225 Eastern Parkway (The Traymore)

The building is a six-story elevator apartment house on a full-depth corner lot running from the parkway back to Lincoln Place. The first floor holds six apartments. Floors 2 through 6 each hold ten, lettered A through K without an I. The line sizes repeat floor to floor: roughly 2,040 square feet in the A line, 1,620 in B, 1,560 in C, 1,030 in D, 1,990 in E, 1,530 in F, 1,000 in G, 1,310 in H, 1,440 in J and 780 in K, per Department of Finance gross areas. The first-floor layouts are different, with one unit labeled 1AA.

An amended declaration recorded in 2014 filed new floor plans for 2B and 2C. The records reviewed do not say what changed. Check the current declaration if you are looking at either unit.

The original architect is not documented in the records reviewed. A façade report prepared for the conversion by an architecture firm is part of the offering plan on file.

Capital work and assessments. The 2018 audited statements on file record about $655,000 of parapet-wall and roof repair, mostly in 2018, and a boiler project of about $260,000, mostly in 2017, plus fire-escape repairs and sidewalk-bridge work. To pay for them, owners approved a $350,000 assessment collected over six months in 2017–18. In January 2018 the board added a 5 percent per-share increase for ten years, which, as the statements read, runs into 2027 or 2028. Ask the managing agent whether that surcharge is still being billed and when it ends.

The loan. In June 2018 the condominium replaced a small loan on the superintendent's apartment with a $2.4 million loan from National Cooperative Bank. The fixed rate is about 5.2 percent, the loan matures July 1, 2028, and the loan amortizes down to a balloon of roughly $180,000. About $1.96 million of the proceeds went into reserves and capital work. At the end of 2018, reserves were about $1.9 million. Ask for current audits, the remaining balance and the board's plan for the 2028 maturity.

Reserve planning. The auditor noted that the condominium had not commissioned a reserve study as of the 2018 statements. Ask whether one has been done since.

Façade program. At six stories, the building falls just under the more-than-six-story threshold for the city's façade inspection program. The parapet and fire-escape work in 2017–18 was done without that mandate.

The sponsor sold most apartments between 2005 and 2010. In December 2010 it sold its remaining 23 units in one transaction to an investor. That investor resold several units individually and, in July 2014, sold 19 to RSP UAP-4 Property LLC, which now holds the unsold units under the offering plan. The Twentieth Amendment (November 2019) records that the holder's units were rented, that they were not pledged to any lender, that the holder was current on its obligations, and that it did not control the board, although it had one representative on it. The holder has sold several units since and holds 13 on the current Department of Finance roll: 2D, 2G, 3F, 3H, 4B, 4J, 5D, 5E, 5G, 5J, 6B, 6E and 6H.

This matters for three reasons. Financing: lenders look at how many units any one entity owns, and 13 of 56 is about 23 percent, so ask your lender early. Tenancies: this was a non-eviction plan. An apartment sold with a tenant in place is sold subject to that tenancy, and tenants who were there at conversion keep their protections. Supply: the holder offers units as they become vacant, so there may be more resale supply here than in a fully owner-occupied building.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-01181-7502) 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.

Ask whether the apartment is occupied. If it is being sold by the unsold-unit holder, ask whether it is vacant. If a tenant is in place, get the lease and the rent-regulation status in writing.

Get the 2028 answer. Ask the board how it plans to handle the superintendent's-unit loan at maturity, and whether the 2018 per-share surcharge is still in the common charges.

Taxes are already at full rate. The J-51 has run out, so the current bill is the actual bill. There is no step-up coming, which makes the Traymore easier to underwrite than a building still inside its exemption period.

Confirm the policies directly. The plan text on file does not show the pet, leasing or transfer-fee rules clearly. Get the by-laws and current house rules from the managing agent.

Lead with size. Prewar parkway apartments of 1,500 to 2,000 square feet with deeded title are uncommon. Market the line and its square footage.

Answer the investor question in advance. Buyers and their lenders will find the 13-unit block. Have the managing agent's owner-occupancy figures and the lender questionnaire ready before the first offer comes in.

Show that taxes are at full rate. A buyer comparing the Traymore with a newer building still under 421-a should see that there is no step-up coming here.

If you're considering the Traymore, also evaluate:

• The Woodrow Wilson (255 Eastern Parkway) — the 1924 condominium next door, also a non-eviction conversion, where the same investor holds a rented unsold-unit block
• 175 Eastern Parkway — the 1922 co-op across Classon Avenue facing the Brooklyn Museum; the per-room co-op reference
• The Theodore Roosevelt (125 Eastern Parkway) — 1923 parkway co-op closer to Grand Army Plaza
• Turner Towers (135 Eastern Parkway) — prewar parkway co-op farther west, toward Grand Army Plaza
• Butler Plaza (44 Butler Place) — 1925 Prospect Heights building gut-renovated and sold as a condominium
• 475 Washington Avenue — prewar Clinton Hill rental converted to condominium, with rent-regulated tenancies and a sponsor block
• 475 Sterling Place — 2008 Crown Heights condominium a few blocks north, still under a 25-year 421-a