31 Washington Street

The building is a six-story-and-basement brick mill structure on a corner, six bays to Water Street and ten to Washington. The LPC's survey catalogues the surviving detail: segmental-arch openings with corbelled brick lintels, stone sills, iron shutter supports still in place, accordion-brick spandrels, a pressed-metal bracketed cornice, an ornate wrought-iron fire escape on Washington Street and a utilitarian one on Water, and a tapered square chimney on the east wall — which is clad in cheaper brick than the two street fronts, the honest economy of a working factory. The report also records the alterations that made residential use possible: replaced windows, an entrance cut into the eighth Washington Street bay with a raised stair, and a second bay extended down to a sidewalk-level entry.

Inside, the arithmetic makes the building distinctive. Roughly 36,000 square feet over six floors on a 100-by-60-foot footprint, divided among a dozen-odd apartments, produces full-floor and half-floor loft plates rather than the corridor-and-line configuration of the neighborhood's large conversions. Apartments run to the vocabulary the structure gives away free: oversized multi-pane windows on two or three exposures, exposed brick, timber beams and columns, wide-plank floors, skylights at the top. Combinations mean line-to-line comparison is less useful here than in most buildings — the specific apartment's exposures and renovation state carry the pricing.

31 Washington operates as a small, board-governed condominium with an elevator and superintendent service and no amenity program — the model that fits a building this size, and one that keeps common charges low relative to DUMBO's full-service inventory. The condominium's earliest financial statements, held in The Roebling Research Library, show the expense structure of a lean building: superintendent, repairs and maintenance, management fee, utilities, water and sewer, insurance. Current management, reserve position and assessment history should be confirmed with the board; The Roebling Team remains the contact of record for clients. Two operating realities deserve weight: an 1894 masonry envelope in a historic district means Local Law 11 façade cycles run through Landmarks review, and the corner that makes the building famous draws steady daylight foot traffic to the lower Washington Street elevation.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00028-7501) 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.

You are buying an 1894 factory, with everything that implies. Timber-and-masonry mill construction delivers the ceilings and window walls; it also means floor structure, party walls and façade older than the concrete buildings up the hill. Engineering diligence is not optional here.

Confirm the current unit schedule. Combinations and subdivisions have moved the dwelling-unit count since 2005 and the declaration has been amended more than once. Have counsel verify the unit's boundaries, common interest and limited common elements.

The corner is an amenity and a condition. The framed bridge view brings photographers, tourists and film crews to the block. For most buyers here that is the point; walk it at different hours first.

Model small-building economics honestly. Fewer units means fewer owners across which to spread a façade cycle, a roof or an elevator modernization. Read the reserve and three years of financials, and plan renovations around Landmarks review.

Lead with the provenance and the corner. Finkensieper, the Tubal Cain Iron Works, the Gair lease, the historic district, and the most photographed intersection in Brooklyn — a narrative no new-development competitor can write.

Sell the plate, not the building average. Large, multi-exposure loft floors are the product; price against boutique-conversion evidence.

Have the paperwork clean before you list. In a building with a combination history, a documented, Landmarks-clean alteration file and a clear common-interest schedule remove the friction that costs money in diligence.

Set expectations on services. No doorman, no gym. Framed correctly — lower carrying cost, more space, more character — that is a selling point; discovered late, it is a re-trade.

If you're considering 31 Washington Street, also evaluate:

• 133 Water Street (One Three Three) — the immediate neighbor on the same block front; boutique new construction inside the same historic district, with parking and terraces
• 37 Bridge Street (Kirkman Lofts) — the closest conceptual peer: a small soap-factory conversion with authentic loft plates
• 168 Plymouth Street — the most finish-forward of the neighborhood's authentic conversions
• 30 Main Street (The Sweeney Building) — boutique-scale Gair-era conversion nearer the park
• 70 Washington Street — the same street, the opposite scale: DUMBO's largest loft conversion and its pricing benchmark
• 1 Main Street (The Clock Tower) — the conversion that started the neighborhood's residential market
• 205 Water Street — boutique modern condominium a few blocks east
• 4 Water Street — very small DUMBO condominium at the Fulton Ferry end