138 Remsen Street

Two sections, twenty apartments, one corporation. The 1982 engineer counted ten apartments and twenty-four residential rooms at No. 138 by Department of Buildings method, against ten apartments and eighteen rooms next door at 134–136 — documenting more aggregate residential rooms at No. 138 under that counting method, without establishing larger floor areas for its individual apartments. In each section the basement holds two apartments and the first through fourth floors hold two each.

Construction is Class III non-fireproof: brick and stone foundation, two-by-eight wood floor beams roughly sixteen inches on center, brick exterior walls with the decorative brownstone confined to the front, fire-resistant enclosure of the stairs and halls but a non-fire-resistant staircase, sprinklers throughout. There is no elevator and no service entrance; the house rules are a standard prewar form that still carries incinerator and service-elevator provisions the building has never had. Read them for what they bind, not for what they describe.

The rear yard holds a parking space the corporation rents, generating income that appears on its own line in the audited statements — a small but real offset in a ten-unit building, and a detail that never reaches a listing description. Exterior work runs through Landmarks under the district designation.

13438 Homes Corp. was incorporated on January 22, 1982 and has run both buildings since closing, with Adventure Properties, Inc. as managing agent. The model is small-building standard: outside management, a superintendent, basement laundry, one gas plant serving both sections.

The financial record in The Roebling Research Library runs from the late 1990s forward. Its shape is consistent: real estate taxes are the largest single expense by a wide margin, fuel, water and sewer next, management fees modest, with parking and occasional fuel refunds offsetting at the margin. Two structural facts deserve attention. The corporation refinanced its underlying mortgage in August 2003 onto a fifteen-year self-liquidating term, a historical schedule that does not establish the current balance or rule out later borrowing. And the historical accountant reports reviewed note that no reserve study had been performed; those reports contain no estimate of remaining useful lives or replacement costs, so ask whether a later study exists. For an 1856 masonry envelope with a 1946 roof alteration, that is the first gap to probe: ask for the facade, roof and boiler history and the assessment record. FISP generally applies to buildings higher than six stories; the documented low-rise configuration does not itself establish a filing obligation. Note also that in at least one year the board voted to "assess back" the New York City co-op tax abatement rather than pass it through — a common way to fund capital work that changes net maintenance. Confirm current practice.

Subletting: Board-authorized, up to 18 months in any continuous five-year period under the policy effective July 1, 1997, with a one-year gap before a new cycle. Sublet charges are billed by the corporation and must be current before the board reviews any sale.

Resale: Full package — application, contract, credit release, financial statement, two personal and two business references, tax returns, employment letters, three months of bank statements, and a bank recognition agreement if financed. A personal interview may be required. Processing fee of $350 to the managing agent plus $50 per additional applicant, a $200 document fee at closing, and $500 refundable move-in/move-out deposits from both buyer and seller.

Flip tax: $20.00 per share to the cooperative at closing — on a 5,400-share corporation covering nineteen apartments, an easily modeled number. Run it on the specific unit before you sign.

Pets and occupancy: All pets require board approval. Written consent is also required to pledge shares, alter the unit, sublet, use the apartment non-residentially, or house non-family members for more than a month (Real Property Law §235-f separately protects one additional occupant, and that occupant's dependent children, where the shareholder or spouse lives in the apartment as a primary residence, subject to notice and lawful occupancy limits; confirm with counsel how it applies to a specific household.) Alterations without approval draw fines of up to $1,000.

Financing minimums and pied-à-terre: Not documented in the papers on file — confirm against current board policy.

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. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2013): a median $794/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 2.7% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00254-0079). 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.

You are buying into a two-building corporation. One heating plant, two lots. Review both sections' condition, not just yours.

Model the flip tax. Twenty dollars per share at closing, on the specific apartment's allocation.

Ask whether a reserve study now exists. The historical accountant reports reviewed say none had been performed. Request any later study, the assessment history, and facade, roof and boiler condition records; confirm whether any story-classification issue makes FISP applicable.

Understand the sublet ceiling. Eighteen months in five years. Adequate for a relocation; useless as an investment thesis.

Lead with the façade that survives. The brownstone front with carved stone window surrounds is the strongest exterior point; describe it from the 1982 report and its present condition rather than from the absence of an LPC alteration note, which a few neighbors share.

Name the room count. Twenty-four residential rooms in ten apartments at 138, against eighteen in ten next door. Identify these as aggregate 1982 room counts, and provide the specific apartment's current legal layout and measured area.

Disclose the paired corporation early. It surfaces in attorney review regardless; up front it reads as transparency.

Price against converted row houses, not elevator co-ops. The right set is brownstone-scale walk-ups with small share bases, not the staffed buildings on Montague and Clinton.

If you're considering 138 Remsen Street, also evaluate:

• 134 Remsen Street — the other half of the same cooperative corporation; the closest comparable that exists
• 132 Remsen Street — the condominium alternative two doors west, in a house of the same row
• 100 Remsen Street — the block's postwar apartment-house co-op, for service against scale
• 76 Remsen Street — Slee & Bryson's 1922 elevator co-op, converted in 1963
• 68 Remsen Street — mid-size prewar Remsen Street co-op
• 60 Remsen Street — nearby Remsen Street building; verify its construction history and services
• 114 Clinton Street — Slee & Bryson's 1923 apartment house on the same tax block
• 245 Henry Street — the 1955 apartment-house co-op on the block's Henry Street frontage
• 151 Joralemon Street — 1913 apartment house on the same block, one street south