195 Willoughby Avenue (Willoughby Walk)
195 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
BBL 3019050080 · BIN 3054896
- Year built
- 1958
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 287
- Floors
- 16
- Landmark
- No
- Flip tax
- Seller-paid waiver fee of $145 per share - the corporation's by-law right to purchase at market value, waived for a fee; subject to board change. Plus $800 stock transfer administrative fee and NYS stock transfer tax at closing
- Financing
- Lenders generally finance 80-90% per the purchaser package; board must approve the recognition/Aztech agreement. Board-set minimum incomes: studio $40,000, 1BR $50,000, 2BR $60,000, 3BR $70,000
- Subletting
- Hardship only; board approval; two-year maximum; subtenant screened as a purchaser; rent capped at shareholder's carrying charges; sublet fee $4.00 per share per month; unsold after two years, apartment subject to sale to the corporation at transfer value
- Pied-à-terre
- Not permitted - shareholders must reside in the apartment they purchase
- Washer / dryer
- Prohibited
- Pets
- Max two per apartment; annual registration and re-registration with photos, inoculation proof, license, emergency caretaker, $100 annual fee (2002 rules) and homeowner's insurance naming the corporation; 5-foot leash; curbed off co-op property; barred from playground and laundry
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2017-02 (purchaser package) / 2014-09 (rules and regulations)). Reported and subject to confirmation. Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
195 Willoughby Avenue is the tower that faces Pratt. The building fronts Willoughby Avenue directly across from the Institute's campus, which gives it the most legible address on the Willoughby Walk superblock and the reason its lobby served as the sales office through the conversion. It is also the larger of the two towers by room count — 989 rooms against 987½ next door — with eighteen apartments on every floor rather than seventeen on the first.
The building exists because of urban renewal and belongs to its residents because of a buyout. The site was cleared under one of two Pratt Institute–area renewal projects of the early and mid-1950s; construction of the two towers was completed in 1959 under FHA mortgage insurance. When that financing arrangement failed, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development took title on October 20, 1972 and operated the property for five years. Residents then organized: Willoughby Walk Apartments Corp. was formed as sponsor, a Section 213 cooperative was chartered in April 1975, and the group negotiated a purchase from HUD for $6,109,000, financed by a $5,978,000 purchase-money mortgage from HUD itself against roughly $900,000 of tenant subscriptions at $10 a share. The offering was accepted for filing in July 1976, the tenant participation threshold was lowered from 75 percent to 65 percent to get it done, seed money came from Citicorp Community Development, and title closed at midnight on September 30, 1977. The prospectus, written from a sales office in this building, argued the case in plain terms: a successful conversion would be "another stabilizing factor in the Clinton Hill neighborhood."
Nearly fifty years of resident control produced a cooperative that behaves like one. Shareholders must live in their apartments. Sublets are hardship-only, capped at two years, capped in rent at the shareholder's carrying charges, and charged at four dollars per share per month. Prospective purchasers face a financial review, a credit and tenant-screening report including a home visit, an interview with a shareholder screening committee, and a full board vote. And when an apartment sells, the corporation waives its own by-law purchase right in exchange for a waiver fee of $145 per share, paid by the seller — the number that most often surprises people at the closing table.
What the building gives back is scarce in Clinton Hill: terraces on eight lines per floor, landscaped grounds, a gated resident playground, on-site parking, and a Pratt-facing frontage that no infill condominium on a 25-foot lot can reproduce.
Architecture and unit composition
Building II is sixteen stories of brick over a reinforced-concrete frame, with eighteen apartments per floor and 989 rooms in the cooperative's own count. Windows are aluminum casements operated by rotary closers; the 1973 engineering survey flagged their tendency to stay partly open at the top because the sash lacks stiffness, and window replacement has been a recurring project category in buildings of this construction ever since. Terraces are concrete slabs projecting from lines 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 15 and 16 above the first floor. The same survey documented cracking, corner spalling and drainage pitch across a majority of them and noted that this tower's two compactor bulkheads and chimneys — converted from the original incinerators — are brick and integral extensions of the bulkhead masonry, unlike Building I's. Terrace slabs, railings and the roof are the three items a buyer should ask about by name.
The apartment mix is published by line. Studios sit in lines 2, 9 and 17 at two rooms, with a walk-in kitchenette and a dining area. One-bedrooms come in two shapes — a three-room version with a walk-in kitchenette in lines 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 14, and a 3½-room version with a kitchen-dining area in lines 1, 3, 16 and 18. Two-bedrooms run 4½ rooms with a bath and a half in lines 4, 12 and 15, with the 12 line carrying two full baths, and five rooms with a full kitchen, breakfast nook and dining area in the 15 line. The 13 line is the three-bedroom, 5½ rooms with a bath and a half. Every apartment was wired with a 208-volt air-conditioning outlet in the living room and a 120-volt outlet in each bedroom, and cooling runs through wall sleeves rather than units projecting past the façade.
