50 Bridge Street (Bridge No. 50)
50 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, Brooklyn
BBL 3000317502 · BIN 3395987
- Year built
- 1898
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 58
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Not publicly documented; confirm against current house rules
- Flip tax
- none documented; MA processing/closing and move-in/out fees documented
- Financing
- maximum 90% of purchase price per purchase requirements
- Subletting
- standard condo framework; terms not documented
- Pied-à-terre
- standard condo framework
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2026-08). Reported and subject to confirmation. Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
Bridge No. 50 is DUMBO's soap factory. The Kirkman & Son company — one of the major American soap manufacturers of the 19th and early 20th centuries — built its factory complex on both sides of Bridge Street between 1894 and 1915, and 50 Bridge Street is the complex's largest surviving piece: a full blockfront of load-bearing brick between Water and Plymouth Streets, attributed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission's district research to the Stone Brothers in 1898, in the American Round Arch style that defines DUMBO's masonry generation. Kirkman was acquired by Colgate-Palmolive-Peet in 1930 and manufacturing at the complex ended in 1945; the sister building across the street at 37 Bridge Street later became Kirkman Lofts. The fabric is authentic industrial DUMBO — brick walls 24 inches thick at grade, arched window lintels, heavy-timber plank floors on timber beams and masonry columns.
The conversion is a story of timing. Brick Condominium Developers LLC filed the offering plan on March 31, 2004 — three years before the district's December 2007 designation, and the plan itself records that the building was not then landmarked. The conversion combined six adjoining factory sections into one condominium, added a set-back rooftop penthouse level, installed three new elevators (one at-grade and accessible), and produced 58 residences above a commercial base of second- and third-floor artist-studio units and street-level garage space; Scarano & Associates Architects appears as the architect on the plan's unit drawings. The artist-studio floors are a genuine holdover — pre-condominium DUMBO's working-loft era survives inside the building's own stack.
What the conversion produced is loft housing in the literal sense: exposed brick, timber beams and columns, ceilings in the 10-foot range on the loft floors, iron-railed balconies hung from the brick façades on designated units, and private roof terraces on the top level. The building's eastern-district position — cobblestone Water Street on one flank, the Vinegar Hill seam a block east — puts it in the quietest quarter of DUMBO, away from the retail core but a short walk from the York Street F station and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The operating model matters as much as the architecture. With no central boiler and no documented doorman, common charges carry a lighter load than at DUMBO's full-service conversions while the owner's own utility bill carries more — a structure that rewards careful True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis rather than headline common-charge comparison.
Architecture and unit composition
The 58 residences occupy the fourth through sixth floors and the added penthouse level, above the commercial and artist-studio floors; the large factory floorplates support a wide mix of studio-loft, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom-plus configurations, many with irregular loft geometries recorded unit by unit in the offering plan drawings. Documented physical characteristics include:
- Load-bearing brick perimeter walls from 24 inches (grade) to 16 inches (fifth floor), with brick arch lintels
- Heavy-timber plank floors on timber beams and masonry columns
- Replacement one-over-one double-hung insulated aluminum windows
- Iron-railed private balconies bracket-mounted into the brick façades on designated units
- Private roof terraces on designated top-floor units
- Independent unit-by-unit heating and cooling; no central plant
- Three elevators, one at-grade and handicapped-accessible
A diligence note recorded in the plan: units on the building's eastern 19 and 20 lines have lot-line windows, which are at risk of being closed if the neighboring parcel is ever built out. Line-specific review matters here.
Building operations
The Bridge No. 50 Condominium is administered by Barton Management LLC with a superintendent serving the building; there is no documented doorman or concierge. The cellar holds the common laundry room and storage closets; garage space sits at street level within several of the building sections. The condominium publishes a documented alteration framework — board consent, refundable security deposit, processing fees, weekday-only work hours — and audited financial statements are produced annually; recent statements are held in The Roebling Research Library and reviewed with clients during diligence.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| May 27, 2026 | 413 | $853,000 |
| Jan 16, 2026 | 516 | $1,450,000 |
| May 1, 2025 | 617 | $1,620,000 |
| Oct 15, 2024 | 619 | $1,995,000 |
| Jun 14, 2023 | 411 | $1,645,000 |
| Mar 23, 2023 | 610 | $2,055,040 |
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 3-00031-7502) 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
The loft fabric is the real thing. An 1898 Kirkman soap-works building with 24-inch brick walls, timber framing, and factory floorplates — protected since 2007 by the DUMBO Historic District. Very little DUMBO inventory offers this fabric at the building's price tier.
Model the utility structure honestly. Heat, cooling, and hot water run on the unit's own meter rather than through common charges. Compare buildings on True Monthly Carrying Cost, and pull the unit's actual utility history where available.
Understand the mixed-use stack. Commercial floors and artist studios sit below the residences and garage space sits at street level; buyers should review the commercial units' uses and the condominium's governance split during diligence.
Check the line-specific diligence items. Lot-line windows on the eastern lines, balcony and terrace rights recorded unit by unit in the plan, and conversion-era mechanicals now two decades old — review capital planning and recent financials.
Financing has a documented ceiling. Maximum financing is 90 percent per the purchase requirements.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the Kirkman story. The soap-works provenance, LPC-documented 1898 fabric, and the artist-studio floors give the building a narrative most DUMBO conversions cannot match; the sister building at Kirkman Lofts has proven the story's marketing value.
Position the carrying costs as a feature. The service-light operating model keeps common charges lean relative to full-service peers; frame the utility structure transparently and let carrying-cost-sensitive buyers do the comparison.
Price to line, exposure, and outdoor space. Fifty-eight units across irregular factory floorplates produce wide per-unit variation; recent same-line trades anchor pricing more reliably than building averages.
Prepare the diligence file in advance. Right-of-first-refusal timeline, purchase-application requirements, and documented fees move fastest when assembled before contract; closings typically pace 30–45 days.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering Bridge No. 50, also evaluate:
- Kirkman Lofts (37 Bridge Street) — the sister Kirkman soap-works building across Bridge Street, converted 2011
- 205 Water Street — LEED Gold boutique new construction on the same block; the systems-and-amenities alternative
- 168 Plymouth Street — factory-conversion condominium peer on the eastern blocks
- The Sweeney Building (30 Main Street) — early Two Trees-era loft conversion; the district's conversion archetype
- The Clock Tower (1 Main Street) — the Gair-building trophy conversion; DUMBO's loft ceiling
- 70 Washington Street — large full-service Gair conversion; the district's liquidity benchmark
- 133 Water Street — boutique new-construction contrast at similar scale
Considering a move at Bridge No. 50?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at Bridge No. 50 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.