135 Eastern Parkway (Turner Towers)

The building occupies a deep site, presenting roughly 201 feet of frontage to Eastern Parkway and running about 166 to 170 feet back. It does not reach Lincoln Place: Lincoln Hall, a separate six-story building on its own lot at 364 Lincoln Place, stands directly behind it. Fifteen stories of brick rise in the massing typical of Sugarman & Berger's mid-1920s apartment work, with the interior light courts a footprint of this depth requires — which is why line position matters here more than in a shallower building. Parkway-facing lines look south across the Scenic Landmark's malls and service roads; rear and court lines are quieter and differently lit, and the difference is legible in pricing.

The apartment stock is the building's real asset. The 1980 schedule lists room-and-bath counts running from 2.5-1 through 7-2.5, 8-2.5 and 10.5-4, with a PHA-through-PHD penthouse group at the top of the stack. Classic prewar plans of this vintage bring entry foyers, separated entertaining and sleeping wings, and proportion that renovation cannot manufacture. Decades of combination mean today's apartment does not always match the line's original share allocation, so check current plans before using same-line sales. Those sales may remain useful after adjusting for rooms, exposure, floor, condition and permitted combinations.

Turner Towers Tenants Co-op Corp. has run the building since the 1980-era closing, and the operating record is unusually long: financial statements in The Roebling Research Library run from the turn of the century forward, supporting genuine trend analysis on maintenance growth, reserve practice and capital spending rather than a single-year snapshot. The conversion-era file records a union labor agreement with the building service employees' union, District 9 in Brooklyn — a staffing tradition consistent with the attended-lobby model documented today — and a first-year budget in which salaries, payroll taxes and union benefits made the largest expense line.

For a mid-1920s masonry building of this size, the recurring capital items to review are the FISP/LL11 façade cycle, elevator modernization, roof and parapet work, and the heating plant, which the sponsor was converting from oil to gas at the time of the offering. The co-op's long financial record will illuminate all of them. Confirm current staffing, the managing agent, assessment history and the reserve position with management during diligence.

Transfers and subletting: Under the plan as filed, a shareholder may sell shares and assign the proprietary lease, or sublet, only with the consent of the board of directors or, failing that, the written consent of holders of at least 60 percent of outstanding shares; consent may be arbitrarily withheld. Confirm current policy, term limits and application standards with the board.

Flip tax / transfer fee: The by-laws as filed set a transferor charge of 25 percent of net profits on a transfer within two years of the closing and 15 percent thereafter. This is a 1980 document; verify the current schedule in writing before pricing.

Proprietary lease: Amendable only with the approval of lessees owning at least 75 percent of outstanding shares.

Pets, pied-à-terre, washer-dryer, financing limits: Not publicly documented; confirm against the current house rules and purchase application.

Recent sales

Recent transfers 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 (2026 to date) cleared a median $958/sf (floor-adjusted) across 2 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-01179-0047). 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

Verify the apartment before using line comparables. Decades of combinations make the original share allocation an imperfect guide. Evaluate the specific rooms, exposure, floor and renovation — and have your attorney confirm the share count and any combination approvals against the current ledger.

Get the transfer charge in writing early. The 1980 by-laws carried a steep profit-sharing flip tax. Whatever survives of it is a material number on your eventual exit, and belongs in the application-stage questions rather than the contract-stage ones.

No historic district means no Landmarks review — and no district protection. Window replacement and façade work here do not pass through the LPC. Nor does a neighbor's project, unless that lot is itself designated.

Read the long financial record. The library holds financial statements spanning roughly two decades; assess their coverage and dates rather than infer a ranking among Brooklyn co-ops. Reserve trend, maintenance trajectory, assessment history and capital practice are all visible in them, as is the contribution of the six ground-floor professional units.

Name the architects and the builder. Sugarman & Berger for the Turner Brothers Building Company is a real attribution in a corridor where most large prewars are marketed anonymously. Put it in the first paragraph.

Lead with room count. Seven, eight and ten-and-a-half-room prewar apartments are scarce in Brooklyn at any price. Present the plan by rooms and photograph the proportions rather than the finishes.

Position against the Parkway and Plaza Street set. Those are the primary comparables; contemporary condominium pricing in the neighborhood is not the measure for this ask. A lender's appraiser uses co-op sales when they are available; condominium sales are a fallback that has to be explained and adjusted for the market's preference.

Prepare the board package early, transfer charge included. Buyers' attorneys will find the charge regardless, and sellers who assemble current policies, financials and application requirements before the first offer keep it from becoming a renegotiation lever.

If you're considering Turner Towers, also evaluate:

• 125 Eastern Parkway (The Theodore Roosevelt) — the neighboring prewar cooperative on the same Parkway blockfront; the closest direct peer
• 175 Eastern Parkway — large prewar elevator co-op further east on the corridor
• 41 Eastern Parkway — prewar co-op at the Grand Army Plaza end of the Parkway
• 34 Plaza Street East — Plaza Street cooperative facing Grand Army Plaza; confirm its construction history
• 50 Plaza Street East — smaller Plaza Street prewar co-op; the boutique alternative
• 10 Plaza Street East — the largest of the Plaza Street cooperatives, on Plaza Street East by the circle
• 230 Park Place — Prospect Heights co-op inside the historic district; the landmarked-context comparison
• 1 Grand Army Plaza (Richard Meier on Prospect Park) — the condominium alternative at the Plaza, for buyers weighing tenure