2 Montague Terrace

Snook Sons built a steel-framed, brick-and-marble apartment house of twelve stories in a restrained Colonial idiom, with soundproofed floors and fireproof construction that were advertised features in 1927. Because most apartments were customized before completion, the plans do not repeat cleanly: the A and B lines carry the floors, several upper floors have been combined into AB residences, and a penthouse sits at the top with terrace exposure. Apartments retain the prewar interior vocabulary the era produced — original wood flooring, door and window casings, and picture rails survive in unrenovated units. West-facing rooms look across the Promenade walkway toward the harbor; rear rooms face the building's own garden.

Terraces on select apartments are treated in the house rules as limited common elements: shareholders maintain the surface and keep the drains clear, the corporation is responsible for waterproofing and flashing, the maximum load is 20 pounds per square foot, permanent planters require engineered drawings, and grilling is prohibited under the City fire code. Twenty-one apartments across twelve floors is a low density even by Heights standards, and it is the most reliable predictor of how the building feels day to day.

Montague Terrace Corporation runs a full-service operation at boutique scale: a staffed lobby, a live-in superintendent whose apartment sits on the basement level, a separate service elevator for deliveries and moves, and a union labor contract the co-op has historically negotiated in tandem with the neighboring cooperative at 1 Pierrepont Street. Capital practice is conventional for a 1927 masonry building — the corporation has replaced boilers, modernized the elevator and addressed penthouse-level water infiltration in past cycles, and FISP/LL11 façade work is the recurring item to trace through recent financial statements and board minutes.

The co-op's 2011 shareholder handbook documents Halstead Management Co. as managing agent; management relationships change, and the current agent should be confirmed at offer stage. Diligence here rewards attention to the handbook itself, which is unusually detailed and functions as the operative rulebook alongside the proprietary lease.

Resale consent: Board review and interview, then written consent of two-thirds in number of the shareholders excluding the seller, under the proprietary lease. This is a materially higher bar than the ordinary board-approval standard, and it should be sequenced into the contract timeline rather than discovered late.

Financing: Capped at 50 percent of purchase price. The corporation executes only the AZTECH form of recognition agreement, which narrows the lender field. Buyers should confirm their lender will work within both constraints before going to contract.

Flip tax: 2 percent of gross sales price, paid by the purchaser — the reverse of the more common seller-paid structure — reduced to 1 percent where the purchaser is an existing shareholder, and waived for defined family gifts and testamentary transfers.

Pets: The 2011 handbook describes permission subject to registration, a two-animal cap, breed exclusions, a 75-pound limit and a $150 annual fee per dog, with pets excluded from the garden and non-shareholders’ dogs barred from the building. A separate resale packet prohibits dogs; confirm the current rule and any exceptions rather than assuming either account governs a proposed pet.

Guests and income use: Board notice and approval for stays of 30 days or more; no income may be generated from guests.

Alterations: Alteration agreement, $2,000 refundable damage deposit, and shareholder responsibility for the corporation's professional review costs. Landmark district rules govern anything affecting the exterior.

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 (2024): a median $1,733/sf (recorded) across 2 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount -0.1% over ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00208-0508). 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.

Model the 50 percent financing cap first. Everything else about this purchase is downstream of it. Confirm your lender accepts the AZTECH recognition agreement and that your structure works at half leverage before you spend money on diligence.

The two-thirds shareholder consent is real and takes time. Board approval alone does not close this deal. Build the consent period into the contract, and expect the seller's customary introduction reception to be part of the process rather than a formality.

Confirm the pet rule in writing. The 2011 handbook permits registered dogs within limits; an older corporation resale packet said dogs were not permitted. If a dog matters to you, get the current answer from the board before contract.

Ask what the last capital cycle covered. A 1927 steel-and-masonry building at twelve stories carries façade, elevator, roof and terrace-waterproofing obligations. Recent financial statements and board minutes will show the pace.

The flip tax is yours. Two percent of the price is a purchaser obligation at this building. Price it into your offer.

Qualify buyers on the cap before showings, not after. The financing limit disqualifies a large share of the district's buyer pool. Screening early protects your marketing time and avoids the failed-approval cycle.

Lead with what the building actually is. An original 1927 cooperative — never a rental, never converted — by John B. Snook Sons, twenty-one apartments in twelve stories, on the Promenade row. Most Heights listings cannot make any of those claims.

Document the apartment's history. In a building where layouts were customized before completion and floors have been combined, the specific unit's plan, share count and alteration record are the price-makers.

Sequence the shareholder consent. Give the corporation and your attorney the runway the two-thirds requirement needs, and treat the introduction reception as a selling opportunity rather than an obstacle.

If you're considering 2 Montague Terrace, also evaluate:

• 10 Montague Terrace — the townhouse-scale cooperative down the same one-block street; the closest possible location comparable
• 1 Pierrepont Street — the neighboring prewar cooperative with which Montague Terrace has historically negotiated its labor contract
• 129 Columbia Heights — Promenade-edge prewar co-op with a similar exposure argument
• 160 Columbia Heights — larger full-service prewar co-op on the harbor side of the district
• 62 Montague Street — prewar co-op two blocks east on the Montague corridor
• 65 Montague Street — moderate-scale prewar co-op peer near the Heights Casino
• 100 Remsen Street — full-service prewar cooperative on the parallel block south
• 2 Grace Court — large elevator co-op on the district's quiet southwest cul-de-sac
• 115 Willow Street — small prewar co-op on the district's other premium residential street