Park Slope Movers, from the Stoop to the Top Floor
Two out of three apartments in Park Slope’s main ZIP code are walk-ups, almost all of them in brownstones and small buildings of four floors or fewer. Most moves here start at the top of a stoop. Our trucks and our storage are at one address in LIC.
Send the two addresses first. When we phone you, we ask about the stoop, the floor and whether the building is a co-op.
We are Park Slope movers based in Long Island City, in Queens, where our trucks, our crews and our storage share one address. In Park Slope we move people out of brownstone floor-throughs, top-floor walk-ups, small co-ops and the newer buildings on 4th Avenue. Each of those asks for something different on the day, and this page goes through them. We also work as NYC movers in the other four boroughs. For a price, send both addresses.
Park Slope Movers and the Brownstone Walk-Up
In ZIP code 11215, which covers most of Park Slope along with South Slope and Windsor Terrace, 68% of apartments are walk-ups, from our own tally of the city’s PLUTO building data. Add 11217, which takes in the North Slope together with Boerum Hill and the towers near Atlantic Avenue, and the share for the two is 53%.
Park Slope walk-ups are low. Only about 6% of 11215’s walk-up apartments are in buildings taller than four floors. The typical one is a brownstone or a rowhouse built around 1915, three or four floors over a garden level, with a stoop up to the parlor floor.
That shapes the job for Park Slope movers. There is rarely an elevator to book, but every piece goes down a stoop and through a stair with tight turns. Let us know the floor and the biggest furniture at both addresses. The walk-up map and our walk-up guide have more on the stairs.
Two-Family Houses and the Parlor Floor
The same records list about 3,100 two-family houses and about 1,000 one-family houses in 11215, plus about 1,400 three-family buildings. Many are brownstones split into a floor-through on each level, with the owner on the parlor floor or the garden floor and a tenant above.
In those houses the stair and the front door are shared. Agree on the date with the other household, and ask that the hall and the stoop stay clear while the crew works. If the owner lives in the house, let them know the hours you expect the crew.
A sofa that went up the stoop years ago can stick on the turn under the skylight today. Measure it, and the narrowest landing, before you book. Our post on whether your couch will fit through the door shows how.
Small Co-ops in Brownstones
Park Slope has a kind of building most neighborhoods do not: the small walk-up co-op. In 11215 the city lists about 330 walk-up co-op buildings, averaging about eight apartments each, most of them converted brownstones and small apartment houses.
A co-op of eight apartments still has a board and house rules. It may set move hours, ask for a deposit, or want a certificate of insurance even with no elevator to protect. Ask the board or the managing agent for the rules before you set the date, not after.
If the building wants a COI, we have it ready within one business day of the booking. Have the requirements emailed to you with our address on copy; the certificate goes back as a reply.
New Buildings on 4th Avenue
The city rezoned Park Slope in 2003, keeping the brownstone side streets low and allowing buildings of up to 12 floors on 4th Avenue. The buildings followed. In 11215 there are now about 1,600 apartments in more than 20 buildings on 4th Avenue finished since 2005, and about half of all elevator and condo apartments in the ZIP code date from 2005 or later.
A move from one of them is a different day from a brownstone move. Management books the service elevator, sets the hours and asks for the COI; ask for the move rules in writing when you give notice.
Parking and Loading in Park Slope
Nobody can hold a Park Slope curb for a move. NYC DOT keeps no permit for reserving a stretch of curb while a commercial vehicle loads.
Prospect Park West has a two-way protected bike lane along the park side, and a truck cannot use it. On 5th Avenue and 7th Avenue, shops take deliveries along the same curb a moving truck needs. On the brownstone side streets, parked cars usually fill both sides, so the nearest legal space may be several houses away, and on street-cleaning days one side is closed until the posted time ends.
When you book, tell us which block and which side. A longer carry from the truck is time, and time is most of a local price.
Park Slope to Manhattan, and Around Brooklyn
When the other address is in Manhattan at or below 60th Street, the move enters the MTA congestion zone, and we put the toll on the quote at cost. The Manhattan movers page explains what to ask buildings over there.
For moves inside the borough, see Brooklyn movers. To Queens, start with Queens movers, or Long Island City movers for the neighborhood we are based in. Leaving the city, see NYC to NJ movers or long distance movers.
Storage Between Two Park Slope Addresses
Your things can wait in our facility at the LIC office, handled only by our own crews. It is a common fix when a closing slips, a renovation runs long, or a lease starts two weeks after the last one ends.
Visits are by appointment, with at least 24 hours’ notice. Details are on our storage page.
Parts of Park Slope We Move
As Park Slope movers we work every part of the neighborhood:
- The North Slope, from Flatbush Avenue and Grand Army Plaza down to Union Street
- The middle of the Slope, between 7th Avenue and Prospect Park West
- The South Slope, toward Green-Wood Cemetery
- 5th Avenue and the blocks down to 4th Avenue
- Next door: Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Gowanus and Carroll Gardens
What Park Slope Movers Charge
Local moves in Park Slope start at $295. The final number depends on things we can usually see from the call:
- How much is going, and whether we pack.
- The stairs and the stoop at both ends, and the walk from wherever the truck parks.
- When you move. New York leases tend to end on the last day of a month, so a date at the end of the month can cost nearly twice a quieter one.
To find a quieter date, read the cheapest time to move in NYC. For what goes into the price, read how much movers cost in NYC.
Count the Stoop as a Flight
What limits a brownstone move is simple arithmetic. A parlor-floor apartment is a flight of steps above the sidewalk, and every floor above it adds another flight. Someone on the “second floor” of a brownstone is often two flights up, carrying everything down a stoop at the end.
When you tell us the floor, count the stoop. A crew sized for one flight on a three-flight job runs long, and we would rather plan for the real stairs than explain the clock on the day.
Park Slope Moving Questions
Does a small Park Slope co-op need a COI from the movers?
Many do, even without an elevator. Ask the board or the managing agent; if one is needed, it is ready one business day after you book.
Do you handle top-floor brownstone apartments?
Yes, regularly. Give us the floor, counting the stoop, plus the size of the big pieces, and the crew is sized to match.
Can the moving truck park on Prospect Park West?
The bike lane is off-limits, so the truck stops in the nearest legal spot on the block or around the corner, and the crew carries from there.
Is there a permit to reserve parking for the move?
No. No such permit exists for loading, so the truck uses the nearest legal space.
Do you store things between Park Slope moves?
Yes, in our Long Island City facility, loaded by our own crews. To visit your things, give us 24 hours’ notice.
How much is a local Park Slope move?
Moves begin at $295. Volume, packing, the stairs at each end and the date decide the rest.
Need Park Slope movers? Start with the two addresses
Park Slope moves from $295, a crew counted for the real number of flights, and the COI inside one business day when a building wants one. Questions first? Phone (212) 933-9959 and ask for a Park Slope quote.
or call 212-933-9959
Magical Moving & Storage, 30-10 41st Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101. Licensed and insured. USDOT 4144902, MC 1589978, NYSDOT 42311.
