Like how Central Park propels prices along its perimeter and what the High Line has done for West Chelsea, Brooklyn Bridge Park has ignited the high-end market along the DUMBO-Brooklyn Heights waterfront. While the volume and prices paid for new development transactions continue to languish around the city, one bulletproof corner of the market has been apartments in close proximity to parks, which continue to sell near-record prices. Each of the new developments that have gone up in Brooklyn Bridge Park – One Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1 John Street, Pierhouse, and now Quay Tower – have achieved record prices. The other record-holders are just steps outside the 65-acre park.
And compared to Manhattan, you get much more bang for your buck in Brooklyn. The priciest apartment ever sold in Manhattan was a $100.5 million duplex in One57. Now compare to that Brooklyn's newest potential record holder, which belongs to a penthouse combo at the ODA-designed Quay Tower that was just signed for over $20 million. If that deal goes through, it would shatter the borough's previous record of $16.645M for Matt Damon's Brooklyn Heights condo at The Standish, which he reportedly bought in 2017 and moved into this past August. That sale, which isn't listed publicly, beat the previous record set in 2015 when famed photographer Jay Maisel paid $15.5M for a townhouse at 177 Pacific Street in Cobble Hill.
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The combo unit, which is made up of two Marmol Radziner-designed penthouses at the top of the 30-story building, will create a 7,433-square-foot five-bedroom residence with 1,179 square feet of outdoor space. And thanks to Quay Tower's stunning waterfront location, the top-floor residence will boast the best views in the building and include the Statue of Liberty, the entire skyline, and north up the East River past the Brooklyn Bridge.
Other features of the "California modernist" home include wide plank white oak floors, custom white oak cabinetry, two elevators, and Amazon Alexa devices that can be used to create a fully integrated smart home that controls lighting, shades, the thermostat, and more. This is the first Brooklyn condo to form this partnership with Amazon.
Andrew Anderson of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing brokered the deal.
This record comes at a time when home prices in Brooklyn (and Queens) have reached a record high, according to Douglas Elliman's Q3 2018 report. The median price for that time period was $808,000, more than 2% more than at the same time last year. And while the borough has been hitting price records for years due to high demand and low inventory, the last 12 months has seen an increase in inventory and a decrease in sales activity.
Jonathan Miller, head of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, which prepared the report for Elliman, told Crain's, "We have trends showing sales drifting lower and inventory drifting higher, so it is reasonable to assume we are not going to see record prices going forward to the degree we've been seeing,"
Jonathan Miller, head of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, which prepared the report for Elliman, told Crain's, "We have trends showing sales drifting lower and inventory drifting higher, so it is reasonable to assume we are not going to see record prices going forward to the degree we've been seeing,"
Furthermore, it is interesting to see if prices will continue to rise along Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade when necessary repair work for the rickety Brooklyn-Queens Expressway begins. According to the New York Times, city officials don't expect to make a decision about the construction plan until 2020, at the earliest, but it would take a minimum of 6 years and cost over $3 billion. At a recent public meeting in Brooklyn, residents proposed their own ideas, one of which included building a temporary highway over Brooklyn Bridge Park - instead of the promenade - to divert traffic.
Sales at Quay Tower launched in June and current listings range from $1.975M for a one-bedroom to $8.25M for a four-bedroom, 2,904-square-foot penthouse.
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Sandra Herrera
Sandra Herrera is a writer, editor, and graphic designer based in Brooklyn, NY.
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