199 State Street (The Lookout Hill Condominium)

FXFowle's building runs eleven stories over a cellar on a footprint hemmed in by existing low-rise neighbors on Court, State and Schermerhorn. Unit lines A through E run the tower floors, with the composition working upward from larger family layouts to smaller high-floor units and terraced penthouses.

The mix as offered:

• Studios of approximately 677 square feet on the upper floors
• One-bedrooms at approximately 913 to 987 square feet with one and a half baths
• One-bedroom-plus-den layouts at approximately 1,058 square feet with two baths
• Two-bedrooms at approximately 1,074 to 1,293 square feet with two baths
• Three-bedrooms at approximately 1,594 to 1,629 square feet with two and a half baths
• First-floor duplexes 1B and 1C, combining a lower and upper level with private terrace space and skylights added by the plan's first amendment
• Four penthouses (PHA through PHD) on the eleventh floor, from approximately 990 to 1,242 square feet, each with private terrace

One diligence point deserves emphasis. The offering plan states explicitly that the DOB-approved plans denote the "den" as "Storage" in the D-line units on floors two through eight, and as "Recreation Room" in Units 1B and 1C. A den the approved plans call storage is not a legal habitable room, and a buyer valuing a "one-bedroom plus den" against a true two-bedroom should understand which document controls. Ask the seller's attorney for the certificate of occupancy and the approved floor plan for the specific unit.

Mechanically the building is a 2000s specification: PTAC units in the apartments served by rooftop gas-fired boilers, gas collectively metered and billed through common charges, electricity individually metered by Con Edison, and a refuse chute on every floor to a cellar compactor.

The condominium was set up to run as a full-service boutique building at moderate cost: a lobby attendant on a 24/7 schedule as anticipated in the plan, a live-in superintendent, two elevators, a package room, and a common recreation room and rear courtyard as the amenity package. There is no gym, no garage and no doorman-plus-concierge double staffing, which is why common charges here have historically sat well below the trophy-condominium tier.

One structural feature is worth flagging because it shows up in closing statements. The superintendent's apartment, Unit 1A, was purchased by the condominium itself for $545,000, with that cost spread across all residential units by percentage of common interest and collected as a one-time closing assessment at each original closing. The unit's own common charges and real estate taxes are likewise carried inside the association budget and allocated pro rata. The mechanism is fully disclosed in the plan and Schedule A; buyers of resales should simply know the building owns its superintendent's unit and that the arrangement is baked into the common-charge structure.

The condominium's audited financial statements in The Roebling Research Library run in a continuous series from 2010 forward, supporting trend analysis on common-charge growth, reserves and capital spending across the building's second decade. For a 2006 building approaching twenty years old, the diligence questions are façade and roof condition, elevator modernization timing, PTAC sleeve and window-wall performance, and the reserve position going into the next capital cycle.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00271-7501) 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.

The 421-a is gone. Build your carrying cost from the current tax bill on the specific unit. This is the single most common modeling error at 2000s Brooklyn condominiums with expired exemptions.

Verify what the den is. The offering plan itself discloses that DOB-approved plans label the D-line den as storage and the 1B/1C den as a recreation room. Get the certificate of occupancy and the approved plan for your unit before you pay a two-bedroom price for a one-bedroom-plus.

Understand the superintendent's-unit structure. The condominium owns Unit 1A; its carrying costs sit inside the association budget and flow through common charges. It is disclosed, ordinary and permanent — just know it is there.

Walk the block at different hours. This is the Court Street / Boerum Place edge, not a Heights residential street. The transit access is excellent and the street noise profile is different from the Promenade blocks. Both facts are true.

The condominium flexibility is the product. LLC and trust ownership, pied-à-terre use, one-year-minimum leasing and a fast right-of-first-refusal close are things almost no surrounding cooperative can offer. If those matter to you, they are worth paying for.

Sell the flexibility, not just the finishes. Your buyer pool includes investors, pied-à-terre purchasers, LLC and trust buyers and foreign purchasers — categories structurally excluded from most Brooklyn Heights cooperatives. Market to them explicitly.

Be direct about the neighborhood. Buyers will resolve the Heights / Boerum Hill / Downtown question themselves within one visit. Naming the seam honestly, and leading with the transit density it buys, converts better than overclaiming a Heights address.

Get ahead of the tax line. Sophisticated buyers will find the expired 421-a. Disclose the current tax figure in your materials and you remove the single most likely renegotiation lever.

Price against outdoor space and floor, not the building average. A penthouse with terrace and a mid-floor interior line are separate markets inside forty-six units. Use same-tier comparables.

Have the association's financials ready. A continuous run of audited statements and a clear picture of façade, roof and elevator capital status shortens diligence and supports the price.

If you're considering The Lookout Hill, also evaluate:

• 76 Schermerhorn Street (The Symon) — contemporary boutique condominium one block north; the closest direct comparable
• 96 Schermerhorn Street (Boerum Court) — co-op alternative on the same seam between the Heights and Boerum Hill
• 110 Livingston Street — large condominium conversion of the former Board of Education building, two blocks north
• 1 Clinton Street (One Clinton) — the district's newest condominium tower, at Cadman Plaza
• 20 Henry Street — boutique Brooklyn Heights condominium at the northern end of the district
• 75 Poplar Street — moderate-scale Heights condominium with a similar unit count
• 9 College Place (Love Lane Mews) — boutique condominium on a Heights mews
• 166 Montague Street — small condominium on the Heights' main commercial spine
• 75 Livingston Street — prewar tower co-op nearby; the cooperative counterweight on carrying cost