Nine Chapel (9 Chapel Street)

The condominium occupies a small, unusual site — 4,960 square feet, a hundred feet along Chapel by fifty feet deep — and builds twelve stories on it, 130 feet to the roof, for 31,761 square feet of residential floor area. That is a tall, thin tower by Brooklyn standards, and it is the reason every apartment behaves like a corner unit: with a floorplate that small, there is no interior condition.

Twenty-seven homes sit on floors 2 through 11 with two penthouses above. Department of Finance records apartment sizes from 738 to 1,978 square feet, with a median near 1,220 — a one- to three-bedroom mix, with the largest homes at the top. The line lettering runs A, B and C on the lower floors, narrowing to A and B as the floorplate steps in higher up; the tax roll shows no 8C or 9C and no 11A, so a buyer should confirm the current common-interest schedule against the recorded declaration rather than assuming a continuous grid.

Arrival is the other design event. Rather than a lobby on the sidewalk, SO – IL cut the ground plane: a descending, meandering path leads through planting into a sunken landscaped garden and then into a transparent lobby, with a sheltered area under the building at the corner intended to work like a stoop. Circulation from the lobby to the residences runs through covered, landscaped breezeways with access to light and air. Interiors are exposed concrete, white oak and minimal detailing.

Two figures in the public record disagree and are worth carrying into diligence. PLUTO and Department of Finance record 31,761 square feet of residential area; the new-building application filed 35,594 square feet of zoning floor area, and the Department of Finance assessment record carries a larger gross figure for the whole condominium including below-grade space. These are different measures of different things, not an error, but they mean a "building square footage" quoted from any single source should be sourced before it is used.

This is not a staffed building. Nine Chapel is virtually attended and secured through a ButterflyMX system; the amenity set — coworking lounge, fitness studio, bicycle room, garden — is designed to run without a service staff. The twenty-seven-apartment count does not establish operating efficiency; virtual attendance offers a different daily experience from the doormanned towers a few blocks south, and a buyer coming from one should understand the difference before, not after. Package handling, guest access and service coverage are board decisions; confirm the current arrangement with the managing agent.

The building is still on a temporary certificate of occupancy. The initial TCO issued December 31, 2024, and it has been renewed continuously since, through a renewal-with-change on July 22, 2026 — eight certificates, no final. Serial TCO renewal is ordinary in a newly delivered Brooklyn condominium and is not by itself a red flag, but it is a live condition worth a direct question: what remains outstanding, who is responsible for closing it, and what obligation the sponsor retains.

One open administrative violation stands against the building as of this writing — a Class 2 Environmental Control Board violation issued July 1, 2025 for failure to file required annual low-pressure boiler inspection reports. A 2024 Department of Buildings violation for late energy benchmarking was dismissed. Neither is structural; both are the ordinary compliance churn of a building in its first operating years, and current status should be confirmed with the managing agent.

Site history, briefly, for anyone tracing the parcel: the lot was acquired in November 2020, a zoning document was recorded in October 2021, construction financing closed in December 2021, and the condominium declaration was recorded in September 2024.

Purchaser review: Condominium mechanics — a board right of first refusal rather than cooperative approval, and no board interview. Confirm closing timing in the declaration, bylaws and contract.

Property taxes: No exemption of any kind on any unit lot. The bill is the fully assessed bill, and it is stable rather than stepped.

Attendance and access: Virtual attendance via ButterflyMX. There is no doorman. Confirm current package, delivery and guest-access procedures with the managing agent.

Pets, subletting, pied-à-terre and flip tax: The offering plan under File No. CD23-0085 is not on file in The Roebling Research Library, and this page will not assert house rules it cannot document. As a New York condominium, pied-à-terre ownership and leasing are permitted in principle, subject to the board's right of first refusal and to any minimum-lease-term rule in the current house rules. Confirm the pet policy, minimum lease term, sublet procedure and any transfer fee directly with the managing agent, and read the plan's schedules before pricing a deal around any of them.

Recent sales

Recent closings 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. Most recent trades (2026 to date) cleared a median $1,512/sf (floor-adjusted) across 3 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00118-7501; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

See the terraces in person, in the weather you actually live in. The perforated veil is the building's best idea and its most polarizing one. A covered terrace behind a metal screen is a different room from an open balcony, and photographs do not settle it.

There is no abatement. Price the comparison correctly. For each abated Downtown Brooklyn comparable, set the current tax figure beside the remaining benefit schedule and the post-benefit figure before you decide this building's bill is high.

Confirm the floor count against the tax record. The building is marketed as 14 stories and filed and assessed as 12. Make sure the apartment you are buying is identified consistently across the listing, the deed and the tax lot.

Ask about the temporary certificate of occupancy. Eight renewals since December 2024, no final. Get the outstanding scope, the timeline and the sponsor's obligation in writing.

Decide about the service model before you fall in love. Virtual attendance is the design, not a gap. If you need a doorman, this is the wrong building; review actual common charges and expense allocations.

Lead with the architecture and name it. Describe SO – IL’s authorship without assuming a price premium. The façade, the sunken garden arrival and the breezeway circulation are specific, documented and photographable.

Sell the terrace configuration, not the terrace count. Orientation, coverage and how many directions the outdoor space faces are what separate the lines. Say it precisely.

Get ahead of the tax question with the math. "No abatement to expire" is persuasive only when it is paired with the neighbor's remaining benefit years and post-abatement number. Bring all three.

Compare relevant homes with adjustments. Consider the Tankhouse–SO – IL siblings, DUMBO conversions and other relevant Brooklyn alternatives, including towers where appropriate, adjusting for design, service, taxes and outdoor space.

Explain the service model as a choice. Explain virtual attendance, actual staffing and amenity access early, and provide current charges; twenty-seven units and virtual access do not establish lower total costs.

If you're considering Nine Chapel, also evaluate:

• 450 Warren Street — the first Tankhouse–SO – IL condominium, in Gowanus; the same design logic at low-rise scale, and also built without an abatement
• 144 Vanderbilt Avenue — the third and largest of the Tankhouse–SO – IL buildings, in Clinton Hill
• 185 York Street — the closest DUMBO-edge new-development comparison
• 168 Plymouth Street — the DUMBO conversion alternative for buyers who want scale and industrial structure
• J Condominium (100 Jay Street) — the full-service DUMBO tower; the amenity-and-staffing comparison
• Brooklyn Point (138 Willoughby Street) — the Downtown Brooklyn amenity tower and the abatement comparison a buyer will make
• The Brooklyn Tower (85 Fleet Street) — the neighborhood's landmark-scale alternative
• 20 Henry Street — the Brooklyn Heights boutique condominium for buyers weighing scale against location
• BellTel Lofts (365 Bridge Street) — the Downtown Brooklyn loft-conversion alternative