20 Bayard Street (The Bayard Views)
20 Bayard Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
BBL 3027217503 · BIN 3391875
- Year built
- 2005
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 62
- Floors
- 16
- Landmark
- No
Every recorded sale at this building, 2007–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,647
- Listing discount
- -0.2%
- Recorded sales
- 117
- On record
- 2007–2026
McCarren Park is the reason this building exists in the shape it does. Bayard Street runs along the park's southern edge, and in the early 2000s a short run of lots on the north side of that street was assembled and built out with a group of towers by a single architect for a single developer. The Bayard Views is the tallest of them. Everything behind it on the block is two to four stories of prewar Williamsburg, which means the park view from the upper floors is not a view onto a neighbor's roof — it is thirty-five acres of open ground with the East River, the bridges and the Manhattan skyline beyond.
The zoning history is what makes that permanent. The new-building application went in during January 2003, under the R6 rules then mapped on the block, and the building was permitted in 2005. The 2005 Greenpoint–Williamsburg rezoning subsequently mapped this block front as M1-2/R6B and M1-2/R6A inside the MX-8 special district — contextual designations that cap new construction far below 201 feet. A tower of this height could not be filed here today. That is not a marketing claim; it is a reading of the zoning map against the filing date, and it is the single most durable thing about the property.
The design is very much of its moment. Karl Fischer was the defining architect of the mid-2000s Williamsburg tower, and this is a characteristic example: a slender masonry-and-glass shaft, floor-to-ceiling glazing, a formal raised entry with a divided front stair. Interiors were credited to Andres Escobar. Buyers who have spent time in the North Williamsburg condominium market will recognize the vocabulary immediately, and will also recognize its limits — the specification is 2007, not 2022, and the mechanical systems, windows and finishes should be evaluated as eighteen-year-old assets rather than new ones.
But the fact that most changes a buyer's math here is the tax posture, and it changed very recently. The building carried a 15-year 421-a benefit that began in the 2010 tax year. It phased down through its final years and reached zero on the fiscal 2025 roll. Residences at The Bayard Views now pay full unabated taxes, and they have done so only since July 2024 — which means a great deal of the comparative data floating around this building, and a great deal of institutional memory about what it costs to own here, predates the step-up. Underwrite the current bill. Do not underwrite what the building used to pay.
Architecture and unit composition
The site is unusually large for the block — 31,000 square feet, with 95 feet of frontage on Bayard Street and 200 feet of depth — which is what allowed a tower, a garage and a private garden on one parcel. Roughly 7,450 square feet of the building is garage, and the remaining 42,000 or so is residential across the tower.
The 62 residences are laid out with floor-to-ceiling glazing and high ceilings, in a mix running from one to three bedrooms with penthouses at the top of the stack. The north-facing lines look directly over McCarren Park and hold the skyline view; the south-facing lines look back over low-rise Williamsburg and are the quieter, less expensive side of the building. On a tower this narrow the difference between the two exposures is the primary driver of value, and it is worth walking both before forming a price opinion.
Three recorded combinations — in 2013, 2017 and 2024 — mean the building's practical inventory is now fewer than 62 apartments, and that some floors carry a full-floor or near-full-floor residence where the original plan had two. Anyone modelling the building from PLUTO's 62 will slightly overstate the number of distinct homes.
Building operations
This is a full-service condominium: attended lobby with doorman and concierge coverage, a private landscaped garden, fitness center, children's playroom, bicycle room, cold storage for grocery delivery, an on-site garage and a roof deck.
The capital record is legible in the Department of Buildings file and worth reading before contract. A mechanical-room renovation in 2015 installed a new heat exchanger and air separator. In 2017 the condominium filed to replace two of five boiler units toward a modular boiler system, and in 2021 ten gas boilers were registered for inspection and sign-off. Heavy-duty sidewalk sheds were filed in 2017 and again in 2021, and masonry repairs were filed in 2022 — a pattern consistent with a Local Law 11 façade cycle on a building that is now old enough to be several cycles in.
None of that is unusual for a 2008 tower. It does mean a buyer should ask three specific questions: the current Local Law 11 filing status and whether the façade is in an unsafe or SWARMP condition, whether any assessment has been levied or is contemplated for façade or mechanical work, and the current reserve balance against the remaining life of the boilers, elevators and roof.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through a right of first refusal rather than a board interview.
Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: All permitted under the standard condominium framework. Confirm any minimum lease term and any short-term-rental prohibition in the house rules.
Pets: Not documented in the records available to us. Confirm before contract.
Parking: Separately deeded condominium units, not appurtenant to apartments. See the note above — this is the policy point most often misunderstood at this building.
Flip tax: Not documented in public records. Confirm with the managing agent before pricing a sale.
Real estate taxes: The 15-year 421-a benefit expired and reached zero on the fiscal 2025 roll. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit and run True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis against the current bill.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $2,833/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $4
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
421-a Tax Abatement
- Benefit ended
- 2025
- Fully taxed since
- 2025
- Program
- 421-a (15-year)
The 421-a benefit has run its term. Taxes on these units have stepped up toward the full assessed amount, so the low carrying cost this building once carried is no longer available. Price from the current tax bill, and treat any comparable sale made while the abatement was still running as a different asset.