Elevators run on direct-current motors fed by motor-generator sets in the roof machine room. The building carries a master television antenna and a lobby-switchboard intercom system.
Building operations
Willoughby Walk is run by its shareholders through an on-campus management office at 185 Hall Street. Security officers staff the lobbies, and a superintendent and maintenance crew handle the plant. Moves and deliveries require a property pass and a $200 refundable deposit, run weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. with no start after 4:00, and use the basement entrance. The cooperative provides free Saturday pest-control service to apartments that sign up.
The repair split is defined and belongs in every underwriting conversation. The corporation maintains heating, plumbing, electrical, gas and intercom systems, window frames, elevators, public areas and grounds. Shareholders are responsible for stoves, refrigerators, floor tile, window glass, terrace doors, plumbing fixtures, cabinets, counters and entrance doors, and for all decoration — with board approval and a management inspection required for replacements. Since November 10, 2008, shareholders have been required to carry comprehensive liability and property damage insurance naming the corporation as an additional insured, with annual proof.
The house rules run a graduated violation-fee schedule of $100, $200 and $300 with an internal affairs committee of board members hearing disputes. Audited financial statements for the corporation covering recent fiscal years are maintained in The Roebling Research Library and support trend-level diligence on carrying-charge growth, reserves and capital practice; current debt, reserve position and any live assessment should be confirmed with management at contract.
One document deserves attention from lenders and attorneys. Because this is a Section 213 cooperative, shareholders hold an occupancy agreement rather than a proprietary lease. In January 2014 the board resolved to insert a uniform end date of January 1, 2063 into every existing and future occupancy agreement, renewable in successive three-year terms, expressly because lenders had been reluctant to finance against what appeared to be a three-year term. Confirm the version in the seller's file matches.
Recent sales
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent transfers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 29, 2026 | 1206 | $970,000 |
| Apr 8, 2026 | 813 | $1,390,000 |
| Dec 31, 2025 | 905 | $551,000 |
| Sep 17, 2025 | 907 | $640,000 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | 1203 | $605,000 |
| Aug 18, 2025 | 1110 | $600,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-01905-0080) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
The board process is thorough. Financial documentation, credit and tenant-screening reports, a home visit, a screening-committee interview, then a board vote. Build the package once, properly.
This is an owner-occupant building. No pied-à-terre, no investor purchase, and sublets only on documented hardship for a maximum of two years at a capped rent.
Buy the terrace deliberately. Lines 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 15 and 16 above the first floor carry terraces and trade differently. Match comparables on that variable first.
Ask about terraces, windows, roof and elevators. Concrete terrace slabs, rotary-closing aluminum casements, roof flashing and DC elevator machinery are the four systems that define capital spending in this construction type. Ask what has been completed and what is scheduled.
Have your lender read the occupancy agreement. A Section 213 occupancy agreement with a January 1, 2063 uniform end date and three-year renewals is not the proprietary lease your lender's checklist expects. Surface it early.
What to know if you’re selling
Put the waiver fee in the net sheet on day one. At $145 per share it is the largest seller-side cost in the deal.
Screen the buyer for the board. Owner-occupancy, income minimums and a home visit mean an unqualified purchaser costs months rather than weeks.
Sell the Pratt frontage and the grounds. Facing the campus, with landscaped grounds, a gated playground and on-site parking, is the case against smaller new-construction inventory nearby.
Photograph the terrace as a room. In a building where eight of eighteen lines have one, it is the single asset most likely to set your price above the building average.
Bring the financial record. A long, documented run of audited statements is an asset with buyers, boards and lenders alike; put it to work in the deal room.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 195 Willoughby Avenue, also evaluate:
- 185 Hall Street (Willoughby Walk) — the complex's other tower, same corporation and rulebook, Hall Street frontage and the management office
- 185 Clinton Avenue (Clinton Hill Co-ops, North Campus) — the wartime cooperative campus north of Willoughby Avenue at far greater scale
- 345 Clinton Avenue (Clinton Hill Co-ops, South Campus) — the same complex inside the Clinton Hill Historic District
- 135 Eastern Parkway (Turner Towers) — prewar Prospect Heights cooperative peer priced per room
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
Considering a move at Willoughby Walk?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at Willoughby Walk 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.