedroom mix. Check unit plans for size and configuration, including front-versus-rear position, garden level, rear extension and top floor. There is no elevator of record; DOF's R2 unit classification places the units in a walk-up building. A 2013 filing by the condominium covers cellar renovation, typically for storage or mechanical space; confirm what was completed. Exterior work, windows included, runs through the LPC under the district designation.

The condominium has operated since 1992 as a small self-directed board. A twelve-unit walk-up condominium has no staff economics to speak of: no doorman, no live-in superintendent, common charges that cover heat, water, insurance, cleaning, and a reserve if the board has funded one. The staffing model alone does not establish low carrying costs or reserve adequacy; assess actual common charges, budgets, reserves and planned work from current financial records. A single façade cycle, a boiler, or a roof lands on twelve unit owners rather than on eighty. Ask for the last three years of financial statements, the reserve balance, façade inspection and repair records for the 1860s-to-1870s masonry wall, and any assessment history — and read them together rather than separately.

Recent sales

Recent closings at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. 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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2023) cleared a median $1,296/sf (recorded) across 3 sales.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00254-7501; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. 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.

Order the declaration and by-laws first. No offering plan for this building was located in the library reviewed; the misfiled Abby Court plan does not apply. Leasing rights, alteration procedure, any right of first refusal and the common-interest schedule all live in the recorded documents, and they are what you are actually buying.

Confirm the unit count and your common interest. Twelve unit tax lots are recorded; DOB filings have carried 11 and 15. Your attorney should tie the specific unit to its recorded lot and percentage.

Underwrite the reserve. At twelve units, capital costs fall on few apartments. Pull financials, reserves, façade inspection and repair records, and assessment history. FISP applies to buildings higher than six stories; this recorded four-story building is not subject to that filing program solely because of its age or masonry façade.

Value the ownership form. In a district that is overwhelmingly cooperative, the condominium structure is the reason many buyers are here at all — and the reason the building's resale pool is broader than its neighbors'.

Lead with the structure. Condominium ownership inside the Brooklyn Heights Historic District is scarce. That is the headline, and it widens the buyer pool; confirm financing, leasing and ownership-entity rules in the declaration, bylaws and house rules.

Document the building's finances. Provide current statements, reserves and façade inspection and repair records so buyers can assess capital obligations; their availability does not guarantee shorter diligence or protect the sale price.

Compare dated, matched transactions. Nearby boutique condominiums are useful references, with other ownership forms considered after adjusting for rules, carrying costs and services. Use total prices, reliable areas and consistent room counts; a chosen metric alone does not establish a higher value.

Sell the block. Remsen between Henry and Clinton, with Hunts Lane behind it, is quiet, landmarked and three blocks from Borough Hall's transit. Make the walk part of the pitch.

If you're considering 132 Remsen Street, also evaluate:

• 151 Joralemon Street — same block, brownstone-scale co-op alternative on the Joralemon frontage
• 138 Pierrepont Street — thirteen-unit Heights condominium; the closest peer in scale and structure
• 205 Hicks Street — boutique condominium conversion in the western Heights
• 166 Montague Street — small condominium on the Montague retail spine
• 9 College Place (Love Lane Mews) — mews-scale condominium in the northern Heights
• 56 Court Street — twelve-unit condominium at the Court Street edge; the direct size comparable
• 100 Remsen Street — the corridor's larger prewar cooperative alternative
• 76 Remsen Street — small-scale Remsen Street co-op peer