NYC Apartments Under a Million: Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill

Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo: Corcoran

For under a million dollars, one can find all sorts of housing configurations: park- and subway-adjacent studios, one-bedrooms hidden in carriage houses or former shoe factories, and even the occasional true two-bedroom. We’re combing the market for particularly spacious, nicely renovated, or otherwise worth-a-look apartments at various six-digit price points. 

This week, future-you lives in northish Brooklyn or the West Village.

251 Pacific Street, #21

As shown in this listing photo, the kitchen comes with a bonus dining area.
Photo: Corcoran

This is a spacious co-op apartment, but it’s terrible to see a good two-bedroom demean itself as an awful three-bedroom. I’d suggest that you ignore what the listing says about the extra bedroom — just go with it as a beautiful two-bed on the top floor, bathed in light from the south-facing windows. The price is about standard for Cobble Hill, and maintenance is $1,617. The second bedroom is kid-size, but there’s an in-unit washer-dryer, plus a spacious shared roof deck that’s as good as a backyard and a recently updated kitchen with Bosch appliances. No elevator, but storage for scooters and strollers, which I’m assuming is of interest if you’re intrigued by a two-bedroom in Cobble Hill.

360 Clinton Avenue, 3J 

As shown in this listing photo, the living room is spacious and windowed.
Photo: Courtesy the owner

This is just a perfectly nice one-bedroom co-op with double exposures in the bedroom and pleasing arches in the hallway. It’s an elevator building, too. The kind of place you could live in for a long time. Clinton Avenue is charming, and you’re close to basically everything while still living on a quaint Brooklyn block — lots of transit in multiple directions and a Target that’s walkable in 15 minutes, which, to me, is an amenity. Maintenance is $994.

119 Morton Street, 3A

As shown in this listing photo, the second bedroom is spacious enough for your toddler or your teen.
Photo: Compass

This one feels roomy. (I sorted the new listings by size in my search this week.) There is only one window in the living room, but it’s south-facing, so it can do a lot with less. The staging is charmless (I am anti-gray upholstery, as a general practice), but you can think beyond that. It’s nice that it’s right on the water, basically. Hudson River Greenway at your fingertips. The second bedroom is actually bedroom-size, not an exaggerated closet. The building facade isn’t beautiful, but the block is cobblestoned, so call it even. Monthly maintenance is $1,300.

82 Horatio Street, 5A

As shown in this listing photo, there are three beautiful windows in the living room.
Photo: Douglas Elliman

It’s an expensive studio, but it’s nice and I don’t know your life. Plus, fantasy is an important part of our self-development. The details are charming — there’s a fireplace (even if it’s purely decorative), a nicely updated kitchen, and a luxe (if teeny) bathroom. No renovations required, as far as I can tell. Also, the backyard is swoony. What does it stir in you to imagine yourself living in this little sweetie on Horatio? Can that person afford $1,400 in monthly maintenance and the daylong project of painting over the icy-gray walls with something more humane, like Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee?