- Year built
- 1898
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 10
- Floors
- 5
- Landmark
- No
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Higgins Ink Building 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.
The building was built in 1898 as the factory of the Charles M. Higgins Company, whose India ink was used by draftsmen and illustrators worldwide. Higgins ran the company from the 1857 Second Empire mansion at 271 9th Street, the William B. Cronyn House, and built the five-story factory on the lot directly behind it, facing 8th Street. For decades the company's printed address was the 9th Street house. Architectural-history accounts date the factory's closing to the late 1950s or early 1960s.
In 1982 the building became one of the early adaptive-reuse cooperatives in this part of Brooklyn. ACRIS shows the property passing through several owners after 1970, then deeded in October 1982 to 240 8th Street Tenants Corp. Architectural-history accounts describe the conversion as a middle-income co-op project backed by a utility-sponsored rehabilitation program of the period. The co-op is not an HDFC. ACRIS indexes no regulatory agreement, and shares trade at open-market prices, so it passes our for-sale test.
What makes the building unusual is the land. A 9,000-square-foot lot with a factory footprint well under half of it leaves room for a courtyard and a private parking lot. On a Park Slope side street, that is rare in any building type, and rarer still in a ten-unit co-op.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a five-story brick factory in the Romanesque Revival manner. Architectural-history records credit the Stone Brothers, a Brooklyn design-build firm known for factories and warehouses, including eleven buildings in what is now the DUMBO Historic District. That attribution rests on secondary sources, not a DOB or LPC filing, and we flag it as such.
Ten apartments occupy the converted floors. Unit designations in ACRIS run by floor and exposure (2N, 2S, 3N and so on), consistent with two apartments per floor over five floors. Layouts vary unit by unit; check each against the proprietary lease and floor plan.
Corrections to the city record. PLUTO's 1920 build year is wrong; the building dates from 1898–99. PLUTO's 1983 alteration year lines up with the conversion. PLUTO shows no historic district, and LPC's database confirms the building itself is not designated. The Cronyn House behind it is.
Building operations
J-51 history, both benefits expired. The city's historical J-51 file shows the 1982 conversion certified at $196,900 of reasonable cost. It earned a 90 percent abatement that was applied from the 1982 tax year and used up by 2001, and a companion exemption that ran from 1983 and phased down to zero by 1996. A second, smaller J-51 for $12,000 of later work began in 2003 and ran out in 2013. DOF's current roll shows no exemption on the lot. Eligible primary-residence shareholders may receive the co-op/condo abatement, which is credited apartment by apartment; confirm on the co-op's tax bill.
Underlying mortgage. ACRIS shows a $300,000 mortgage from National Cooperative Bank recorded in August 2022, together with an earlier NCB loan. That is modest debt for a ten-unit building. Confirm the balance, rate, maturity and any credit line from the most recent audited financial statements.
Management. Ten units, no documented staff. The house is run by its board and a managing agent. Operating details, reserves and any assessment history need to come from the managing agent.
Recent sales
240 8th Street trades as a Park Slope factory-conversion co-op. It prices per room and against the neighborhood's other loft co-ops, adjusted for outdoor access and parking. The August 2026 share transfer was the first priced sale ACRIS records here since 2012, so it resets the comparable set. Loft co-op pricing in Park Slope turns on ceiling height, window exposure and whether an apartment has been updated since conversion. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent transfers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2026 | 2S | $1,722,500 |
| Sep 7, 2012 | 2S | $859,000 |
| Sep 7, 2012 | 3N | $690,000 |
| Oct 3, 2005 | 25 | $640,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-01004-0019) 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.
Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
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What to know if you’re buying
You are buying shares. The purchase is stock in 240 8th Street Tenants Corp. plus a proprietary lease. Expect a full board package, financial disclosure and an interview. In a ten-unit co-op the board is effectively your neighbors, and each sale gets close attention.
Get the policy stack from the managing agent. Maximum financing and minimum down payment, sublet rules, pied-à-terre and co-purchase policy, purchases through trusts or LLCs, and any flip tax are not in the public record here. Ask for them in writing before you go to contract. The share transfers in ACRIS include at least one move into a family trust, which tells you the board has accepted trust ownership at least once. It says nothing about the current policy.
Ask about the parking lot. Listing records describe a gated lot with a guest space. Ask how spaces are allocated, whether any are assigned to apartments, what they cost, and what the proprietary lease and house rules say about them.
Read the financials for the post-conversion building. This is a nineteenth-century masonry factory. Ask for the latest audited statements, the reserve balance, the Local Law 11 façade status and the capital plan.
Plan for liquidity. Ten units means few sales. ACRIS records priced share transfers in 2005, 2012 and 2026. Resale timing depends on board approval and a thin buyer pool, which argues for pricing to the market rather than testing it.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the building's story and its land. The Higgins Ink history, the factory proportions, and a courtyard plus parking lot on a Park Slope side street are what set this apart from every walk-up co-op nearby.
Assemble the board package early. In a small co-op, a buyer's package that goes in complete, with financing that fits the board's rules, is the biggest single factor in closing on time.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 240 8th Street, also evaluate:
- 270 5th Street (The Milk Factory) — former Borden milk plant converted to a 35-apartment loft co-op with parking
- 443 12th Street — 1909 Ansonia Clock warehouse, converted in 1981–82 to a loft cooperative of the same era
- 420 12th Street (Ansonia Court) — 1881 Ansonia Clock factory converted to a courtyard loft co-op
- 444 12th Street — the Ansonia factory's condominium conversion; the condo alternative in the same loft format
- 759 President Street (The Presidential) — 1984 Park Slope co-op conversion of former hospital buildings
- 267–269 8th Street — 16-unit condominium across 8th Street; the new-construction condo comparison
More Park Slope buildings
- 225 Lincoln Place — 1923 co-op
- 228 13th Street (The Ainsley) — 2023 condominium
- 235 Lincoln Place — 1937 co-op
- 243 4th Avenue (Parlour), 243 Fourth Avenue — 2018 condominium
- 251 1st Street — 2015 condominium by Isaac & Stern Architects
- 267–269 8th Street, 267 and 269 8th Street — 2003 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full neighborhood — its buildings, character, and market — read The Roebling Team Guide to Park Slope.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
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. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
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