296 Sterling Place
296 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, NY 11238
BBL 3011700029 · BIN 3029326
- Year built
- 1910
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 21
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Elevator, shared courtyard, and private storage units per listing records
- Financing
- Up to 80 percent per listing records, i.e. 20 percent down
- Flip tax
- None, per listing records. Confirm with the managing agent, because a flip tax (a transfer fee paid to the co-op on resale) can be adopted by the board
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Sterling Arms, used in listing records and echoed in the corporation's name 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.
Sterling Place and Butler Place come together at a sharp angle a block east of Grand Army Plaza, and 296 Sterling fills the point. The result is a six-story prewar elevator building with a triangular plan, which is uncommon in Brooklyn. Its main practical effect is light. Apartments at the point and along the long sides get corner and multi-side exposures that a mid-block building of this size cannot offer.
It is also one of the smallest elevator co-ops near the plaza. At about 21 apartments it offers an elevator, a courtyard and prewar construction without the scale of its Plaza Street neighbors on the same block. The trade-off is that with few shareholders, every assessment and board decision weighs more on each owner.
The ownership history is on record. A single owner held the building through the 1970s and 1980s, and during that period it took rehabilitation financing and J-51 benefits. 296 Sterling Associates acquired it in 1986 and conveyed it to 296 Sterling Arms Owners Corp in 1990. The sponsor kept selling unsold shares for a long time afterward. Its share sales appear in ACRIS from 2004 through 2016.
Architecture and unit composition
The building rises six stories on a lot of about 6,900 square feet, with roughly 29,700 square feet of floor area per PLUTO. Apartment designations mix numbers and letters. Units 2 and 2A are on the ground floor, and unit 19 is on the sixth, per DOB filings. Listing records describe beamed ceilings, original hardwood floors and exposed brick in some apartments, with stock running from studios to three-bedrooms. Take layouts and share counts from the offering plan, not from listings.
Building operations
DOB records show routine capital work: a 2004–05 boiler replacement with conversion from No. 4 oil to natural gas, 2008 plumbing repairs, and 2015–16 street-façade repairs that included a new cornice at the roof parapet.
Underlying mortgage. In September 2022 the corporation recorded a $2.7 million first mortgage and a $500,000 second mortgage with a national cooperative lender, per ACRIS. The second is most likely a credit line. Maturity and rate are not in the public record; get them from the financial statements. An underlying mortgage is the co-op's own building loan, and its payments are built into every shareholder's maintenance.
Tax benefits. The building has used J-51 more than once: a 1969 abatement, a 1979 abatement, and conversion-era work in 1991–92 that carried a 14-year exemption. All have expired; the last J-51 exemption value appears on the 2005 Department of Finance roll, and no building-level J-51 or 421-a benefit remains. Owner-occupants receive the standard co-op and condo abatement, a per-apartment benefit for primary residences.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2026 | 17 | $2,535,000 |
| Jul 30, 2021 | 12 | $1,450,000 |
| Mar 9, 2021 | 5 | $690,000 |
| Mar 5, 2021 | 8 | $1,450,000 |
| Jul 9, 2020 | 3 | $525,000 |
| Jun 24, 2019 | 5 | $534,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-01170-0029) 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 for the offering plan and the last two years of financials. No plan or statements were on file with us, so every policy on this page comes from listing records. With co-op financials, the questions that matter are the 2022 mortgage's maturity, how much of the credit line has been drawn, reserves, and any assessment. A small shareholder base absorbs capital costs quickly.
Confirm the unit count and any corporation-held units. City records say 22 and listing records say 21. In July 2026 ACRIS recorded two small share transfers from the corporation itself, for apartments 4 and 14, to one buyer. Ask the managing agent what those were, whether the corporation holds any other apartments or storage, and whether any sponsor-held shares remain.
Board package. Expect a full co-op board package and an interview. The managing agent has to confirm the financing ceiling, post-closing liquidity requirement, and the rules on guarantors, gifts, co-purchasing, pied-à-terre use, and purchases in a trust or LLC.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the plan shape. The triangular footprint and its exposures separate this building from mid-block co-ops; floor plans and photographs should make the angles clear. Price against both the Plaza Street co-ops and the 44 Butler Place condominium.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 296 Sterling Place, also evaluate:
- 44 Butler Place (Butler Plaza) — the 1925 building gut-renovated as condominiums in 1986–87, one block east. The condominium alternative nearby
- 50 Plaza Street East — the twelve-story 1925 co-op on the same tax block
- 20 Plaza Street East — the 1940 six-story co-op on the curve of the plaza, the low-rise prewar alternative
- 230 Park Place — the Art Deco elevator co-op inside the Prospect Heights Historic District
- The Mews at Grand Army Plaza (295 St Johns Place) — the 1923 elevator co-op nearby on St Johns Place
- 315 St Johns Place — the 1921 six-story elevator co-op a block from Grand Army Plaza, converted in 1987
More Prospect Heights buildings
- 225 Park Place — 1940 co-op
- 230 Park Place — 1937 co-op
- 280 Saint Marks Avenue — 2016 condominium
- 315 St Johns Place — 1921 co-op
- 34 Plaza Street East — 1956 co-op
- 357 Prospect Place — 2017 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full neighborhood — its buildings, character, and market — read The Roebling Team Guide to Prospect Heights.
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.
Considering a move at The Sterling Arms, used in listing records and echoed in the corporation's name?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.