4 Water Street (Fulton Ferry Landmark Condominiums)
4 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, Brooklyn
BBL 3000357501 · BIN 3391190
- Year built
- 1899
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 13
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- Designated
- Subletting
- Condominium Board holds a right of first refusal on sales AND leases; any lease must provide that it cannot be modified, amended, extended or assigned without the Board's prior written consent and that the tenant may not sublet (By-Laws)
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2003 plan / 2009 house rules). Reported and subject to confirmation. Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
4 Water Street sits at the foot of Old Fulton Street, on the corner where Brooklyn's original ferry landing met the working waterfront, directly beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. That location is the case for the building, and it also requires an honest answer to the question buyers ask first, which is what neighborhood this is. It is not DUMBO in the landmark sense: the DUMBO Historic District was designated in 2007 and stops well east of here. It is not Brooklyn Heights, which sits above the expressway. It is Fulton Ferry, a district of about a block and a half designated on June 28, 1977, whose report describes it as "the last bit of actual waterfront near Brooklyn Heights readily accessible to its residents." Practically, the building lives with DUMBO — the ferry landing, Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Old Fulton retail are its daily geography.
The building the LPC designated in 1977 is not quite the building standing today. The designation report describes No. 4–8 Water Street as a three-story brick structure "typical of vernacular commercial-industrial architecture in the third quarter of the 19th century," between the old Franklin House at the Fulton Street corner and the site of iron and brass foundries to the east. In September 2000, DOB records show an alteration application to gut-rehabilitate that vacant three-story building including "addition of 3 stories," yielding thirteen dwelling units. The plan filed in April 2003 by 4 Water Street LLC sold that outcome: thirteen apartments, a ground-floor commercial unit and thirteen indoor parking spaces, at a total offering of $13,590,000. The declaration was recorded April 11, 2007 — seven years after the first filing — and the first units closed two weeks later. The gestation is written into the amendment history: prices were raised twice mid-construction, and a fifth amendment in July 2006 offered every contract purchaser the right to rescind because closing had slipped more than twelve months.
The residential program is unusual for the district. Units run from roughly 1,401 to 2,010 square feet of interior area at five and six rooms with two or two and a half baths, and most carry limited common elements — terraces and roof rights — on top of that, from 128 square feet up to 2,515. The penthouse pairs 1,843 interior square feet with 1,605 of limited common element. Seven of the thirteen apartments were sold on harbor and Lower Manhattan views, and every residential unit came with an indoor parking space at no separate charge, which in this corner of Brooklyn is close to unique.
Architecture and unit composition
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.
Building operations
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.
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 closings 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 26, 2024 | 2C | $2,365,000 |
| Jul 19, 2022 | 3C | $2,250,000 |
| Nov 19, 2020 | 3B | $2,225,000 |
| Dec 19, 2018 | 2D | $1,925,000 |
| Mar 27, 2018 | 3C | $1,990,000 |
| Feb 27, 2015 | 4A | $2,500,000 |
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00035-7501) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
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.
What to know if you’re selling
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.
Comparable buildings
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
Considering a move at 4 Water Street (Fulton Ferry Landmark Condominiums)?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
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A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 4 Water Street (Fulton Ferry Landmark Condominiums) 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.