55 Hicks Street

The building is five stories of masonry on the east side of Hicks Street, mid-block between Cranberry and Middagh — the Fruit Streets, three blocks north of Clark. The offering plan's share schedule allocated 24,426 shares across thirty apartments running from one-bedroom scale through four-room and larger layouts, with per-apartment share blocks in the 700 to 950 range for the typical unit. That distribution describes a building of real one- and two-bedroom apartments rather than studios, which is the correct expectation walking in.

The Department of Finance classes 55 Hicks C6 — the walk-up cooperative code — and the building's five-story height is consistent with that. The house rules adopted with the proprietary lease carry the standard form's elevator and service-entrance clauses, which in a building of this class read as boilerplate rather than description; access arrangements should be confirmed directly. Exterior work, windows included, runs through the Landmarks Preservation Commission under the 1965 district designation, and the 80 percent floor-covering rule in the house rules is the practical constraint on renovation acoustics.

55 Hicks Street Corp. has operated the building since the 1986 closing. The conversion-year budget is a useful baseline: gas heat and hot water, roughly $2,500 of annual public-area electricity, and a single part-time non-union visiting superintendent — a lean operating model appropriate to a thirty-unit walk-up whose actual costs should be compared with current budgets from full-service Montague and Clark Street alternatives. The co-op's audited financial statements in The Roebling Research Library run from the late 1990s forward, which supports trend-level review of maintenance growth, reserve practice, and assessment history.

For a 1914 masonry building inside the historic district, the recurring capital items to review are the FISP/Local Law 11 façade cycle, roof and parapet work, and the age of the gas heating plant. Ask for the last two façade filings and any assessment history alongside the financials.

Financing: Total financing — all mortgages and equity financing combined — may not exceed 85 percent of the purchase price, per the co-op's transfer instructions. That is the single most buyer-friendly term in the building's policy set.

Transfer costs: A corporation transfer fee of $3.00 per share payable to 55 Hicks Street Corp., a $250 co-op transfer fee, a transfer-agent fee, New York State stock transfer stamps, and a non-refundable application and credit-check fee. Sellers should model the per-share fee against the specific apartment's share block.

Board package: Purchase application and financial statement, two years of federal returns and W-2s, two personal references, two business references, and a landlord reference; interview with the admissions committee; no occupancy or furniture delivery before closing.

Pets: The house rules bar any bird, reptile, or animal absent the Lessor's express written permission, revocable at any time. Whether the board grants that permission routinely is the question to ask; the document itself is restrictive.

Subletting: Board approval under the proprietary lease. No published sublet term cap or surcharge appears in the documents reviewed — confirm with management.

Alterations and quiet hours: Construction confined to weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; 80 percent floor covering required outside kitchens, pantries, baths, closets, and foyer; the board or agent retains a pass-key to each apartment.

Pied-à-terre, washer-dryer: Not documented in the materials reviewed. Confirm against current house rules.

Recent sales

Recent transfers 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. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2014): a median $1,056/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 1.7% 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 3-00216-0003). 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.

The financing term is the headline. An 85 percent total-financing ceiling is meaningfully more accommodating than the district's prewar norm, and it widens the buyer pool on resale as well.

Budget the per-share transfer fee. On a building with 24,426 shares over thirty apartments, a $3.00-per-share corporation fee is a four-figure closing item on a typical unit. Get the specific apartment's share count early and run True Monthly Carrying Cost with it.

Ask how the pet rule is actually administered. The written rule is the restrictive standard form. Boards vary widely in how they apply it, and the answer should be in writing before you sign.

Confirm staffing and services. The conversion budget funded a part-time visiting superintendent, not a resident one. Current arrangements may differ, and they materially affect daily life in a thirty-unit building.

Lead with location and carrying cost. Fruit Streets, historic district, walking distance to the Bridge and Cadman Plaza, with the maintenance profile of a low-rise co-op — that combination is the building's market case.

Put the financing policy in the marketing. A board that permits up to 85 percent financing reaches buyers that neighboring 20-percent-down prewars do not. Say so plainly.

Be straight about the architectural record. The LPC names an architect about whom little is published. Overselling a thin attribution invites a correction; the honest version — a 1914 apartment house inside New York's first historic district — sells fine on its own.

Disclose transfer costs up front. Sophisticated buyers and their attorneys will find the per-share fee. Surfacing it early keeps it from becoming a late-stage renegotiation.

If you're considering 55 Hicks Street, also evaluate:

• 54 Orange Street — Fruit Streets co-op one block south; compare its actual scale and operations
• 72 Orange Street — moderate-scale Fruit Streets co-op with a comparable service model
• 59 Pineapple Street — Slee & Bryson's 1926 elevator co-op two blocks south
• 60 Pineapple Street — loft-style conversion co-op on the same Fruit Streets grid; open plans against 55 Hicks's prewar rooms
• 130 Hicks Street — Hicks Street co-op peer south of Clark, postwar rather than prewar
• 35 Clark Street — prewar co-op on the Clark Street corridor, closer to the 2/3 express
• 20 Henry Street — condominium alternative in the northern Heights, at Middagh Street
• 55 Poplar Street — condominium on the northernmost Heights block, for buyers weighing tenure form