70 Washington Street
70 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, Brooklyn
BBL 3000457501 · BIN 3388734
- Year built
- 1910
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 259
- Floors
- 13
- Landmark
- Designated
- Flip tax
- 1% transfer fee on sale of a unit or roof terrace space (offering plan)
- Subletting
- permitted; sales and leases subject to board right of first refusal (offering plan)
- Pied-à-terre
- permitted (condominium framework)
- Pets
- permitted per house rules (amended 8/11/2020), subject to board's reserved right to revoke; carried/leashed in common areas
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2020 house rules; verified August 2026). Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
70 Washington Street is the building that scaled DUMBO. The Clock Tower's 1998 conversion proved a residential market existed between the bridges; 30 Main Street's early-2000s conversion confirmed it; and in 2005, Two Trees took the largest step in the neighborhood's conversion history — a 259-unit, $267 million offering that transformed a full-block Gair factory into what remains the biggest loft condominium in DUMBO. When the plan was accepted for filing in May 2005, the neighborhood's residential identity was still young enough that the offering plan paused to define its own geography: "This area is sometimes referred to as DUMBO. DUMBO is an acronym for 'Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.'" Twenty years later, the building it created functions as the neighborhood's residential center of gravity.
The industrial pedigree is the same one that underwrites the Clock Tower. The building was erected in 1910–11 for Robert Gair, the paper-box magnate whose factories dominated the western blocks of the neighborhood — Gairville, in the era's usage — and it was designed by William Higginson and built by Turner Construction Company, the architect-builder team responsible for the Gair Company's pioneering reinforced-concrete daylight factories from 1904 onward. The LPC's DUMBO Historic District designation report treats these buildings as nationally significant early examples of reinforced-concrete factory construction: the concrete frame carried the loads, so the walls could open into enormous steel-sash window bays that flooded the work floors with daylight. That structural logic is precisely what makes the apartments work a century later — long window walls, high concrete ceilings, and mushroom-column interiors that no new building reproduces honestly.
The 2005 conversion, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (the same firm behind the Clock Tower conversion), rebuilt the factory from the top down into 259 lofts across twelve residential floors, crowned by an 18-unit penthouse level with dedicated roof terraces. The plan's ambitions showed in its roof program: beyond the common deck and the penthouse terraces, 22 additional roof terrace spaces were offered for separate purchase — an unusual, separately-transferable amenity class that still circulates among unit owners under a board right of first refusal. Nine second-floor units received rear gardens held under a recorded easement over the adjoining lot.
That adjoining lot is one of the building's quiet structural advantages. The offering plan merged the building's zoning lot with the parking lot at 66 Front Street and capped that parcel's future development at its existing built floor area, while granting the condominium recorded easements for light, air, and open space. In a neighborhood that has since built out aggressively, the westerly windows' protection was engineered into the paperwork.
For buyers, 70 Washington offers the widest aperture into authentic-loft DUMBO: more inventory, more line variety, and more frequent trading than any other conversion in the neighborhood, inside the DUMBO Historic District (designated December 18, 2007) and two blocks from both the York Street F station and Brooklyn Bridge Park. For sellers, the building's scale is the asset — it is the conversion the market benchmarks against.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a full-block Industrial Neoclassical daylight factory: a reinforced-concrete structural grid expressed on the façade, oversized window bays, and restrained classicizing detail at the base and parapet. As renovated it contains thirteen stories, with the residential lobby at grade, residences on floors 2 through 13, and the lowest partially-below-grade level given over to service and the lower levels of certain second-floor duplexes.
The 259 residences run from studios through three-bedroom lofts. Characteristic attributes across the inventory: concrete ceilings and columns, oversized multi-pane windows, and the deep floor plates of factory construction. Distinct sub-markets within the building include:
- The penthouse level (13th floor): 18 units, PHA through PHR, each with direct access to a dedicated roof terrace — the building's trophy tier, with Manhattan-skyline and bridge exposures.
- Roof terrace spaces: 22 separately-purchasable terrace spaces on the roof, transferable only among unit owners and lessees, each sub-metered for electricity — a rare add-on asset class that periodically trades separately from apartments.
