- Year built
- 1905
- Type
- Condominium
- Landmark
- No
The Petersfield is a pre-war loft condominium at the corner of Fourth Avenue and East 12th Street — the seam where Union Square, Greenwich Village, and the East Village meet, on the old "Book Row" stretch of lower Fourth Avenue. The eight-story masonry building dates to 1905 and was converted to seventy condominium apartments in the 1980s, early in the wave that turned the area's commercial loft stock into residential addresses. The conversion kept the building's pre-war character — tall ceilings, large windows, a canopied entrance — while wrapping it in full-service operation.
For buyers, the building offers something specific: loft-scaled, full-service condominium living at one of downtown's best-connected crossroads, steps from Union Square and its subway hub, the greenmarket, and the restaurant-and-retail density of the Village and East Village. As a condominium near Union Square — a corridor where co-op conversions are common — it carries the financing and ownership flexibility that draws buyers who want latitude in a downtown home.
Building operations
The Petersfield runs as a full-service condominium: a 24-hour doorman, a roof deck, and a package room. The building is pet-friendly. As a condominium, governance is light — a right-of-first-refusal rather than a co-op board package and interview, no financing cap, and customary acceptance of pied-à-terre, trust, and LLC ownership. Subletting is materially freer than at the surrounding co-op conversions, which makes The Petersfield attractive to buyers who want flexibility at a Union Square address.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $30,173/yr
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $109,803/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $36 – $131
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The facade passed its last inspection with no required repairs — nothing to budget for here, and no facade assessment on the horizon for roughly five years.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Recent sales
With 70 residences, The Petersfield turns over at a steady, moderate cadence — a handful of resales in a typical year across the loft layouts. Pricing tracks the Union Square / Greenwich Village condominium tier: the combination of pre-war loft character, full-service operation, condominium flexibility, and a transit-rich location supports solid value, with the larger, corner, and renovated homes commanding the premiums. The auto-generated sales record reflects recorded transfers as they post.
What to know if you’re buying
This is a Union Square loft condominium with full-service operation. Financing is flexible — no co-op cap. There is no board interview — a right-of-first-refusal clears the purchase. Pied-à-terre, LLC, and trust ownership are customary, the building is pet-friendly, and subletting is far freer than at the area's co-op conversions. The product to study is the line: ceiling height, window count, and corner exposure vary across the floor-plates, and the larger and renovated homes are the premium inventory. The location is the durable asset — atop the Union Square transit hub, in the middle of the Village's retail and dining. We help buyers read the resale history and weigh The Petersfield against the surrounding condominium stock.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the location and the structure. A full-service loft condominium steps from Union Square — with the financing and sublet flexibility a co-op conversion can't match — appeals to a broad downtown buyer pool. Present the loft's strengths — ceiling height, light, corner exposure, any renovation — and benchmark to the Union Square / Village condominium market. The right-of-first-refusal keeps the closing faster and more predictable than a co-op board process, itself a selling point to the flexibility-minded buyer this building attracts. A well-presented corner or renovated home competes against limited comparable supply.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Petersfield, also evaluate the Union Square and Village condominium and loft addresses nearby:
- 111 Fourth Avenue — pre-war loft building on the same block
- 111 Third Avenue — full-service building near Union Square
- 240 Park Avenue South — full-service condominium nearby
- 260 Park Avenue South — pre-war condominium on Park Avenue South
- 205 Third Avenue — full-service building in the Gramercy/Union Square area
- 230 East 20th Street — Gramercy-edge building nearby
The Roebling Team at The Petersfield
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Union Square, Greenwich Village, and Gramercy corridors — the pre-war loft conversions, the full-service condominiums, and the cooperatives that fill the blocks around the park and the square. We publish this profile because downtown buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence: how a loft condominium like The Petersfield trades, what the larger and corner homes are worth, and how to position a resale against the area's condominium inventory.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at The Petersfield, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
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