270 Fifth Street (The Milk Factory)
270 Fifth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
BBL 3009870011 · BIN 3021327
- Year built
- 1911
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 35
- Floors
- 4
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Elevator, central laundry, storage bins, video intercom and security cameras, per the offering plan, house rules and listing records. Deeded parking spaces on both the Fifth Street and Sixth Street sides
- Flip tax
- $3 per share as of January 2024, per the house rules on file. A flip tax is a transfer fee paid to the cooperative when an apartment sells
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Milk Factory 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.
This building processed milk for most of a century before anyone lived in it. Historical records, including a 1940 city tax photograph, show it as a Borden's plant, with a painted sign on the Fourth Avenue side and a large neon sign nearby. By the late 1980s the factory was empty. The 1989 offering plan converted it as of right into 35 apartments and 15 parking spaces, with no tenants to relocate and no commercial space left in the building.
That history sets it apart from most Brooklyn loft co-ops. It was never a Loft Law building. There were no residential occupants before the conversion and no Loft Board legalization. The sponsor bought a vacant factory, took out part of the old structure, added a fourth floor and delivered new residential space with a residential certificate of occupancy. Buyers get the proportions of an industrial building, with high ceilings, large windows and double-height duplexes, under a standard co-op structure.
The second structural fact is the air rights. In 2008 the corporation sold development rights to the developer assembling the Fourth Avenue frontage. The co-op's lot was merged into one zoning lot with that site in 2012, and a 12-story building rose at 363 Fourth Avenue in 2013. The sale gave the co-op capital. It also means the corporation has given up the unused floor area it once had.
The third is location. The building sits a few steps off Fourth Avenue, the corridor rezoned in 2003 that has since filled with new-construction condominiums and rentals. Here a buyer gets loft space and parking in a converted 19th- or early-20th-century building at the edge of brownstone Park Slope.
Architecture and unit composition
The offering plan describes duplexes on the first floor, single-level lofts and duplexes on the second, and on the third floor duplexes that rise into the fourth story added in the conversion. Listing records put ceilings at roughly 10 to 13 feet in single-level apartments and 18 to 23 feet in the double-height duplexes, several of which have upper rooms or balconies overlooking the main living space. Oversized factory windows are the rule. Some upper apartments have private roof decks.
The house rules protect the loft volumes. Shareholders may not add bathrooms, add loft space or enclose existing lofts, or channel into structural walls. Roof decks carry a 50-pound-per-square-foot load limit and require approved drainage mats.
Parking is a real asset here. The plan created 15 spaces, owned through shares and tied to apartments. The house rules now refer to lots on both the Fifth Street and Sixth Street sides. A 2024 share transfer in ACRIS moved an apartment and a parking space together.
Building operations
The corporation has invested steadily in the envelope. DOB records façade repair or restoration filings in 2014, 2018, 2021 (east lot line and rear courtyard) and 2023 (north and west façades), a boiler replacement in 2011 and removal of an underground fuel-oil tank in 2012. A 2022 alteration filing converts part of an existing lower-level duplex into a new laundry room; the filing keeps the unit count at 35.
The 2022 refinancing with Valley National Bank consolidated the prior loan and added about $1.75 million, which may have funded the façade work. Ask for the current balance, rate and maturity, and the most recent audited statement. In May 2026 the corporation recorded an easement with the owner of the neighboring lot at 290 Fifth Street. Ask what it covers; easements of this kind often relate to construction access or protection.
Policy framework
- Flip tax: $3 per share, as of January 2024, per the house rules.
- Pets: Two cats or dogs per apartment; a third visiting pet for up to a week a month.
- Washer/dryers: Not permitted in apartments.
- Parking: Spaces may be rented only to other shareholders.
- E-bikes and scooters: Not permitted anywhere on the premises, with a $500 fine.
- Smoking: Prohibited in common areas; permitted inside apartments only with board-approved filtration and sealing.
- Renovations: Board approval and a renovation agreement required; no added bathrooms, loft enclosures or jackhammers.
Not documented: the financing ceiling, sublet terms, pied-à-terre use, trust and LLC purchases, and the post-closing liquidity requirement. Confirm each with the managing agent.
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 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2025 | 1E | $2,015,270 |
| Oct 4, 2024 | PS-4 | $1,700,000 |
| Aug 22, 2024 | 1A | $999,000 |
| Jul 15, 2024 | 3I | $1,107,500 |
| Jun 30, 2023 | 2G | $1,100,000 |
| Jun 14, 2023 | 2E | $1,015,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00987-0011) 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
Ask about the air-rights deal and its limits. The corporation sold its development rights and merged its zoning lot. Ask the managing agent for the recorded agreements and whether any restrictions or obligations run with the land.
Confirm the parking arrangement. A parking space is a separate block of shares. Confirm whether one comes with the apartment you are buying, its location, and its share of maintenance.
Get the loan terms. The 2022 loan added new money. Ask for the maturity date, rate and any assessment tied to façade work.
Check the loft rules before you plan a renovation. Adding a bathroom, a loft level or an in-unit washer is prohibited. If your plan depends on one of those, this is not the building.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the history and the volume. Borden's plant, the double-height duplexes and the factory windows are what no Fourth Avenue building offers.
Price the parking separately. If a space transfers with the apartment, show it as its own line in the listing package.
Have the façade record ready. Four DOB-filed façade programs since 2014 give a buyer's engineer a clear history.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 270 Fifth Street, also evaluate:
- 443 12th Street (Ansonia Storage Warehouse) — a 1909 warehouse converted to a 36-apartment co-op in 1982; the closest Park Slope loft co-op in scale
- 420 12th Street (Ansonia Court) — the Ansonia Clock Company factory, converted to a 70-unit co-op in 1982
- 444 12th Street (Ansonia Muse) — an 1880s factory converted to a loft condominium; the condominium alternative
- 759 President Street — a former hospital complex converted to a 36-apartment co-op in 1984
- 1 Prospect Park West — a 1920s institutional clubhouse converted to condominiums in 2019
- 343 Fourth Avenue — the 2006 condominium at Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street; the new-construction option around the corner
- 423 Atlantic Avenue (The Ex-Lax Building) — an industrial conversion in Boerum Hill for the same loft buyer
- 28 Old Fulton Street (The Eagle Warehouse) — Brooklyn's best-known warehouse-to-co-op conversion
More Park Slope buildings
- 267–273 1st Street — 2003 condominium
- 269 4th Avenue (Six Garfield), 269 Fourth Avenue — 2018 condominium
- 27 Prospect Park West — 1928 co-op
- 276 13th Street (5 One 5 Condominiums) — 2008 condominium
- 279 Prospect Avenue — 2004 condominium
- 300 8th Avenue, 300 Eighth Avenue — 1920 co-op
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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