- Second-floor duplexes: units with lower-level space designated for storage (not bedroom use) and, on nine lines, private rear gardens under the recorded easement.
- Mid-building lofts: the volume inventory, with pricing driven by exposure (Manhattan/bridge north and west versus courtyard and BQE-side south) and light.
The 2005 offering priced the inventory from the mid-$300,000s for the smallest lofts to just under $2 million at the top — an average around $1 million per unit — figures that document both the scale of the offering and the trajectory of the neighborhood since.
Building operations
70 Washington operates as a full-service condominium: 24-hour concierge with package room, non-resident superintendent, residents-only health club, and common roof deck (open dawn to dusk, passive use). Two Trees Management Co. LLC was the managing agent from conversion under an initial five-year agreement; current management should be confirmed during diligence — The Roebling Team remains the contact of record for clients.
The house rules, amended in 2020, are specific and actively enforced: smoking is prohibited throughout indoor and outdoor common areas including the public roof deck; at least 50 percent of unit floor area must be carpeted or equivalently sound-treated; construction work is limited to weekday hours with a four-month completion window per approved alteration; grilling on terraces and rear gardens is limited to electric or small-propane equipment; and a graduated fine schedule ($250 / $500 / $1,000) backs enforcement. Rear-garden and roof-terrace owners maintain their own decking and demising surfaces, and terrace loads are capped at 30 pounds per square foot.
Recent sales
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | 8K | $1,715,000 |
| May 29, 2026 | 5I | $1,560,000 |
| May 27, 2026 | 6C | $1,565,000 |
| May 18, 2026 | PHL | $3,395,000 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | 9S | $1,567,500 |
| Mar 3, 2026 | 11E | $975,000 |
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 3-00045-7501) 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
This is the scale play in authentic-loft DUMBO. More lines, more inventory, and more resale evidence than any conversion in the neighborhood — which means better price discovery for buyers and realistic comparables at contract time.
The Gair/Higginson/Turner pedigree is the real thing. The same architect-builder-owner lineage as the Clock Tower, inside the DUMBO Historic District; the reinforced-concrete daylight-factory attributes — window walls, concrete ceilings, column grids — are original, and they are why the lofts feel the way they do.
Exposure drives value line by line. Northern and western exposures carry the bridge-and-skyline imagery; southern lines face the BQE side. Walk the specific unit; price the specific exposure.
Understand the roof terrace space market. If a terrace space is included in — or available alongside — a purchase, it is a separately-documented asset with its own transfer mechanics and right of first refusal. Have counsel confirm what is actually appurtenant to the unit.
Model the 1 percent transfer fee and the house rules. The fee is a seller-side convention but a negotiable economic term; the carpet, alteration, and smoking rules are actively enforced and matter to daily life and renovation planning.
What to know if you’re selling
Benchmark against the building itself. With this much internal comparable evidence, buyers will anchor on same-line history; pricing against thinner conversions or new development invites re-trading.
Terrace rights are marketing gold — document them. Dedicated terraces, purchased terrace spaces, and rear gardens each carry different legal footing; a clean paper trail is worth real money at negotiation.
Budget the 1 percent transfer fee into net-proceeds modeling from the first pricing conversation.
Lead with the loft attributes new development cannot match. Concrete volume, window scale, historic-district context, and the Gair provenance are the differentiators against the amenity-rich new buildings two blocks east.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 70 Washington Street, also evaluate:
- The Clock Tower (1 Main Street) — the sibling Gair/Higginson/Turner conversion; smaller, older plan, iconic crown
- The Sweeney Building (30 Main Street) — the boutique-scale Two Trees conversion nearer the park
- 168 Plymouth Street — the newest and most finish-forward of the authentic conversions
- Kirkman Lofts (37 Bridge Street) — smaller conversion on the quieter Vinegar Hill seam
- 85 Jay Street (Front & York) — the full-amenity new-development alternative at comparable scale
- 100 Jay Street (J Condominium) — the 2007-era tower alternative one block east
- 51 Jay Street — warehouse-to-condo conversion on the east side of the neighborhood
Considering a move at 70 Washington Street?
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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