Brooklyn Heights

Not only did Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Norman Mailer write several of his well-known novels including “The Executioner’s Song” and “Ancient Evenings” while living on the top floor of this landmarked 1840 townhouse at 142 Columbia Heights, the author transformed the space to resemble a ship, complete with a double-height glass and wood atrium and a smooth wood ceiling that recalled a sailboat's curves. This unique property, now on the market for $2.4 million, spans 1,636 square feet, and features multiple outdoor terraces with sweeping views of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. The sale also includes a separate one-bedroom unit on the third floor.
But there's more

May 14, 2018

Brooklyn Heights home on historic ‘Colonnade Row’ lists for $5M

By Hannah Frishberg

Even in the lavish Brooklyn Heights Historic District, the three-story Greek Revival brick home at 45 Willow Place stands out for its colossal portico – namely, the wooden columns which grace its exterior. A single-family townhouse, the property has surprisingly few original details inside despite its unique historic exterior. It was built by John Bayard in 1847 and is part of a strip of homes known as Colonnade Row.
Get a look inside

Distinctive Homes

April 25, 2018

Brooklyn Heights co-op in a former mansion offers ‘castle-like’ grandeur for $1M

By Hannah Frishberg

In Brooklyn Heights, a uniquely laid out one-bedroom co-op in a former mansion at 10 Montague Terrace is seeking $1.15 million. The listing says it "has all the style and grandeur you might expect of a Robber Baron’s castle," and after getting a look at the wealth of period details--intricate woodwork and moldings, stained glass windows, highly detailed inlaid floors--we can't disagree. Throw in the prime Heights Promenade-facing location with views of the river and lower Manhattan, and that price tag seems like even more of a deal.
You don't want to miss this one

Distinctive Homes

March 27, 2018

Brooklyn Heights wood-frame, once Truman Capote’s muse, still on the market a year later for $2M less

The wood-frame house at 13 Pineapple Street in Brooklyn Heights was previously noted by 6sqft for having inspired Truman Capote's words about the neighborhood in 1959: "Cheerfully austere, as elegant and other-era as formal calling cards, these houses bespeak an age of able servants and solid fireside ease; of horses in musical harness," wrote the author, referencing the 1830 Federal-era home around the corner from his own. The house, owned by the same couple for 26 years, hit the market in January of 2017 for $10.5 million. After a new price chop, the home's second in just over a year, the grey-shingled muse is asking $8.4 million.
Have another look

February 27, 2018

$900K corner co-op in Brooklyn Heights is cozy as can be

Walking down Brooklyn Heights' main drag of Montague Street you can't miss number 62, a stunning Queen Anne-style brick building with a prominent turret. One of the building's corner co-op units has just hit the market for $899,000, and while it doesn't have the lavish prewar details the exterior might suggest, it's plenty charming. The rounded living room is lined with exposed brick and floor-to-ceiling windows, and renovations can be found in the kitchen and bedroom. The one-bedroom spread last sold in 2011 for $645,000.
Get inside

Distinctive Homes

Golden Globe-winner Alexander Skarsgård checks out $5M Brooklyn Heights fixer-upper

Alexander Skarsgård image: Wikimedia Commons

January 11, 2018

Golden Globe-winner Alexander Skarsgård checks out $5M Brooklyn Heights fixer-upper

6sqft reported back in August that actor Alexander Skarsgård of “Big Little Lies” and “True Blood” fame had scooped up It-girl Parker Posey's East Village aerie for $2.3 million. It looks like the top-floor townhouse co-op gave the recent Golden Globe Award-winner a taste for townhouse living: The Post reports that Skarsgård may have his eye on a $5 million brick rowhouse in Brooklyn Heights in need of some TLC but with plenty of potential.
Take a peek

December 29, 2017

A duplex in a historic Brooklyn Heights townhouse with a private garden asks $10K/month

