4 Water Street (Fulton Ferry Landmark Condominiums)

The completed building is about 31,163 gross square feet: roughly 23,250 net salable residential square feet, a 2,282-square-foot commercial unit on the ground floor and part of the cellar, and about 4,400 square feet of accessory parking — six stories on a 64-by-49-foot irregular lot, the historic three-story masonry base carrying three added floors above it under LPC review.

The stack is legible from the schedule of units. Floors two and three each hold four apartments — the A, B, C and D lines at five rooms and two baths — with the C and D lines picking up substantial terraces. The fourth and fifth floors hold two larger six-room apartments each, and the top floor is the penthouse. Unit 4A is the outlier at 2,010 interior square feet with 2,515 square feet of limited common element attached. Since 2014, apartments 5A and 5B have functioned as a single combined residence, which is why DOF counts twelve units where the declaration created thirteen.

The condominium's financial statements for 2021 through 2023 are the most important document a buyer here will read. Common charges from unit owners ran about $187,000 in 2022 and $194,000 in 2023 — but the association also levied special and capital assessments of $237,090 in 2021, $215,317 in 2022 and $175,000 in 2023. Repairs, maintenance and building supplies rose from $111,913 in 2021 to $209,970 in 2022 and $255,955 in 2023. Operating expenses exceeded total revenues in 2023, members' equity fell from $203,083 to $143,040 over that year, and accounts payable nearly doubled.

That is three consecutive years of assessment-funded capital work on a twelve-household building, and it is the central diligence question rather than a footnote. Ask the board what the work was, whether it is complete, whether the assessment schedule continues into 2026, and what the reserve looks like on the other side. The association carries a modest management fee, around $13,000 a year, and a superintendent-services contract of roughly $33,500; there is no staff.

The commercial unit is a governance fact worth understanding. The plan retained it for the sponsor, allows the commercial owner to subdivide it into multiple stores, permits any lawful use including commercial food service, and expressly provides that the Condominium Board has no right to restrict lawful commercial uses. A build-out with kitchen fixtures and HVAC was filed for the space in 2007. Read the declaration's commercial-unit provisions before assuming the board controls what happens downstairs.

Leasing and sales: The by-laws impose a Condominium Board right of first refusal on both sales and leases, and any lease must provide that it cannot be modified, extended or assigned without the Board's prior written consent and that the tenant may not sublet — meaningfully tighter than the market-standard condominium regime.

Parking: One space per residential unit, conveyed as part of the unit and not separately saleable. Space 4 is the designated handicapped space and carries a recorded covenant obliging its owner to trade with a handicapped unit owner on demand, at the requesting party's cost.

House rules (as of August 12, 2009): garage spaces may hold personal storage only inside enclosed sheds within size limits; no motorcycles or petroleum-fueled vehicles inside the building outside the garage; no bicycles, skateboards or roller blades in the lobby, hallways or garage; window guards where children under eleven reside.

Recent sales

Recent closings at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.

Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $1,502/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 10.6% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00035-7501; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

Read the last four years of financials before anything else. Three consecutive years of capital assessments through 2023 on a twelve-household building is the material fact. Establish what was done, what remains, and where the reserve stands.

Run the tax math both ways. 421-a shows on the units in the assessment record and the plan prices the abated and unabated cases side by side. Never underwrite the abated number without the current bill.

Confirm the zoning and certificate of occupancy. Residential use on a manufacturing-zoned lot rests on a City Planning Commission special permit granted for landmark preservation; your title company and attorney should see the permit and the C of O.

The leasing regime is restrictive for a condominium, and the commercial unit sits largely outside board control. If you plan to rent, or you care what opens downstairs, read the by-laws and declaration first.

Lead with what cannot be replicated. A deeded indoor parking space, large terraces and roof rights, harbor and Lower Manhattan views, and a landmarked address at the foot of Old Fulton Street under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Get ahead of the assessment history. Buyers' attorneys will find it. A clear account of what was repaired, when it finished and where the reserve stands converts a red flag into a completed-capital-work story.

Be precise about the district. Fulton Ferry, not DUMBO's district and not the Heights'. Precision reads as credibility, and the Fulton Ferry designation is scarcer than either.

Price from the corridor, not the building. With so few in-building trades, the comparable set is the DUMBO and Fulton Ferry conversion inventory, adjusted for parking, outdoor space and tax status.

If you're considering 4 Water Street, also evaluate:

• 8 Old Fulton Street (Brooklyn City Railroad Company Building) — across Old Fulton Street, the district's other landmark conversion at boutique scale
• 28 Old Fulton Street — the immediate neighborhood's larger cooperative alternative
• 1 Main Street (The Clock Tower) — the Gair-era DUMBO loft conversion two blocks east
• 30 Main Street (The Sweeney Building) — DUMBO loft condominium peer
• 37 Bridge Street (Kirkman Lofts) — mid-size DUMBO loft conversion
• 133 Water Street — Water Street condominium peer in DUMBO proper
• 205 Water Street — DUMBO condominium of comparable vintage
• 55 Poplar Street — small condominium on the Heights–DUMBO seam