185 Prospect Park Southwest (The Lakeview)

A six-story brick building of 1961 in the plain postwar style, set back from the park on a 22,300-square-foot lot with parking and a garden behind. Its 57 shareholder apartments run in lines numbered 01 through 09 per floor. Listing records show one-bedrooms through larger corner apartments; the plan's floor plans on file set out the full line schedule. Building-department filings show at least two combinations: 204 and 304 into a duplex with a convenience stair (2007), and 306 with 307 (2005).

Postwar construction means square rooms, through-wall air-conditioning sleeves, and practical plans with fewer prewar details. Park frontage is the premium; corner lines and apartments with terraces or balconies follow. The house rules protect the front elevation: no window air conditioners on the park side.

The 2024 audited statements show a lean corporation that runs close to break-even. Revenue of about $842,000 is mostly maintenance, with meaningful parking income (about $51,000) and flip-tax receipts. Real estate taxes are the largest expense, followed by payroll, repairs and mortgage interest.

The debt is fixed-rate and scheduled. In March 2022 the corporation refinanced into a $2,500,000 underlying mortgage at a fixed 3.00 percent, ten-year term, amortizing on a 30-year schedule, due April 1, 2032. The balance was about $2.36 million at year-end 2024. A $500,000 line of credit was undrawn at year-end 2024; confirm later draws and any amendments. Because the loan amortizes, the balloon at maturity will be below the original principal. The maturity is one scheduled financial obligation to assess alongside the capital plan, and refinancing it in 2032 at whatever rate then prevails could affect maintenance.

Reserves are modest. Reserve cash was about $203,000 at year-end 2024, down from about $225,000 a year earlier, after the corporation spent roughly $139,000 on façade renovation and a new gate. The reviewed 2024 statements report no reserve study; ask whether one has since been completed. Façade compliance is current: the Cycle 9 filing moved from safe-with-repairs to safe after 2022 repair work, and the Cycle 10 report, filed September 8, 2026, is rated safe.

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 $957/sf (recorded) across 4 sales. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-05279-0019). 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.

The smoking rule reaches inside the apartment. It is in the proprietary lease, not the house rules. If that disqualifies you, it does so before the first showing.

Confirm the washer-dryer rule. Records indicate the house rules prohibit installation; confirm in the current house rules before you plan around one.

Plan on living here before you sublet. Two years of residence first, then at most two years in any four, at three months' maintenance a year, against a five-apartment cap. This is an owner-occupant building.

Ask the three money questions. The financing ceiling, the post-closing liquidity requirement, and whether any assessment is planned against a reserve near $200,000. None is in the documents on file.

Parking is not part of the purchase. Spaces are rented and do not transfer with the shares. Ask about the waiting list.

Hand buyers the rulebook early. Smoking, laundry and sublet rules can affect a buyer's intended use and decision to proceed. Disclose them in the listing and at the first showing.

Price the 1.5 percent flip tax into your net. It is charged on the gross sale price and paid by you at closing.

Lead with the park and the mortgage. Describe the park frontage and provide the 2024 statements recording a fixed 3 percent underlying loan due 2032 and an undrawn credit line. Confirm the current balance and any later borrowing before presenting the debt position.

Assemble the package before you list. The managing agent's application is long and rejects incomplete submissions. A buyer's broker will value a seller who has the financials and house rules ready.

If you're considering 185 Prospect Park Southwest, also evaluate:

• 651 Vanderbilt Street (Park Vanderbilt) — Windsor Terrace's largest elevator cooperative, a few blocks north near the park; the direct postwar peer
• 140 East 2nd Street (Hamilton House) — the neighborhood's most-traded cooperative; prewar stock at the Kensington edge
• 135 Prospect Park Southwest — park-facing elevator cooperative a few buildings north; the closest location comparable
• 155 Terrace Place (Prospect Park Mews) — Windsor Terrace's 1988 condominium; the fee-simple alternative with parking
• 40 Prospect Park West — early-1940s Park Slope elevator cooperative on the park; the ceiling comparison
• 35 Prospect Park West — the Emery Roth cooperative on the Park Slope Gold Coast; top of the park-front tier
• 300 Eighth Avenue — accessible prewar Park Slope cooperative
• 1 Plaza Street West — the 1927 sixteen-story cooperative at Grand Army Plaza, at the park's north end