By Devin Gannon

Located just minutes from the Brooklyn waterfront, a duplex in a townhouse at 164 Hicks Street has hit the rental market for $10,000 per month. The Brooklyn Heights home boasts three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an exclusive outdoor garden. Pre-war details include extra high ceilings and a working woodburning fireplace. According to the listing, the rental can come furnished between 1 and 12 months and there is an additional $200 per week cleaning fee.
Take a peek at the pre-war gem

Distinctive Homes

November 6, 2017

A prewar studio located on the “fruit streets” of Brooklyn Heights asks just $469K

There are many things to love about Brooklyn Heights, one of those being the neighborhood's "fruit streets." Pineapple, Cranberry and Orange streets are all known in the area not just for the whimsical names, but for their historic architecture and prime location near the waterfront promenade. The cooperative at 55 Pineapple Street, also known as the Hamilton House, is one of those stately historic buildings that make the fruit streets so unique. This studio, now on the market for $469,000, retains the building's prewar charm while also boasting some upgrades to maximize the space.
Tour the cozy pad

Distinctive Homes

Matt Damon may set record for Brooklyn’s priciest sale with $16.6M penthouse buy

The building via DDG; Matt Damon via Wiki Commons

September 13, 2017

Matt Damon may set record for Brooklyn’s priciest sale with $16.6M penthouse buy

By Annie Doge

He may fly under the radar in Hollywood, but when it comes to Brooklyn real estate, Matt Damon seems to be all about high life. This time last year, he toured the historic Brooklyn Heights mansion at 3 Pierrepont Place, which was the borough's most expensive listing ever at $40 million. Though he didn't follow through, it looks like he's still poised to set a record, as Mansion Global reports that sources say the actor has gone into contract on the penthouse at the nearby recent condo conversion The Standish. If the sale closes for its most recent price of $16,645,000, it will take the crown for priciest residential sale ever in Brooklyn, stealing the title from a $15.5 million Cobble Hill townhouse sale in 2015.
READ MORE

August 24, 2017

This $699K custom-designed Brooklyn Heights studio elevates small-space living

This 589-square-foot Brooklyn Heights studio loft at One Brooklyn Bridge Park at 360 Furman Street gives you plenty to work with from the start, with 13-foot ceilings and huge east-facing windows. The kitchen, living, dining and sleeping areas each pull their own weight in the space, and the resulting whole feels like a home. The apartment is asking $699,000.
Get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

Artist proposes installing a Hollywood-style ‘Brooklyn!’ sign to attract visitors

A rendering of the proposed Brooklyn sign in place of the “Watchtower” sign. Image courtesy of Susanna Briselli.

July 25, 2017

Artist proposes installing a Hollywood-style ‘Brooklyn!’ sign to attract visitors

"Brooklyn is a potent idea as well as a place,” according to Susanna Briselli, who explains in the Brooklyn Eagle that the borough's name "summons vivid images and associations.” Briselli, who is an artist and photographer, suggests this potent chemistry is a compelling enough reason to create an enormous free-standing illuminated sign that reads “Brooklyn!” The massive work would be used to draw in more visitors and increase value, placed where the soon-to-be removed "Watchtower" sign in Brooklyn Heights now stands, or at another highly visible site such as Pier 7.
A sign of the times

Events & Things To Do

July 17, 2017

‘Mad Men’-looking studio along Brooklyn Bridge Park asks $810K

This studio apartment at One Brooklyn Bridge Park looks straight off the set of "Mad Men." The owner managed to pack plenty of mid-century modern design into just 589 square feet while creating an inventive layout that creates some private spaces within the apartment. Best yet, the studio comes with a big wall of windows, a common feature throughout the Brooklyn Heights development, which leads out to a private terrace. After last selling in 2013 for $672,045, the studio is now on the market asking $810,000.
Check out the creative layout

