118 West 13th Street (The Katharine)

The lot runs 62.5 feet along West 13th Street with a 103.25-foot depth; the building occupies 62.5 by 94 feet on a 6,453-square-foot lot. That footprint — nearly 5,900 square feet at grade on a Village block where the neighboring row houses sit on twenty-five-foot lots — is what makes full-floor residences of 3,475 square feet possible here and almost nowhere else on the street.

Benjamin Wistar Morris's elevation is a restrained brick-and-stone institutional front: stone base, areaway ironwork, regular punched openings, no ornamental program of consequence. The LPC designation report does not assign it a style. The conversion restored rather than reimagined it — the permit record is dominated by masonry replacement, repointing and stone repair rather than by new openings, and the few new or modified openings that were approved sit on nonvisible or minimally visible secondary façades.

Department of Finance records carry the eight residences at approximately 742, 3,395, 3,475, 3,475, 3,483, 3,483, 3,483 and 3,981 square feet. Published coverage describes a one-bedroom atelier, a three-bedroom maisonette with private garden, five four-bedroom full-floor residences and a penthouse with private terrace, and the recorded areas line up with that description item for item. Eight additional condominium unit lots of 44 to 87 square feet each are private storage — a detail worth noting because it means storage here conveys as deeded real property rather than as a license from the board.

Two PLUTO fields on this lot are unreliable and should not be used. PLUTO reports 72 total units; the condominium has sixteen unit lots, of which eight are residences. PLUTO reports 25,972 square feet of building area against 35,263 gross square feet in the Department of Finance assessment roll. And PLUTO leaves the historic-district field blank even though the tax lot is inside the Greenwich Village Historic District.

The Katharine runs as a small, newly converted condominium: attended entry, elevator, deeded private storage, in-unit laundry, and private outdoor space at the maisonette and penthouse levels. There is no large amenity program, which is the right answer for eight homes — a gym or a club room in a building this size is a fixed cost divided eight ways.

Because the building is a recent conversion of a ninety-five-year-old masonry structure, the diligence questions are conversion questions rather than operating-history questions. The Local Law 11 façade filing on this building was made in 2026, after the restoration campaign; the masonry, roof, elevator and mechanical systems are new or newly rebuilt, and the relevant documents are the sponsor's construction and warranty representations, the schedule of completed capital work, the reserve funding plan, and the sponsor's remaining unsold inventory. Department of Finance records show the sponsor entity still holding at least one residential unit lot as of the current roll, which is normal at this stage of a sellout but should be confirmed and quantified before contract.

Landmark status shapes ongoing operations. Every exterior repair — repointing, stone, ironwork, windows — requires an LPC permit ahead of a DOB permit, and the building has an active permit history to that effect. Eight owners share those costs.

Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases close through a right of first refusal rather than a cooperative board approval, which produces predictable 30-to-45-day timelines.

Pets: Not documented in public records. Confirm the policy and any weight or breed limits with the managing agent.

Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: All permitted under the standard condominium framework. Department of Finance ownership records show most residential unit lots held in entity or trust name. Minimum lease terms should be confirmed with the managing agent.

Financing: No minimum down payment is documented in public records for this building. Confirm at contract.

In-unit washer/dryer: Residences are equipped.

Storage: Deeded. Eight separate condominium unit lots of 44 to 87 square feet are recorded as private storage. Confirm which storage lot, if any, conveys with a specific residence.

Flip tax: Not documented in public records. Confirm any resale capital contribution with the managing agent before pricing a sale.

Real estate taxes: No exemption appears on any unit lot in the FY2027 assessment roll. No J-51 runs on this conversion despite the change of use. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit.

Landmarks: The lot is inside the Greenwich Village Historic District. Exterior work requires an LPC permit, and interior alterations that require a DOB permit trigger an LPC filing as well. Unit owners at this building have already filed for and received Certificates of No Effect for interior renovations and for new or modified openings on secondary façades.

Recent sales

Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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 (2026) cleared a median $4,343/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00608-7506) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

Ignore the PLUTO unit count and building area. PLUTO reports 72 units and 25,972 square feet. The condominium has eight residences plus eight storage lots, and the Department of Finance carries 35,263 gross square feet. Automated valuation output built on the PLUTO figures will be wrong on both axes.

Underwrite full taxes. No 421-a, no 485-x, no J-51, no exempt value on any lot. A change-of-use conversion does not automatically carry a benefit, and this one does not.

Diligence the conversion, not the operating history. The building is new as a condominium. Read the sponsor's construction and warranty representations, the completed capital schedule, the reserve plan, and the sponsor's remaining unsold inventory.

Confirm which storage unit conveys. Storage here is deeded as separate condominium unit lots, not licensed. That is an advantage, but it means the storage has to be conveyed explicitly.

Budget for Landmarks process. The lot is inside the Greenwich Village Historic District. Exterior work requires an LPC permit and interior work requiring a DOB permit requires an LPC filing.

The bulk is non-complying and protected. The building stands at 4.02 FAR in an R6 district permitting 2.43. That protects the scale and forecloses enlargement in equal measure.

Lead with the plate. A 3,475-square-foot full floor on a landmarked Village block is the argument. It is a format that the surrounding row houses and prewar cooperatives cannot offer.

Tell the building's history accurately. Katharine House, built for the Ladies' Christian Union in 1930–31 to a Benjamin Wistar Morris design, later a New School residence, converted by BKSK Architects with interiors by Nate Berkus. It is a genuinely good story and it is fully documented.

Present the tax number up front. There is no abatement. Pairing the full figure with True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis avoids a late surprise.

Comp within the building by product type, not by average. The atelier, maisonette, full floors and penthouse are four different things. Pricing off a blended building number will mislead in both directions.

If you're considering The Katharine, also evaluate:

• 175 West 13th Street — the Cambridge House; the larger full-service alternative on the same street
• 30 West 13th Street — boutique Greenwich Village condominium on the same block line, east of Fifth
• 60 West 13th Street — Village House; the postwar cooperative alternative nearby
• 65 West 13th Street — The Greenwich; conversion condominium directly across the street line
• The Greenwich Lane — the full-amenity new-construction Village condominium at far larger scale
• 101 West 12th Street — the John Adams; the large full-service condominium one block south
• 149 West 12th Street — boutique Village conversion of comparable unit count
• 122 West 12th Street — prewar Village cooperative; the policy and economics contrast
• 11 Fifth Avenue — the Brevoort; the large full-service Village cooperative alternative
• 126 West 11th Street — the Unadilla; small-building Village alternative with prewar rules