1 Worth Street

A six-story masonry warehouse on a lot of about 3,379 square feet, roughly 45 feet of Worth Street frontage by 100 feet deep, carrying some 19,285 square feet of building area and standing about 86 feet to the roof. Recorded gross floor area works out to a ratio of 5.71 against a residential ratio of 6.02; that simple comparison does not establish legal zoning floor area, remaining development rights or whether an enlargement is permitted.

The apartment designations tell the plan directly: 2R, then 3F and 3R, 4F and 4R, 5F and 5R, 6F and 6R. Front units face Worth Street and the Western Union building across it; rear units face north over the interior of the block. At roughly 45 by 100 feet, a full front or rear unit on this footprint is a true loft plate — long, column-supported, with the ceiling height and window rhythm of the original warehouse rather than the compressed proportions of a purpose-built apartment house.

Renovation history is unit by unit and spans two decades of DOB filings: partition removal and kitchen and bath relocation on the fifth floor in 2000, interior work on 4R in 2008, fourth-floor renovation in 2009, further work in 2011, and a 2013 job covering interior and exterior work on the third floor and the roof. In 2012 the corporation filed for new roof decking, a green roof and steel dunnage for future mechanical equipment. ACRIS records roof rights conveyed in connection with the sixth-floor front apartment, so private roof access is documented as an appurtenance to at least one line — confirm which, and on what terms, before assuming it.

Condition variance in a building like this is wide by design. Nine owners renovating on nine schedules to nine standards produces nine different apartments. Underwrite the unit, not the building.

Small, staffless and self-directed. There is no doorman, no gym and no amenity program; the building runs with an outside managing agent and contracted services. The capital record over the last twenty-five years is the ordinary one for a landmarked masonry building of this age: a full façade restoration filed in 2001 including granite lintel and sill replacement, cornice work and fire-escape removal; a sidewalk shed in 2011 for remedial repairs; roof and green-roof work in 2012; partial vault replacement under the sidewalk in 2019; and three new windows in the west façade in 2020. Those are Local Law 11 cycles and vault-maintenance obligations, and on a masonry landmark they recur. A buyer should ask where the building sits in its current façade cycle and what the last inspection report concluded.

The building carries two commercial units. Confirm who holds those interests and whether rent or other payments flow to the corporation; if they do, the maturity, escalations and creditworthiness of those leases affect maintenance directly in a nine-apartment co-op. Ask for them.

Purchasing at 1 Worth Street means buying shares in One Worth Corp. and taking a proprietary lease, not a deed. None of the cooperative's transfer policies are published, and this profile will not invent them. What follows is the list a buyer must obtain from the managing agent, in writing, before going to contract — because in a nine-shareholder corporation each of these is set by a small board and can be stricter than the Tribeca norm.

The board package and the interview. A full financial disclosure package, tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, a REBNY-style financial statement, personal and professional reference letters, and an in-person interview. Ask the agent for the current package, the required reference count, the processing fee schedule and the board's typical turnaround. In a building this small, scheduling alone can add weeks.

The financing ceiling. Ask what percentage of purchase price the board will permit a purchaser to finance, and whether that ceiling is fixed in the proprietary lease or set by board policy. Small Tribeca loft co-ops frequently sit well below the 80 percent a lender would otherwise allow, and some require all cash.

Post-closing liquidity. Ask what the board expects a purchaser to hold in liquid assets after closing, expressed either as a dollar figure or as a multiple of annual maintenance. This is the requirement that most often disqualifies an otherwise strong buyer and it is almost never disclosed in advance.

Sublet policy. Ask whether subletting is permitted at all, after how many years of ownership, for how many years in total, whether board approval of each subtenant is required, and what sublet fee applies. Small co-ops frequently prohibit subletting outright.

Flip tax. Ask whether a transfer fee exists, how it is calculated — percentage of gross price, percentage of gain, per-share, or a flat amount — and which side pays it. Confirm it against the proprietary lease rather than against a listing sheet.

Pied-à-terre, trusts and entities. Ask whether non-primary-residence purchase is permitted, whether title may be taken in a revocable trust or an LLC, and if so on what guaranty and occupancy conditions. Ask the same question about parents purchasing for children and about co-purchase and guarantors. In a nine-unit corporation these are case-by-case board decisions, not published policy.

Financial condition. Request the two most recent audited financial statements, the current budget, the underlying mortgage terms and maturity, the reserve balance, any current or contemplated assessment, and the commercial lease terms. In a corporation this small, one delinquency or one capital surprise is a large percentage of the whole.

Recent sales

Recent transfers at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.

Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $1,665/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 1.2% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00179-0011). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

Get the policy stack in writing before you offer. Financing ceiling, post-closing liquidity, sublet rules, flip tax, entity and pied-à-terre treatment. None of it is published. All of it can kill a deal after you are emotionally committed.

Read the commercial leases and the façade file. Two commercial units sit in a nine-apartment building; confirm who holds them and whether their rent flows to the corporation, and if it does, term, escalations and tenant credit flow straight through to your maintenance. And a landmarked 1896 masonry building with a 2001 restoration and a 2011 remedial shed behind it is due for scrutiny — ask for the most recent façade inspection report.

Confirm the roof rights. ACRIS shows roof rights conveyed with a sixth-floor line. If you are buying that apartment, confirm the grant; if you are buying another, confirm what you do not have.

Prepare the corporation's paperwork early. In a nine-shareholder building the delay is almost never the buyer — it is assembling current financials, the lease, the house rules and the board's schedule. Have them ready before you list.

Lead with the attribution and the district. A documented McKim, Mead & White warehouse inside the Tribeca West Historic District is a short list, and LPC's own database backs the 1896 date and the firm credit against the 1870 date in circulation. It does not say which partner led the design, so market it as a McKim, Mead & White building, not a Stanford White one. That is a durable marketing asset.

Price the tenure honestly. Buyers comparing this building to a Tribeca condominium are comparing different products. The plate and the architecture argue up; the board approval, the likely financing ceiling and the absence of staff argue down.

If you're considering 1 Worth Street, also evaluate:

• 10 Leonard Street — 1884–85 Edward Hale Kendall warehouse on the same tax block, converted to a loft cooperative inside the Tribeca West Historic District; the closest like-for-like in age, tenure and scale
• 84 Hudson Street — the Kendall warehouse group on the same block at 2–8 Leonard Street; designated, loft-scale
• 25 Leonard Street — 1876–77 John G. Prague store-and-loft building on the same block; the boutique condominium counterpoint
• 14 Leonard Street — J. Morgan Slade loft group on the same block, designated
• 155 Franklin Street — 1882 George W. DaCunha store-and-loft on the same block
• 24 Leonard Street — the one lot on the block outside the district; a ground-up-scale enlargement and the tenure and preservation contrast
• 100 Hudson Street — the larger 1909–10 Alexander Baylies loft building at the block's Hudson Street end
• 85 Worth Street — Worth Street loft conversion a few blocks east on a separate block
• 145 Hudson Street — Tribeca loft conversion of comparable character at larger scale
• 60 Collister Street — small Tribeca loft building; the boutique alternative