175 Hicks Street

The two houses read from the street as Greek Revival brick — the plain, well-proportioned idiom of 1840s Brooklyn, where the interest is in the doorway, lintels, cornice line and brickwork rather than ornament. The LPC's entries for both houses record brick and Greek Revival, and district designation places applicable exterior work under LPC review; it does not prohibit every alteration.

What sits behind the façades is a converted-house building, and it behaves like one. City records describe six stories and roughly 18,300 square feet across the pair — substantially more than the original 1840 houses contained, consistent with the additions and rear extension typical of Heights houses reworked for apartment use; an alteration is recorded in 1971. Inside, the apartments follow the houses' bay depth and stair placement rather than a repeating line plan: front rooms facing Hicks Street, rear rooms facing the block interior, and a duplex running down to the garden level at 173 Hicks. Ceiling heights, window proportions, fireplaces and moldings vary floor to floor and house to house, in the way only converted row houses do. The unit count has moved with them — twenty-six dwelling units in filings from 2000 and 2009, twenty-three to twenty-four from 2010 forward, the ordinary result of shareholders combining apartments. Evaluate each apartment’s layout and condition, using line comparisons where configurations remain comparable, and verify its share allocation rather than inferring it.

173 Hicks St Corp. operates the two buildings as one cooperative. At twenty-three apartments this is a small-board building, and small-board buildings in the Heights are typically self-managed or served by a small local agent; no managing agent is publicly documented, and current management should be confirmed with the cooperative. The Roebling Team remains the contact of record for clients.

The capital picture deserves the attention. Two 1840 masonry structures, joined and altered, inside a historic district produce a specific maintenance profile: façade and cornice maintenance with LPC requirements depending on the proposed scope, party-wall and roof conditions at the junction between the houses, and the plumbing, wiring and structural legacies of nineteenth-century construction. Filings of record include sidewalk shed and pipe scaffolding in 2009 and 2010 and a partial roof-cornice replacement filed in 2010; completion and current condition need confirming. At the reported six stories, the property is below the FISP/Local Law 11 threshold of more than six stories. Ask for current façade assessments, repair proposals and reserves, then check how costs would be allocated under the governing documents.

Purchaser review: Standard cooperative board approval. Expect the pace and personal texture of a small self-governing board rather than the process of a large managed corporation.

Subletting, pets, pied-à-terre use, financing limits and flip tax: Not publicly documented for this building. In small Heights co-ops these terms vary widely, financing limits especially. Obtain the current house rules and purchase application in writing before contract.

Alterations: Interior work runs through the board; check proposed work to façades, windows or cornices against LPC permit requirements and maintenance exemptions.

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 (2016): a median $1,346/sf (recorded) across 2 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2024. Median listing discount 0.9% 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 3-00236-0078). 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.

This is two 1840 houses, and you should underwrite it that way. Party walls, roof junctions, older structure and older systems are the real diligence items. Read the engineer's findings and several years of financials before you fall for the moldings.

Confirm the share ledger. Filings record twenty-six units in 2000 and twenty-three to twenty-four from 2010. Have counsel verify the apartment's shares, boundaries and any combination approvals.

Ask about the façade cycle. Records show exterior work in 2009–10, including cornice replacement; confirm what was completed, then ask what comes next and how the reserve stands against it.

Get policy in writing. Sublet rules, pets, pied-à-terre use, financing limits and any flip tax are not publicly documented.

The block is the amenity. Nineteenth-century houses on all sides, the Promenade two blocks west, Montague two blocks south, the Clark Street express a short walk north.

Lead with 1840. Very little Brooklyn Heights apartment inventory is this old, and the LPC's own records name the year, the style and the original owner-builders — a documented pedigree most competing listings cannot claim.

Sell the apartment, not the building. In a converted-house co-op with a combination history, condition, ceiling height and light are the price-makers.

Put the capital record in the deal room. Document the 2009–10 exterior work and cornice replacement with evidence of completion and current façade condition; that is the first question a buyer asks about a building of this age.

Compare relevant converted-house sales using room count, reliable area and total price. Supplement with adjusted elevator-building sales when useful, checking actual services and maintenance rather than assuming higher costs.

If you're considering 175 Hicks Street, also evaluate:

• 187 Hicks Street (Florence Court) — the prewar apartment house immediately south at the Pierrepont corner; the direct block comparable
• 155 Hicks Street — small converted-house cooperative a short way north on the same side of the street
• 145 Hicks Street — the block's large 1930s elevator co-op; the full-building alternative
• 142 Hicks Street — small Heights co-op of comparable scale across the street
• 130 Hicks Street — cooperative peer in the north Heights; verify its vintage before making an era-based comparison
• 160 Henry Street — 1924 elevator co-op on the same block, facing Henry Street
• 70 Clark Street — postwar cooperative alternative two blocks north
• 200 Hicks Street (Casino Mansions) — the Montague corner's two-building cooperative; a larger, grander counterpoint