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Top outer borough condos: Aspiring addresses in Brooklyn

On Prospect Park

Perhaps being named 'One' — or even something close to it — is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The addresses of the most expensive condominiums in Brooklyn — One Brooklyn Bridge Park, One Main Street and On Prospect Park (located at One Grand Army Plaza) — appear to herald their top rankings. Those three buildings, between them, account for the borough's top 10 sales. In two cases, the developers applied for an official address change to get the aspirational number in their monikers, the equivalent of Donald Trump naming his newborn son "Barron."

Penthouses in these buildings are also the likely contenders for the borough's next record-breaking sale. To capture that title, they must exceed the current number one, a $7 million-plus, 14th-floor unit at Dumbo's One Main Street (see At Brooklyn's new priciest condo in the June issue of The Real Deal). Condo sales in the last four years at the former cardboard box factory, which sits at the edge of a waterfront park between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, have captured, in some cases, over $1,000 a square foot.

Karen Heyman, senior vice president of Sotheby's International Realty's Downtown office, who handled the listing, would not reveal the exact sales price but said the contract has been signed.

One Brooklyn Bridge Park — named after the planned 85-acre waterfront park that only recently began construction after decades of wrangling — dominates the top 10 list with the next eight highest sales.

According to figures provided by Jeffrey Stockwell, Stribling senior vice president, contracts for between $4.45 million and $6.96 million are signed for apartments there. Five of those sales are for apartments with two or more units combined. Stockwell said this is a popular trend, as buyers are taking advantage of the construction phase to create larger rooms.

Number 10 on the list is a $4.4 million four-bedroom at One Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights, designed by famed minimalist architect Richard Meier. That figure, provided by developer Mario Procida of SDS Procida, is also for a signed contract that hasn't yet been recorded.

Procida seemed confident during a recent interview that he would have the next record-breaker. He said two buyers are bidding on a 5,652-square-foot penthouse that has an additional 2,861 square feet of terraces on three levels. The price, he said, is up to $8 million.

Two units were combined to create the corner penthouse. Cheryl Nielsen-Saaf, Corcoran director of sales, said several buyers had expressed interest in combining apartments, either to increase the number of rooms or to make them larger. So the developer combined 26 apartments, decreasing the total from 114 to 99 apartments.

The sleek, glass-walled building overlooks Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Public Library — which used to be known as "One Grand Army Plaza."

However, the library's use of it as a mailing address was unofficial, and Procida put in an official application for the address with the borough president's office. Other options had included 1 Eastern Parkway, which lacked that "extra little piece of sizzle," as Nielsen-Saaf put it.

"We now use 10 Grand Army Plaza," said library spokeswoman Stephanie Arck.

Naturally, developers of the top-ranked buildings display a touch of bravado when asked about their competition. Of One Brooklyn Bridge Park's location on the waterfront side of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Procida said, "It's not a neighborhood, it's an edge … our residents already have spectacular views."

The 449-unit One Brooklyn Bridge Park is so close to the glistening harbor, it's nearly touching it — and borders industrial piers slated to become a rolling green park, poised to be the borough's finest since Prospect Park. Brooklyn Heights is accessible by a cobblestone street across from busy Furman Street.

Developer Robert Levine, founder of RAL Companies & Affiliates, said he applied to have the former Jehovah's Witnesses printing factory address changed from 360 Furman Street. "The idea was that we were the first in the park."

Levine's prized 4,638-square-foot penthouse is three floors with towering 13-foot ceilings and has a 998-square-foot private rooftop accessible by its own elevator. Tentatively, it is priced at $7.75 million.

But a penthouse under renovation at One Main Street could enable that building to continue its reign as number one. Heyman said developer Two Trees Management is retrofitting the cavernous top floor into a three-story penthouse.

According to a spokeswoman for the developer, the penthouse would be roughly 6,000 square feet, with a private rooftop "observation deck."

The deck's most unique features are the four 15-foot-high clocks on each wall and dramatic views of the city.

When Levine was told of the price, he laughed, "If [Two Trees founder David Walentas] sells that penthouse for $30 million, that would be great news for me."

But few people know exactly what Walentas dreamed up for the cavernous space. He won't talk about it.


Top 10 most expensive Brooklyn condos

1. One Main Street, Dumbo, $7 million-plus*, full-floor, 3,200 square feet, no terrace, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths.

2. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $6.96 million, four lower penthouse units combined, 6,145 square feet interior and 826 square feet exterior, 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms.

3. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $6.19 million, two townhouses combined, 4,949 square feet interior and 839 square feet exterior, 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms.

4. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $6.05 million, two lower penthouse units combined, 3,442 square feet interior and 1,900 square feet exterior, one bedroom, library, office, 4.5 bathrooms.

5. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $5.35 million, lower penthouse, 2,687 square feet interior and 2,029 square feet exterior, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms.

6. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $5.15 million, two lower penthouses, 3,456 square feet interior and 1,903 square feet exterior, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms.

7. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $4.998 million, two apartments, 3,946 square feet interior (no additional information provided).

8. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $4.575 million, lower penthouse, 2,191 square feet interior and 1,696 square feet exterior, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.

9. One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Heights, $4.45 million, lower penthouse, 2,452 square feet interior and 1,814 square feet exterior, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.

10. On Prospect Park, Prospect Heights, $4.4 million, 2,608 square feet, 72 square feet exterior, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths.