200 Water Street
200 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, Brooklyn
BBL 3000417502 · BIN 3000094
- Year built
- 1950
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 15
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- Designated
- Flip tax
- none disclosed in the rules and regulations on file
- Subletting
- permitted subject to board right of first refusal; minimum lease term not stated in the rules on file
- Pied-à-terre
- permitted (standard condominium)
- Pets
- max 2 domestic dogs or cats plus caged birds and fish per unit, by written revocable consent of the board or managing agent; $50 fine for an unleashed animal in public portions; nuisance pet removed within one week of notice
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2023-01-18). Reported and subject to confirmation. Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
Fifteen apartments in a Brillo factory, owned for decades by the Jehovah's Witnesses, converted under a Landmarks approval that forced the developer to keep the building it bought. That sequence explains almost everything about 200 Water Street, including why it looks the way it does.
The structure went up in 1950 and 1951 for the Brillo Manufacturing Company — the same industrial tenant whose name attaches to more than one building in this corner of DUMBO — and passed to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which held it as part of the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn portfolio and appears as owner of record on Buildings Department filings well into the 2010s. When the Watchtower began liquidating those holdings, this building went to a joint venture of Megalith Capital Management and Urban Realty Partners, filing as 200 Water Property Owner, L.L.C.
The conversion is more interesting for what the Landmarks Preservation Commission refused than for what it approved. Aufgang Architects brought a scheme to the Commission in the autumn of 2013 that would have reconstructed the façade in new brick. The Commission approved the project that November but rejected that part of it: the existing elevation stayed largely intact, and the two new floors were pushed back from the street wall so the building would continue to read from Water Street as the mid-century factory it is. Design and interiors were carried by Gil Even-Tsur of Architecture Workshop. The work signed off in August 2016; the first purchasers closed in February 2017.
The result occupies a narrow and useful slot in the DUMBO condominium market. The 1950s industrial vernacular here is later, lower and plainer than the reinforced-concrete daylight factories the district was drawn to protect, and the building operates at a scale well below the waterfront towers: fifteen large residences in a six-story building with a landscaped courtyard, a below-grade garage, and an unusually generous allotment of private outdoor space: rear yards at the garden level, balconies through the middle of the stack, roof decks at the penthouses, all recorded as limited common elements appurtenant to individual apartments. In a neighborhood where the loft stock delivers scale and light but rarely private exterior space, that inventory is the building's defining asset.
The house rules, restated in January 2023, describe a building settled into a specific way of living. Barbecuing is permitted on the terraces and yards and nowhere else. Pets are capped at two per residence and registered by written, revocable consent. Construction is confined to weekday business hours, and eighty percent of each floor must be covered. Purchasers fund six months of common charges into working capital at closing, before the board will release its right of first refusal. None of that is unusual on its own; together it is the profile of a small, well-documented condominium that expects its owners to live there.
Architecture and unit composition
The retained façade is the point of the building, and it is a Landmarks fact rather than an aesthetic preference. What sits behind it is a converted four-story factory floor plate — deep, wide and structurally generous in the way postwar industrial buildings usually are — with two recessed floors added above.
The fifteen residences read cleanly off the unit schedule: two garden-level homes at the base taking the rear yards, three residences each on floors two through four, two on the fifth, and two penthouses in the additions. Sizes run large for the unit count — first-year closings recorded from the mid-$2 millions through the low $4 millions, which for a fifteen-unit conversion implies family-scaled plans rather than a mix weighted to one-bedrooms.
Private outdoor space is the variable that separates the inventory. The house rules treat rear yards, roof decks and balconies as limited common elements maintained by the appurtenant owner, with plantings, lighting and landscaping changes requiring board approval and drainage detailed to the inch. That is the specificity a buyer should want, and it is also a maintenance obligation to price. Because the building sits inside the historic district, exterior alterations to those spaces carry LPC review in addition to the board's.
Building operations
The condominium is managed by John B. Lovett & Associates, named both in the building's HPD registration and in its own move-and-delivery instructions. Operations run through an attended lobby and a full-time superintendent, with a fitness room, bicycle storage, compactor and recycling rooms, a below-grade garage, and the landscaped courtyard that doubles as the common recreation area — the house rules require adult supervision for children and guests using it and the exercise room.
At fifteen residences the operating budget is thin and every capital item is felt. Ask for the reserve balance, the assessment history since 2017, the status of garage waterproofing and drainage, and any Landmarks-related façade work in the queue. Two closing-cost items are already documented and belong in a buyer's estimate: the working-capital contribution of six months' common charges, and the $1,000 move fee plus $1,000 refundable deposit, with insurance certificates filed 72 hours ahead of any move or large delivery.
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 closings 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 24, 2025 | 3A | $4,100,000 |
| Aug 28, 2023 | GB | $3,625,000 |
| Aug 16, 2022 | 4C | $3,350,000 |
| Jul 18, 2022 | GA | $3,650,000 |
| Dec 22, 2020 | 5B | $4,500,000 |
| Jul 5, 2019 | 3A | $3,750,000 |
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 3-00041-7502) 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
Price the outdoor space as a room. A garden residence with a rear yard, a mid-floor balcony and a penthouse roof deck are three different assets. Comparables must match on outdoor square footage before anything else.
Budget the closing costs that are already written down. Six months' common charges into working capital, a $1,000 move fee and a $1,000 refundable deposit — documented, not estimated.
Read the pet and terrace rules before you fall in love. Two animals per residence with written consent, barbecuing only outside, plantings only with board approval and proper drainage.
Fifteen units is a small denominator. Reserve position, assessment history, garage drainage and the façade cycle are the four documents that matter most, and the specific unit's current tax bill is the fifth.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the Landmarks story. The Commission made the developer keep this façade. That is why the building looks the way it does, and it is a better sentence than any adjective a listing could supply.
Stage the yards and terraces in season. Private outdoor space is the differentiating asset against loft inventory. Photograph it furnished and planted.
Name the team. Aufgang Architects on the conversion filings, Gil Even-Tsur on the design, Megalith and Urban Realty as sponsor. Provenance sells in this neighborhood.
Anchor to matched boutique comparables from 2025 forward. Same-building history first, then the district's small conversions with outdoor space. Waterfront tower figures are the wrong frame.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 200 Water Street, also evaluate:
- 133 Water Street — boutique 2007 condominium a few blocks west with terraces and deeded parking; the closest conceptual peer
- 205 Water Street — boutique modern condominium approved inside the historic district
- 183 Plymouth Street — Alloy's ten-loft conversion one block north; the character alternative at similar scale
- 168 Plymouth Street — the district's last loft conversion; outdoor space and new-development finishes at larger scale
- 37 Bridge Street (Kirkman Lofts) — boutique soap-factory conversion nearby
- 51 Jay Street — loft-style condominium conversion a block west
- 1 John Street — 2016 boutique condominium on the park's edge; the newer-vintage alternative
- 98 Front Street — boutique condominium at the neighborhood's eastern edge
- 30 Front Street — larger contemporary condominium; the amenity-forward comparison
Considering a move at 200 Water Street?
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