Distinctive Homes

July 10, 2017

Lena Dunham sells her first Brooklyn Heights apartment for $850K

Though she grew up in Tribeca, Lena Dunham attended high school at Brooklyn Heights' progressive St. Ann's. And after hitting it big with Girls, she bought her first solo apartment in 2012 at 145 Hicks Street, not far from the school. She paid $500,000 for the one-bedroom, 800-square-foot co-op, but two years later, she upgraded to a $4.8 million condo in The Heights building, which she shares with her musician boyfriend Jack Antonoff. Dunham was subleasing her original pad to his sister, fashion designer Rachel Antonoff, but WWD now reports that she's officially unloaded it for a very cool $850,000.
READ MORE

June 27, 2017

Brooklyn’s iconic ‘Watchtower’ sign coming down to make way for Kushner’s Panorama office complex

By Devin Gannon

For nearly 50 years, the neon red 15-foot-tall ‘Watchtower’ sign has sat atop the former headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses luminously overlooking Brooklyn Heights. However, earlier this month, the religious group filed a permit application seeking to remove the sign. According to The Real Deal, this comes almost a year after developers Kushner Companies, CIM Group and LIVWRK Holdings purchased the spot at 25-30 Columbia Heights for $340 million with plans to convert the building into a 635,000-square-foot office complex, “Panorama.”
Find out more

New Developments

May 31, 2017

Renderings revealed of Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower transformation into ‘Panorama’

By Devin Gannon

Last summer, developers CIM Group, Kushner Companies and LIVWRK acquired the Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower building at 25-30 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights for $340 million. The building, known for its iconic red sign, served as the world headquarters of the religious group for years, but they're relocating to Warwick, New York. Now, work has begun to turn its three 19th century brick and timber buildings into 635,000 square feet of office space, as well as 35,000 square feet of retail and outdoor areas, as Fast Company reports. The new space will be known as Panorama, for its stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge.
See renderings of the Panorama complex

May 22, 2017

From shipping hub to waterfront wonder, the history of Brooklyn Bridge Park with Joanne Witty

134 years ago, the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge transformed the Brooklyn waterfront, not to mention the entire borough, by providing direct access into Kings County from Lower Manhattan. The opening only boosted Brooklyn's burgeoning waterfront, which became a bustling shipping hub for the New York Dock Company by the early 1900s. Business boomed for several decades until changes in the industry pushed the shipping industry from Brooklyn to New Jersey. And after the late 1950s, when many of the warehouses were demolished to make way for construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the waterfront fell into severe decline. New Yorkers today are living through a new kind of Brooklyn waterfront boom, heralded by the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Ideas to transform the abandoned, run-down waterfront into a park seemed like a pipe dream when the idea was floated in the 1980s, but years of dedication by the local community and politicians turned the vision into reality. Today, the park is considered one of the best in the city.
continue reading here

City Living

March 22, 2017

$800K co-op is a Zen paradise in Brooklyn Heights inspired by the Botanic Gardens

It's not every day a New York City apartment listing invites us to "Sleep safely and quietly with your doors wide open in the summertime," so we definitely took notice of this top-floor co-op at 135 Hicks Street, located in a historic brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. You'll have to hoof it up three flights to get to the serenity of this "Zen-like" one-bedroom home, but once you see the terrace, complete with Japanese garden, you'll be glad you did. Eastern-inspired details include bamboo floors, grasscloth walls, and a rustic slate fireplace, all yours for $799,000.
More Zen vibes and a Mai Tai or two, this way

Distinctive Homes

March 8, 2017

Modern carriage house on an exclusive street of Brooklyn Heights tries its hand at $10M

If you thought Brooklyn Heights only offered blocks of historic townhouses, think again: this carriage house at 6 Grace Court Alley, a private, one-block row that's made up exclusively of 19th-century residential carriage homes. And while the exterior certainly looks historic, the interior has been opened up, modernized, and filled with light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights. After last selling in 2011 for $2.7 million, it's now trying for a cool $10 million.
Step inside