Source: NYC Dept. of Finance property-tax exemption records (421-a), refreshed 2026-09-06 · The Roebling Research Library. Confirm the exact step-up schedule on the building’s DOF tax bill. The benefit last appears on the 2024 assessment roll, which is what dates the end of the term.
Recent sales
The condominium has been trading for nearly two decades. The first deed was recorded in November 2007, the initial sellout ran through 2008, and roughly 150 deeds have been recorded across the 108 unit lots since — including a concentrated block of transfers in 2012 and steady resale activity in every year since. As of the fiscal 2027 roll the 62 residences are held across 58 distinct owners, which is a healthy, fully dispersed ownership profile with no sponsor overhang. The garage units are the exception: 19 of the 46 sit with a single investor entity, and they trade on their own terms.
Pricing at The Bayard Views should be read against the North Williamsburg and Greenpoint condominium inventory of the mid-2000s cycle rather than against the newer waterfront towers, whose specification, amenity load and tax treatment are all different. Two adjustments matter most in that comparison. The first is the 421-a: many of the buildings this one is compared to still carry a live benefit, and this one does not, so a per-foot comparison that ignores the tax line will systematically flatter the competition. The second is the park exposure, which is a genuine scarcity — very few Brooklyn buildings look over thirty-five acres of open ground with no possibility of the view being built out. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2026 | 11D | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,312 sf | $2,360,000 | $1,799/sf | -0.6% |
| Jul 22, 2025 | 3B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 642 sf | $900,000 | $1,402/sf | +4.7% |
| Jun 23, 2025 | 16B | 2 BR · 1,368 sf | $2,500,000 | $1,827/sf | +13.6% |
| Apr 28, 2025 | 11B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 657 sf | $1,100,500 | $1,675/sf | +10.1% |
| Jul 3, 2024 | 4D | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,312 sf | $2,175,000 | $1,658/sf | -3.3% |
| Jun 6, 2024 | 9C | 656 sf | $1,047,750 | $1,597/sf | off-mkt |
| Jan 18, 2024 | 12C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 812 sf | $1,125,000 | $1,385/sf | -2.2% |
| Jan 11, 2024 | 4B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 656 sf | $970,000 | $1,479/sf | -16.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,647/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount -0.2% over ask.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-02721-7503) 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; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
Confirm you are looking at 20, not 30. The Aurora at 30 Bayard Street is a different condominium on the same block with a different board, a different budget and a different tax profile. Verify by block and lot.
The abatement is gone. Fully, as of the tax year that began July 1, 2024. Any historical tax figure, any older listing sheet, and any comparable analysis built on pre-2025 data understates the current carrying cost.
Parking is a separate purchase. It has its own tax lot and its own deed. Get it in writing.
Exposure is everything on a narrow tower. North lines hold the park and skyline view and are protected by the current zoning; south lines do not. Price them apart.
Read the façade and boiler file. Sidewalk sheds in 2017 and 2021 and masonry repairs in 2022 tell you the building has an active façade cycle. Ask for the current Local Law 11 status and any assessment history.
The specification is 2007. Windows, mechanicals and finishes are approaching two decades old. Budget for them, or buy a unit where the work has already been done.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the view and the zoning that protects it. No competing building on this block front can be replaced at this height under current rules. That is the argument.
Address the tax step-up directly. Buyers comparing this building to abated inventory will find the difference themselves. Presenting the current unabated number with True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis attached is a stronger position than letting it surface late.
Separate the parking conversation from the apartment conversation. If a space conveys, it is a distinct value item and should be presented as one; if it does not, say so early.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Bayard Views, also evaluate:
- 125 North 10th Street — mid-2000s North Williamsburg condominium; the closest peer by vintage and buyer profile
- 214 North 11th Street (Warehouse 11) — 2008 Williamsburg condominium conversion; the loft-character alternative from the same cycle
- 80 Metropolitan Avenue — 2000s Williamsburg condominium with a full amenity program; the interior-block comparison
- 34 North 7th Street (The Edge — North Tower) — waterfront tower at far larger scale; the amenity-led alternative with river rather than park exposure
- 22 North 6th Street (The Edge — South Tower) — the companion Edge tower; same trade-off, different stack
- 2 Northside Piers — waterfront new development; the higher-service, higher-charge comparison
- 184 Kent Avenue (Austin Nichols House) — landmarked warehouse conversion; the architectural opposite at a similar price tier
- 127 Kent Avenue (The Sixth) — smaller Williamsburg condominium; the boutique alternative
- 21 India Street (The Greenpoint) — Greenpoint tower with skyline exposure; the newer-specification comparison
- 50 Greenpoint Avenue — Greenpoint condominium north of the park; the adjacent-submarket alternative
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent.
Considering a move at The Bayard Views?
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 The Bayard Views 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.