Williamsburg Brooklyn Movers for Towers and Walk-Ups
Williamsburg is two neighborhoods in one: new towers along the East River and older walk-ups a few blocks inland. More than half of its elevator apartments are in buildings finished since 2005. Our office is a short drive north, over the Pulaski Bridge.
Two addresses are enough to begin. When we call back, we ask whether each building has an elevator and where a truck can stop.
We are Williamsburg Brooklyn movers based in Long Island City, which sits north of Williamsburg across the Pulaski Bridge and through Greenpoint. Our Williamsburg work comes in two kinds: the elevator buildings near the water, and the walk-ups and three-family houses on the blocks inland. The two need different crews and different paperwork, and this page explains why. Beyond Williamsburg, we move people as NYC movers across every borough. To start, send us both addresses.
Williamsburg Brooklyn Movers: Towers by the Water, Walk-Ups Inland
Across Williamsburg’s two ZIP codes, 11211 and 11249, 45% of apartments are walk-ups in the city’s PLUTO records, by our analysis. The split between the two ZIP codes tells the real story. In 11249, which runs along the waterfront, it is 24%. In 11211, which takes in most of the blocks inland, it is 58%.
Williamsburg walk-ups also run taller than most in Brooklyn. Here 27% of walk-up apartments sit in buildings of five floors or more; for the borough as a whole it is about 5%.
So the crew depends on which Williamsburg you live in. A tower move turns on the elevator booking, a walk-up move on the number of flights. Tell us the floor and the type of building at both ends. Our walk-up map and walk-up moving guide go further.
The Towers on Kent Avenue
The waterfront changed after the city rezoned it in 2005. Of the elevator and condo apartments in the two ZIP codes, 57% are in buildings finished in 2005 or later, and Kent Avenue alone has about 2,500 apartments in 15 of those buildings.
For Williamsburg Brooklyn movers that means paperwork first. These buildings run like managed towers anywhere: management asks for an insurance certificate, reserves the service elevator or the loading dock, and decides the hours. We issue the certificate within one business day after booking. Have management email its requirements to you with us on copy, and the COI comes back on the same email.
A condo adds a layer. The board or the managing agent may ask for a move form and a deposit before it gives you a date, so ask for those early.
Three-Family Houses and Walk-Ups Inland
Away from the water, Williamsburg is low and old. The city’s records list about 1,100 three-family buildings in the two ZIP codes, about 400 more with five or six apartments, and about 1,100 one- and two-family houses. Most of the walk-ups were built around 1915.
Inland moves look like the rest of north Brooklyn: a front door straight onto the sidewalk, a narrow stair, and two or three flights to the top. Large pieces decide how long the stairs take, so measure the sofa and the box spring before the day. Our post on whether your couch will fit through the door shows the method.
Lofts and Converted Buildings
Some Williamsburg homes are in converted factory and warehouse buildings. There the elevator may be a freight elevator that the super runs, the halls can be long, and the loading door may face a different street from the front entrance.
Ask the building, in writing, for the elevator hours, who operates it, and which door movers should use. With those three answers we can plan the day.
Parking and Loading in Williamsburg
In Williamsburg, as everywhere in the city, nobody can book the curb for a moving truck. NYC DOT has no permit of that kind for commercial loading or unloading.
Kent Avenue runs one way beside a two-way protected bike lane that the city laid out in 2009, and the bike lane is no place for a truck. On Bedford Avenue, Grand Street and Metropolitan Avenue, delivery trucks compete for the same stretch of curb.
Side streets lose one curb to street cleaning for the posted hours. Tell us what your block is like at booking, and the crew plans its carry from wherever the nearest legal space is.
Over the Bridge to Manhattan, and Around Brooklyn
The Williamsburg Bridge puts the Lower East Side a few minutes away. Every Manhattan address at or below 60th Street is inside the MTA congestion zone, and when a move goes there we add the toll at cost. For Manhattan buildings and their rules, see Manhattan movers.
For the rest of the borough, see Brooklyn movers. Heading into Queens, Queens movers covers the borough, and Long Island City movers the neighborhood where our office is.
Storage North of Williamsburg
We keep stored goods at our LIC facility, the same address as the office, a short drive north through Greenpoint. Our own crews do the loading.
It is there for the gap between two dates: two leases that do not line up, or a closing date that moves. Give us at least 24 hours’ notice before you visit your things. The storage page has the rest.
Parts of Williamsburg We Move
As Williamsburg Brooklyn movers we cover the whole neighborhood:
- The Northside, around McCarren Park and Bedford Avenue
- The Southside, between Grand Street and the bridge
- The waterfront along Kent Avenue and Wythe Avenue, from Bushwick Inlet Park to Domino Park
- South Williamsburg, below Broadway
- East Williamsburg, out toward Bushwick Avenue
- Next door: Greenpoint, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy
What Williamsburg Brooklyn Movers Charge
Local moves in Williamsburg start at $295. Beyond that, the price rests on three things we can see in advance:
- Volume: the furniture and the boxes, plus packing if you want it.
- Access: an elevator booking or a set of flights at each end, and the distance from the truck to the door.
- The date you pick. Demand peaks in the last days of each month, and a move then can cost close to double a quiet date mid-month.
Our post on the cheapest time to move in NYC shows which dates are quieter, and how much movers cost in NYC breaks the price down.
One Service Elevator, Hundreds of Apartments
The honest limit on a waterfront tower move is the elevator. In a building with several hundred apartments, one service elevator serves all of them, and the building hands out the slots. If another resident already has the slot you wanted, it is the date that moves, not the elevator.
What we control is our side: the COI in time, a crew sized to the slot, and the truck ready when the elevator is. We cannot add hours to a slot the building has already given out, and we tell you that when you book rather than on the day.
Williamsburg Moving Questions
Do Williamsburg buildings ask movers for a COI?
The towers and condos nearly always do; most walk-ups and three-family houses do not. When one is needed, ours goes out within a business day of the booking.
Can the truck load on Kent Avenue?
Not in the protected bike lane. The truck takes the closest legal space, on Kent itself or on the cross street, and we plan the carry from there.
Do you move lofts in converted buildings?
Yes. Tell us whether there is a freight elevator, who runs it, and which door the building wants movers to use.
Is there a congestion toll on a move from Williamsburg to Manhattan?
Yes, for any Manhattan address at or below 60th Street. We add it at cost and show it on the quote.
Where do you store things?
In Long Island City, at our office, a short drive north of Williamsburg. Our crews load it, and visits need 24 hours’ notice.
How much does a local Williamsburg move cost?
Moves start at $295, and the volume, packing, flights or elevator at each end and the date make up the rest.
Hiring Williamsburg Brooklyn movers? Send us both addresses
Williamsburg moves from $295, a COI ready inside one business day, and storage a short drive north. Call (212) 933-9959 to talk the move through.
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.
