138 Broadway, Brooklyn (The Smith Gray Building)
138 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211
BBL 3021327502 · BIN 3335294
- Year built
- 1884
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 40
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- No
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Smith Gray Building. The condominium's own house rules use that name; historical records write it as the Smith, Gray & Co. Building 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.
This is one of the surviving commercial buildings of Broadway's post-Civil War boom. Smith, Gray & Co. began as a small Williamsburg retail store in 1864 and became, by its own account, the largest maker of boys' clothing in the world. In 1884 the firm built this six-story, iron-fronted headquarters, retail store and factory at the Bedford Avenue corner. The LPC's 2005 report on the firm's earlier building across Broadway at No. 103 tells the story; this building is the later chapter.
That report designated No. 103 and left No. 138 alone. The consequence for an owner is practical. Exterior work here needs Department of Buildings permits and board approval, with no Landmarks Preservation Commission review. The iron front is protected only by the condominium's own rules and budget.
The tax position is settled. The conversion carried a J-51 exemption, and it ended after the 2016/17 tax year. There is no step-up still to come, unlike the abated new construction closer to the bridge. What a buyer sees on the current bill is the full tax.
The fourth fact is the building's early history. Per the audited statements included in the Seventh Amendment on file, the sponsor settled a long-running dispute with the unit owners over the building's physical condition in 2006. It paid $387,500 into the condominium, agreed to pay fines tied to sprinkler-system violations, and agreed to amend the declaration to carve storage units out of Commercial Unit 2. That dispute is 20 years old. It is still worth knowing when you read a conversion building's capital history.
Architecture and unit composition
The building rises six stories on an 11,320-square-foot corner lot, with its iron front on Broadway. The LPC report credits the design to William H. Gaylor. Gaylor also designed the firm's 1873–74 Lyceum Building nearby and the Long Island Business College on South 8th Street. The contractors were Thomas and William Lamb, with ironwork by the William H. Jackson Ironworks. The firm was petitioned into bankruptcy in 1914. ACRIS records the deed that preceded the conversion in December 2000.
The conversion turned the manufacturing floors into 40 loft apartments. The unit plan is regular: six apartments on the first floor, seven on each floor from the second through the fifth, and six penthouse units (PHA, PHB and PHD through PHG) on top. The house rules describe the common roof deck as a section of roof above the top penthouse level.
The freight elevator and the Bedford Avenue service entrance survive from the industrial building, and the house rules route all moves, deliveries and construction debris through them. The same rules prohibit window and through-wall air conditioners. That points to split or ducted cooling inside the units; confirm the system for the specific apartment.
Three commercial units sit at the base. COM1 is classed as retail and COM3 as office on the Department of Finance roll. COM2, the unit the 2006 settlement said would become storage, is now titled to the board of managers. The roll carries two separately deeded storage lots, SU1 and SU10, both owned by apartment owners.
Building operations
Taxes. The J-51 exemption appears on every apartment lot in the Department of Finance records from 2010/11 through 2016/17 and is gone from 2017/18. The records we pulled do not show the benefit's first year. The expiry date is the fact a buyer needs. Pull the specific unit's current bill; the only exemptions still on the roll here are personal ones.
The 2006 settlement. Per the statements on file, the $387,500 was booked as paid-in capital, and part of it was added to the reserve fund. The sponsor had sold every apartment by the end of 2006. It conveyed the commercial and storage units between 2004 and 2010, and it holds nothing on the current roll. Nothing in ACRIS or the documents on file points to a continuing dispute.
Finances. The most recent financial statements on file date from the mid-2000s. Ask the managing agent for the current budget, the latest audited statements, the reserve balance, and how common charges are split among the apartments and the three commercial units.
Capital and compliance. At six stories, the building sits at the Local Law 11 line: the city's façade inspection program applies to buildings taller than six stories, so there is no mandated five-year inspection cycle here. That leaves the 1884 iron front on the board's own schedule. Cast iron needs paint and corrosion control on a recurring basis. Ask when the front was last inspected by an engineer, what was found, and what work is planned on the front, the roof and the freight elevator. A 2013 Department of Buildings alteration permit is on file for the building; ask what it covered.
Recent sales
138 Broadway trades as a converted loft building. Benchmark it on a dollars-per-square-foot basis against Williamsburg's other industrial conversions; the glass towers on the waterfront are a different product. Its advantages are volume, an authentic nineteenth-century commercial building, and a tax bill with no scheduled increase ahead of it. Its trade-offs are loft-conversion mechanics and a small resale base. Forty apartments generate only a few sales a year, so pricing rests on a handful of prints, and layout, ceiling height and exposure vary more from unit to unit than in new construction. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent closings at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 30, 2025 | PHD | $2,650,000 |
| May 15, 2023 | 5C | $1,412,000 |
| Nov 14, 2022 | 4B | $999,000 |
| Nov 26, 2021 | 4G | $1,943,000 |
| Nov 9, 2021 | PHB | $2,355,000 |
| Oct 29, 2021 | 5D | $1,105,000 |
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 3-02132-7502) 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.
Buying here? Condo closing costs with a mortgage typically run 3 to 6% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
Keep up with The Smith Gray Building. The condominium's own house rules use that name; historical records write it as the Smith, Gray & Co. Building and its market
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What to know if you’re buying
The tax you see is the tax you'll pay. The J-51 exemption is gone. There is no phase-in to model, only normal reassessment.
Ask about the front. The building is not landmarked and falls below the Local Law 11 threshold, so the condominium looks after the iron façade on its own schedule. Ask for the latest engineer's inspection and any planned-work budget.
Confirm cooling and laundry for the unit. Through-wall and window units are banned. Check what the apartment has and what the alteration agreement allows for washers and dryers.
Read the commercial arrangement. Three commercial units share the building, and one is owned by the board. Ask how common interest and charges are allocated among them.
Storage is scarce. Only two storage units are deeded on the roll. Do not assume one is available.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the building's history. An 1884 Gaylor iron front with an LPC-documented history gives this building a story the newer inventory nearby cannot tell.
Show a clean tax line. Buyers comparing abated new construction will face a future step-up there. Here the full tax is already in the number.
Have the documents ready. A current budget, recent statements and the latest façade inspection answer the questions a conversion building always raises.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 138 Broadway, also evaluate:
- The Gretsch (60 Broadway) — the 1916 Gretsch factory conversion farther down Broadway; the larger loft alternative
- The Mill Building (85 North 3rd Street) — a 1910 Northside industrial loft converted to condominium
- Berry Street Lofts (55 Berry Street) — a Northside light-manufacturing conversion
- The Rialto (150 North 5th Street) — an early-twentieth-century industrial conversion at similar scale
- 330 Wythe Avenue — a gut conversion of a 1914 industrial building
- Austin Nichols House (184 Kent Avenue) — the landmark waterfront warehouse conversion, for contrast with an undesignated building
- Bridgeview Towers (26 Broadway) — the abated 2000s new construction near the bridge, for contrast on the tax line
More Williamsburg buildings
- 135 Jackson Street (The Jacksonia) — 2008 condominium by Karl Fischer Architects
- 135 North 11th Street — 2011 condominium
- 136 Powers Street — 2007 condominium
- 14 Hope Street — 2008 condominium
- 143 South 8th Street (Long Island Business College) — 1891 co-op
- 144 North 8th Street — 2011 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full neighborhood — its buildings, character, and market — read The Roebling Team Guide to Williamsburg.
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 The Smith Gray Building. The condominium's own house rules use that name; historical records write it as the Smith, Gray & Co. Building?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.