Bible tracts no more—the penthouse at the old Watchtower warehouse is asking $5.5 million.
The Watchtower Society may have all but divested itself of its waterfront Brooklyn holdings, but those seeking their own personal watch tower in the sky need not convert to get it—One Brooklyn Bridge Park, at 360 Furman Street in Brooklyn Heights, has re-listed its 14th-floor penthouse, and it can be all yours for just $5.5 million.
The unit has been on the market on and off since 2007, said broker Penelope Stipanovich at MNS, who has the listing, and the price was just cut from $7.25 million.
Elizabeth Stribling set a condo record for the borough when she picked up two penthouses in the building for $6.6 million right before the crash—a decision the real estate maven may now regret given that her buy remains the building’s high water market. (Although the purchase went to fund something equally important—buyer confidence during a critical time). And the building is doing much better than the days when two-thirds of its 449 units sat unsold: according to Ms. Stipanovich, 90 percent of the units are now sold, with prices steadily increasing, “almost back to the original offering prices.”
Though the penthouse has been in search of a buyer for over half a decade, it has not sat vacant. It was taken off the market at one point in order to be rented out for TV, said Ms. Stipanovich, when it played host to a number of reality competitions, including Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars and HGTV’s Design Star.
Those seeking biblical literature may not find it at One Brooklyn Bridge Park, but no worries—the Watchtower can still be found at subway stations throughout the city.
In fact, The Observer picked up a tract just this morning asking, in Haitian Creole, “Ki sa noun ka aprann nan egzanp Moyiz?“—what can we learn from Moses’ example? Surely they’re talking about Robert Moses? If so, we’ve already absorbed the lesson: One Brooklyn Bridge Park would likely sell a bit better were it not cut off from prime Brooklyn Heights territory by his Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.