385 Clinton Avenue (The Richelieu)
385 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238
BBL 3019610032 · BIN 3055995
- Year built
- 1897
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 16
- Floors
- 4
- Landmark
- Designated
- Flip tax
- Listing records report 2 percent. Confirm the current rule with the managing agent
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Richelieu, per the LPC's building records 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.
Clinton Avenue was a street of freestanding mansions when this building went up, and it is one of the few apartment houses the avenue got in the 1890s. The 1897 filing described two four-story buildings on the corner lot. Holmberg's design reads as a single building, with entrances on both avenues and one continuous brick front turning the corner onto Greene. It predates the district's better-known apartment houses by little or nothing: 275 Clinton Avenue, The Clinton, is also an 1897 building.
The real draw is scale. The Richelieu is a 16-apartment elevator co-op inside a historic district. Nearly everything around it is a row house or a converted walk-up. An elevator in a building this small is rare in the district's co-op stock, and it widens the buyer pool well beyond what a four-story walk-up draws.
For underwriting, three facts carry the page. The building is fully landmarked, so exterior work runs through the LPC. It carries no J-51, so no tax benefit is going to burn off and raise the tax line. And the unit count in public records is wrong, so share allocations should come from the corporation, not from PLUTO.
Architecture and unit composition
The LPC classifies the building as Romanesque Revival in Roman brick. The façade has stone banding, quoining at the corners, a bracketed cornice and column-framed entrances on both frontages. The corner siting gives most lines two exposures.
Layouts track the original plan more closely than in most converted buildings. A 1903 HPD record for a Greene Avenue unit shows rooms opening off a central hall: parlor, study, dining room and bedrooms. Current layouts on file in listing records keep that arrangement, with pocket doors, picture rails, mantels and some stained glass. At least one line has no bedroom closets. Unit letters run by compass point (N, E, S, W, with L and R designations in older city filings). Top-floor units have roof access, and listing records report at least one approved private roof-deck plan. Whether roof rights attach to specific shares, and on what terms, has to be confirmed in the proprietary lease.
Building operations
Department of Buildings records show a 2015 boiler and burner replacement that converted the plant from No. 2 oil to dual-fuel oil and gas, with a new gas service. Other filings cover apartment-level kitchen and bath renovations from 2002 onward. ACRIS shows an underlying mortgage recorded in 2003. Its current balance and maturity are not public; ask for them in the financial statements.
Policy framework
The only policy points in circulation come from listing records, not from building documents: a 2 percent flip tax and no dogs. Neither is confirmed by a document on file. Board package requirements, financing ceiling, sublet policy, pied-à-terre and trust or LLC purchases are undocumented publicly and must come from the managing agent.
Recent sales
The Richelieu trades as a prewar Clinton Hill co-op, priced per room rather than per square foot. The elevator, the corner light and the historic-district address support a premium over the district's walk-up co-ops. ACRIS shows steady turnover to separate, unrelated buyers since the mid-2000s, typically one or two share transfers a year, with larger north- and west-line units setting the top of the building's range. With only 16 apartments, any single year's comparables are thin, so line matters more than any building-wide average. 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 15, 2025 | 1N | $1,950,000 |
| Sep 4, 2024 | 2S | $1,495,000 |
| Jun 6, 2024 | 2W | $1,515,840 |
| Mar 29, 2024 | 2E | $700,000 |
| Jan 13, 2022 | 3N | $1,772,000 |
| Dec 6, 2021 | 1W | $975,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-01961-0032) 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.
Keep up with The Richelieu, per the LPC's building records and its market
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What to know if you’re buying
Underwrite the share count, not the unit count. City records say 19, 16 or 9 depending on the agency. Get the share allocation for the specific apartment from the corporation.
Ask for the financials early. A 16-unit corporation spreads every capital cost across few shareholders. Confirm the underlying mortgage balance and maturity, reserves, and any assessment history before you sign.
Plan exterior work around the LPC. Windows, roof decks and anything visible from either street need Landmarks review. Confirm whether the approved roof-deck plan cited in listing records is an LPC and board approval, and whether it transfers with the shares.
Confirm the rules in writing. Flip tax, pets, financing and subletting are reported only in listing records. Get the current policies from the managing agent before you price an offer.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the elevator and the corner. They separate this building from nearly every other small co-op in the district.
Have the board-package answers ready. Buyers in a small co-op ask about finances and rules first. A seller who can produce current financial statements, house rules and the flip-tax terms up front shortens the contract period.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 385 Clinton Avenue, also evaluate:
- 275 Clinton Avenue: The Clinton, Edward Betts's 1897 apartment house at DeKalb Avenue; same era and district, larger
- 360 Clinton Avenue: the 1920s neo-Colonial co-op on the same avenue, inside the historic district
- 277 Washington Avenue: Francine Towers, a six-story prewar elevator co-op in the district
- 325 Clinton Avenue: the Clinton Hill Co-ops building at Lafayette Avenue
- 345 Clinton Avenue: the South Campus of the Clinton Hill Co-ops, on the same avenue
- 372 DeKalb Avenue: Clinton Mews, a larger Clinton Hill co-op in a converted shoe factory
- 320 Washington Avenue: The Graham, an 1851 landmark conversion, for the condominium alternative in the district
More Clinton Hill buildings
- 335 Grand Avenue (Clinton Hill Condominium) — 1988 condominium
- 345 Clinton Avenue (Clinton Hill Co-ops, South Campus) — 1945 co-op
- 360 Clinton Avenue — 1928 co-op
- 4 Downing Street — 1920 condominium
- 450 Grand Avenue (Four Fifty Grand) — 2023 condominium by Isaac & Stern Architects
- 475 Washington Avenue — 1907 condop
The neighborhood
For the full neighborhood — its buildings, character, and market — read The Roebling Team Guide to Clinton Hill.
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 Richelieu, per the LPC's building records?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.