68 Remsen Street (The Remsen)
68–70 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
BBL 3002530057 · BIN 3002201
- Year built
- 1929
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 103
- Floors
- 10
- Landmark
- Designated
- Flip tax
- Not publicly documented; confirm with the managing agent during diligence
- Subletting
- board-controlled; current policy not documented
- Pied-à-terre
- reported permitted (building marketing site); hedged on page, confirm at offer
- Pets
- cats and dogs reported welcome (building marketing site); hedged on page
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.
The Remsen is the building where Brooklyn Heights' interwar apartment boom showed off. Completed in 1929 to a design by H. I. Feldman, the ten-story cooperative at 68–70 Remsen Street carries one of the most elaborately ornamented façades in the historic district: two rows of arcaded openings in the Venetian palazzo manner, a bracketed band crowded with carved human and animal figures, and heraldic crests worked into the masonry. The building's early advertising called it "the most distinctive apartment building in Brooklyn," and the architectural histories add the detail that makes it a neighborhood favorite — Feldman, then early in a career that would make him one of New York's most prolific apartment-house architects, is reported to have worked his own likeness into the carved figures above the street.
The scale beneath the ornament is what makes the building work as housing. With 103 apartments across ten stories, The Remsen is one of the largest prewar cooperatives in the Heights — large enough to support full-time doorman and concierge service, a live-in superintendent, and the staffing economics that most of the neighborhood's brownstone-scale co-ops cannot reach. The apartment stock runs from studios and one-bedrooms through combined units, with the prewar apartment virtues of the 1929 vintage: defined entry foyers, beamed ceilings, casement-era window rhythms, and solid masonry between neighbors. Cork parquet floors and original detail survive in a meaningful share of units.
The location is the Heights at its most composed. Remsen Street between Hicks and Henry is a block of churches, rowhouses, and interwar apartment houses one street south of Montague's retail spine — close enough for daily convenience, removed enough to stay quiet. The Promenade is at the foot of the street; the 2/3 at Clark Street and the 4/5 at Borough Hall carry the commute; and the building sits inside the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, designated November 23, 1965 as New York City's first historic district, which protects the façade ornament and the streetscape around it in perpetuity.
For buyers, The Remsen offers the full-service prewar cooperative experience — doorman, concierge, elevator, laundry, storage — at Brooklyn Heights pricing rather than the Manhattan equivalent, with an entry tier (studios and one-bedrooms) that functions as one of the neighborhood's most reliable first rungs into the historic district. For sellers, the building's name recognition, façade, and service level give it marketing leverage that the district's walk-up and small-elevator inventory cannot match.
Architecture and unit composition
The 103 apartments distribute across ten stories in lines running from studios and one-bedrooms through two-bedroom and combined configurations; decades of combinations have produced a meaningful population of larger units, and combination potential remains part of the building's value story where adjacencies allow. Prewar characteristics documented across the inventory include beamed ceilings, entry foyers, cork parquet and hardwood floors, and multiple-exposure corner lines with light from two and three sides. Upper-floor units on the south and west lines gain outlooks over the low historic-district fabric; unit-level light and outlook vary enough that line-specific evaluation matters.
The façade is the building's signature asset: the arcaded upper stories, the carved figure band, and the crests are protected historic-district fabric, and the cooperative's stewardship of that ornament — façade cycles, LL11-equivalent work, and the associated capital planning — is a legitimate diligence topic given the density of carved detail.
Building operations
The Remsen operates as a full-service cooperative: full-time doorman and concierge, live-in superintendent, elevator service, central laundry, bike room, and private storage. The building's size lets it carry this service level on 103 maintenance streams — the fundamental economic advantage over the Heights' smaller co-ops. Maintenance at the building has historically bundled meaningful costs (building staff, taxes, and in at least part of the inventory, electricity) into the monthly figure; buyers should confirm what the current maintenance covers for the specific unit rather than comparing headline numbers across buildings. Building financials, house rules, and board-package requirements are maintained 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 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2026 | 7H | $775,000 |
| Sep 19, 2025 | 9C | $700,000 |
| Mar 27, 2024 | 8C | $650,000 |
| Dec 18, 2023 | 7AB | $1,597,000 |
| Jan 4, 2023 | 11CD | $1,998,000 |
| Aug 15, 2022 | 9F | $780,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00253-0057) 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
This is the full-service tier of the Heights co-op market. Doorman, concierge, live-in super, central laundry, bike room, storage — a service package most of the district's brownstone-scale cooperatives cannot offer, at a price tier below comparable Manhattan service buildings.
Confirm the policy set before you offer. Pet, pied-à-terre, sublet, financing, and flip-tax policies are board-controlled and current-year specific; the reported flexibility on pets and pied-à-terre use should be verified in writing through the managing agent.
Read the maintenance line carefully. Where maintenance bundles electricity and staff costs, headline figures run higher than at leaner buildings while out-of-pocket totals may not; run True Monthly Carrying Cost on the actual bundle.
Ask about the façade program. The carved ornament is the building's glory and its recurring capital obligation; review recent LL11-equivalent cycles, reserve funding, and any planned assessments in diligence.
Co-op timelines apply. Board package, interview, and approval typically pace closings at 60–90 days from contract.
What to know if you’re selling
Market the building, then the apartment. The Feldman façade, the 1929 vintage, and the full-service staffing carry real weight with Heights buyers; the building's story should lead before the unit's finishes.
Entry-tier units are the liquidity engine. Studios and one-bedrooms draw the district's deepest buyer pool; price them against recent same-line trades rather than the broader Heights market.
Combined and corner units need line-specific comps. The spread between standard lines and multi-exposure or combined units is wide; anchor pricing to the closest configuration precedent.
Prepare buyers for the board. Clean board packages and early disclosure of the building's financial posture shorten the 60–90 day co-op timeline and protect deals at the approval stage.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Remsen, also evaluate:
- The Breukelen (57 Montague Street) — interwar elevator cooperative peer one block north
- 60 Remsen Street — neighboring prewar elevator co-op on the same block
- 76 Remsen Street — smaller co-op neighbor toward Henry Street
- 100 Remsen Street — co-op peer toward the Borough Hall end of Remsen
- 2 Grace Court — large full-service prewar cooperative one block south
- 35 Pierrepont Street — prewar co-op peer on the district's other great apartment street
- 135 Willow Street — prewar cooperative in the central Heights
- 145 Hicks Street — larger prewar co-op alternative in the north-central Heights
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.
Considering a move at The Remsen?
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 The Remsen 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.