2280 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (2280 FDB)

The facade is a red-brick street wall on a rusticated two-story limestone base with an entrance marquee. A narrow metal-and-glass pier rises beside the entrance and widens above the eighth floor into a lighter setback tower. Many residences have balconies or terraces. The twelfth floor holds duplex penthouses with private roof terraces, several with outdoor fireplaces.

The residential lots run from the second floor to the twelfth: nine or ten residences a floor on floors two through eight, six a floor on nine through eleven, and five on the twelfth. The mix runs from one-bedrooms through three-bedrooms. The 8G-H combination is the only merger of lots recorded to date. The commercial and community-facility units at the base are separate condominium units with their own common interest, and the garage unit carries its own commercial tax exemption. It is not part of the residential 421-a.

The condominium is past its sponsor years. The sponsor sold its last two residences in 2024 and 2025, and today holds only the retail and community-facility units, per ACRIS. The garage unit was conveyed in 2016 to a separate entity whose relationship to the sponsor is not documented in the records reviewed. The staff is unionized under a collective bargaining agreement with Local 32BJ effective June 2015, per the audited statements on file.

The prevailing-wage settlement. Per the audited 2018 financial statements on file, HPD alleged in 2015 that the condominium had not paid its employees the prevailing wage required as a condition of the 421-a exemption for April 2014 through July 2016. The board contested the determination and settled in 2019. The sponsor contributed $100,000 toward the settlement. The board approved a $225,000 special assessment in March 2019 to fund part of the balance, and a 13.5 percent common-charge increase from April 2019 to bring staff to full union scale. The settlement pushed the condominium's fund balance negative at the 2018 year-end. The current position should be read in the most recent audited statements, which were not on file.

Debt. The condominium carries a modest mortgage with BankUnited, originally taken to buy the superintendent's residence (2I) in 2012 and refinanced in 2018, per the audited statements. Request its balance and maturity together with the reserve study, the current budget and the Local Law 11 facade status.

Ownership form: Condominium. Standard board right of first refusal. There is no cooperative-style board package or financing ceiling on market-rate residences.

Affordable residences: The affordable residences were first sold with City and State subsidy mortgages. The base offering plan, which would set out any resale price, income or occupancy restrictions on those units, was not on file. Assume nothing: a buyer of any of the affordable residences needs the recorded subsidy instruments and the HPD position on that specific lot before contract. Whether each subsidy mortgage is open or satisfied is a title question.

Leasing, pets, pied-à-terre: Not documented in the material on file. Confirm minimum lease terms, sublet fees, the pet policy and any restrictions on the affordable residences with the managing agent.

Flip tax / resale contribution: The audited statements record a one-time, non-refundable working-capital contribution from each incoming residential owner equal to four months of common charges. No separate flip tax is documented.

Real estate taxes — the 421-a, with the years. The Department of Finance exemption file carries exemption code 5114, the 25-year 421-a, on the 88 residential lots and the retail and community-facility lots, with a 2007 base year, a benefit start of fiscal 2012 and the benefit still at 100 percent on the fiscal 2027 roll. The 25-year program for Manhattan north of 110th Street exempts 100 percent of the increase in assessed value for 21 years, then reduces the exemption by 20 points a year for four years. From a fiscal 2012 start that means full benefit through fiscal 2032 (the year ending June 2032), then 80 percent in fiscal 2033, 60 in 2034, 40 in 2035 and 20 in 2036, with full taxation from fiscal 2037 (July 2036). The garage unit carries a separate 25-year commercial exemption (Department of Finance code 1986), not the 421-a.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01928-7506) 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 what the prevailing-wage settlement left behind. The assessment has been paid. The 13.5 percent payroll step-up is permanent and is already in common charges. Confirm there is no open HPD or Comptroller claim, and read the current audit rather than the 2018 one.

Model the post-abatement tax. The first 421-a reduction arrives in fiscal 2033 and full taxes in fiscal 2037. Run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator on both.

Identify whether the unit is one of the affordable residences. If it is, the recorded subsidy mortgages and any HPD restriction govern your purchase. Your attorney should pull the full ACRIS history for the unit lot, not just the last deed.

The sponsor still holds the base of the building. The retail and community-facility units are still owned by the sponsor, and they carry common interest. How they are leased and used affects the budget and the building's street level. Read the by-laws on how commercial common interest is allocated.

State the tax position exactly. "25-year 421-a, fiscal 2012 start, full benefit through fiscal 2032" is the sentence. Pair it with the per-unit schedule from the Department of Finance.

Address the prevailing-wage history before a buyer's attorney finds it. It is resolved and documented in the plan amendments. Presented first, it reads as settled governance; discovered late, it reads as a problem.

Correct PLUTO's address and unit count. "West 133 Street" and 92 units both appear in automated reports.

If you're considering 2280 FDB, also evaluate:

• 2131 Frederick Douglass Boulevard (The Livmor) — twelve-story boulevard condominium seven blocks south with a 25-year 421-a on the identical fiscal-2012 start; the closest tax twin
• 301 West 118th Street (SoHa 118) — larger full-service GF55 condominium at the boulevard's 118th Street corner
• 300 West 122nd Street (300 West) — the newer, larger condominium across the boulevard at 122nd Street; no abatement
• 2101 Eighth Avenue (Parc Standard) — smaller boulevard condominium with a lighter staffing model
• 117 West 123rd Street (Windows on 123) — smaller condominium of the same cycle a short walk east
• 313 West 119th Street (Brownstone Lane II) — HPD-assisted mixed-income condominium by the same architect of record, on a 25-year 421-a starting three years earlier
• 1400 Fifth Avenue — the larger HPD-assisted mixed-income condominium of the prior cycle
• 371 West 123rd Street (99 Morningside) — newer condominium on West 123rd Street west of the boulevard, with a fifteen-year 421-a