March 3, 2017

$10.6M Pierhouse is Brooklyn’s most expensive condo sold to date

It may pale in comparison to Manhattan's $100 million record-setter at One57, but a unit at Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pierhouse just closed for $10,669,579, setting the record for most expensive condo ever sold in the borough. Curbed first spotted the sale, which took the top spot from the $8.8 million penthouse sale in Dumbo's 1 Jay Street in September 2015.
Find out who the buyers are

Real Estate Trends

February 22, 2017

Oldest home in Brooklyn Heights is on the market for $6.65M

Built in 1824, 24 Middagh Street is a charming, wood-frame, Federal house in Brooklyn Heights that has the distinction of being the oldest home in the neighborhood. And it's just gotten a price chop to $6,650,000 (it first listed this past September for the first time in nearly 60 years, asking $7 million). The listing says most of the original interior details--like wood floors, fireplaces, and moldings--are intact, and the five-bedroom residence even comes with a landscaped backyard and separate, two-bedroom carriage house.
More on the home this way

February 20, 2017

Anish Kapoor will bring a spiraling funnel of black water to Brooklyn Bridge Park

By Diane Pham

Brooklyn Bridge Park is the last place we'd expect to find a menacing art installation summoning feelings of nothingness. But come May, Anish Kapoor will bring his acclaimed installation "Descension" to one of the park's busiest stretches, Pier 1. As described by The NY Public Art Fund (the project's curator), Descension is a 26-foot diameter whirlpool that funnels pitch-black, naturally dyed water below ground, inviting visitors to carefully peer into its swirling abyss.
more details here

Events & Things To Do

January 26, 2017

‘Girls’ and ‘Star Wars’ actor Adam Driver checks out a $4.79M fixer-upper in Brooklyn Heights

By Diane Pham

Indie stud Adam Driver's star is quickly rising thanks to his chameleon-like abilities to play characters ranging from Hannah Horvath's troubled and emotionally rich boyfriend on "Girls" to the diabolical villain Kylo Ren in the new "Star Wars" films. Now it appears Driver is looking to take on yet another role: homeowner. Like his "Girls" cohorts, Driver's interest in multi-million dollar properties has been piqued, and The Post reports the actor was recently spotted touring a townhouse at 154 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights (the nabe where Girls' creator and lead Lena Dunham also lives). The now-vacant home was formerly used as a multiple-unit rental property and is currently listed for $4.79 million as a 5,444-square-foot single-family residence.
more photos inside

January 19, 2017

New renderings and photos show Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 uplands are almost complete

You won't need to see more than a few renderings and photos of new park space slated for Brooklyn Bridge Park to feel ready for summertime. First posted by Curbed from the park's landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, renderings show the final design for one of the last undeveloped sections of the park between Montague and Joralemon streets. Known as the Pier 5 uplands, the hilly green space will be comprised of a stepped lawn, shaded grove, waterfront seating and new entrance off Joralemon Street. A sound-dampening berm will reduce noise from the nearby roadways. And it's all on track to wrap construction right before summer.
More images and details this way

January 19, 2017

$10.5M Federal-era house in Brooklyn Heights was Truman Capote’s muse

When he penned an essay about his neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights in 1959, it was this wood-frame house at 13 Pineapple Street that inspired Truman Capote. "Cheerfully austere, as elegant and other-era as formal calling cards, these houses bespeak an age of able servants and solid fireside ease; of horses in musical harness," he wrote, referencing the 1830 Federal-era home that was around the corner from his personal house. The Wall Street Journal reports that, for the past 26 years, the residence has been preserved by a couple who were drawn to its grey shingles as a reminder of the old houses in Nantucket they love. But now that their children are grown, they're looking to downsize and have listed the storied property for $10.5 million.
All the history right this way

January 3, 2017

$40M Brooklyn Heights townhouse with a mayoral past is now four pricey rentals