Real Estate

Gowanus' Famed and Landmarked Coignet Building Hits Market for $6.5 Million

The listing photos show the interior of the building, one of the earliest cast concrete stone structures in the United States.

Photo by Susan De Vries

by Cate Corcoran

08/28/2019 2 minute 0

Beautifully restored in 2016 after decades of decay, Gowanus’ landmarked Coignet Building is back on the market and asking $6.5 million. Built as the headquarters and showcase for the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company in 1873, it was one of the earliest cast concrete stone structures in the United States.

Although the building is a commercial property and the interior is unfinished, it contains three bedrooms and one bathroom, according to the listing, from Vanessa DeGarcia and Erica Nieves-Negron of Corcoran. The photos show two large and well-proportioned rooms as well as the building’s original wooden circular staircase. While much of the building’s interior detail has been lost, some original moldings and doors still exist, the photos show.

Located at 360 3rd Avenue, the building has been on and off the market for years, including in 2016 when it was asking $5 million. Whole Foods developed the land around it and built a grocery store that hugs two sides of the building in exchange for restoring the building’s crumbling exterior. Meanwhile, a city-led rezoning of the surrounding area proposes to allow buildings as high as 30 stories next to it.

A certificate of occupancy from the 1950s shows a caretaker’s apartment on the third floor. Would it make an appealing townhouse in this location? At least the grocery store wouldn’t be far away.