87 Hicks Street

Five stories of 1889 masonry inside a designated historic district, with a garden level opening below the stoop line. The 1984 share allocation ran from 166 shares on the smallest fourth-floor C-line unit to 471 on the garden-level two-bath apartment, and the concentration of value is tight: most units sat between 230 and 300 shares. Two- and three-room apartments dominate, which in current market terms means studios, junior one-bedrooms and one-bedrooms, with the occasional two-bedroom created by combination or by reading a three-room layout generously.

Assess condition-related price differences and the available same-line comparable sales from dated records; the small unit count establishes neither. Original detail — mantels, casings, floors — survives in some units and has been stripped in others. Assess condition, usable light, floor and layout together without assigning an untested rank.

Exterior alterations generally require LPC approval, including window replacement and through-wall air-conditioner installations described in the plan’s special risks; some maintenance is exempt and qualifying work can receive staff approval. Price Landmarks review into a renovation schedule rather than the contingency.

87 Hicks Street Tenants Corp. has operated the building since the mid-1980s closing. This is a shareholder-run walk-up: no elevator to modernize, no doorman payroll, no lobby to renovate. The conversion budget's staffing line — a single part-time non-resident superintendent for ten hours a week — is the clearest statement of the operating philosophy, and while current staffing should be confirmed, buildings of this scale in the district generally continue in that register.

The trade is that capital work lands harder when it comes. A nineteen-unit corporation spreads a façade cycle, a roof or a boiler across a small share base, and assessments are the normal mechanism. The co-op's financial statements in The Roebling Research Library show how the board has handled that historically — reserve levels, assessment frequency and maintenance trajectory are the three numbers to trace. Review façade, roof and boiler condition and the actual funding plan. The reported five-story building is below the ordinary FISP threshold of more than six stories; confirm DOB scope before requesting a cycle filing.

Resale and subletting: Board consent by resolution, or on refusal by vote or written consent of holders of at least 66⅔ percent of shares. The plan expressly permits arbitrary refusal within the bounds of law, allows the board to condition a sublet consent, and permits recovery of the corporation's legal and managing-agent costs from the applicant.

Undesirability: The proprietary lease permits termination on a determination by two-thirds of shareholders that a lessee's tenancy is undesirable — standard prewar co-op language, rarely invoked, worth knowing.

Alterations: Corporation consent required, not to be unreasonably withheld, with the shareholder bearing interior repair and decoration costs. LPC approval governs exterior work including windows.

Pets, pied-à-terre, washer-dryer, financing minimums and flip tax: Not documented in the materials reviewed. Get the current answers from management in writing before contract.

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 (2018): a median $978/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00226-0006). 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; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

Reconcile the unit count and your share allocation. The plan covered 19 apartments; DOF shows 20. Your attorney should confirm the specific unit's shares, the current certificate of occupancy and any combination or subdivision history.

Price the walk-up honestly. Five stories with no elevator affects resale to a real segment of the buyer pool. It also keeps your maintenance low. Decide which side of that you are on before you bid.

Ask about assessments. In a nineteen-unit corporation, capital work may be funded through maintenance, an assessment or borrowing. The history of those assessments is a useful read on the board's financial management; review it with the current budget and audited statements.

Landmarks governs your windows. Exterior alterations, including window replacement and through-wall air-conditioner installation, generally need LPC approval; confirm any maintenance exemption and staff-review eligibility. Build that into any renovation timeline.

Get policy answers in writing. Pets, subletting practice, financing minimums and any flip tax postdate the plan documents. Management's current answers control.

Lead with the block. Fruit Streets quiet, two blocks to the Promenade, two to the Clark Street express. On a walk-up listing, location does more work than any interior feature.

Document the renovation. In a building where condition sets the spread, permits, Landmarks-clean alteration files and a clear record of what was done are price-makers rather than paperwork.

Show the carrying cost. Low maintenance is this building's competitive answer to the district's full-service co-ops. Put the monthly number in front of buyers early and let it argue for you.

Price against the district's walk-up set. The right comparables are small Heights co-ops of similar scale and staffing — not the Montague corridor's elevator buildings.

If you're considering 87 Hicks Street, also evaluate:

• 66 Orange Street — 1912 conversion co-op around the corner at similar scale, with an elevator and courtyards
• 130 Hicks Street — small co-op further south on the same street
• 145 Hicks Street — larger Hicks Street co-op; the full-service alternative on the same corridor
• 8 Old Fulton Street (Brooklyn City Railroad Company Building) — eleven-unit conversion co-op at the district's north edge; the smallest-scale comparable
• 54 Orange Street — Fruit Streets co-op one block east
• 72 Orange Street — moderate-scale Fruit Streets peer
• 149 Willow Street — twenty-unit 1889 co-op two blocks west, converted in the same era
• 15 Clark Street — prewar elevator co-op at the express-train corner
• 35 Clark Street — prewar co-op peer on the Clark Street corridor