Graydon Chelsea (128 West 23rd Street)

Kutnicki Bernstein Architects carried the new-building application: fifteen stories, 166 feet, thirty dwelling units, on a lot roughly 4,937 square feet with fifty feet of frontage. The plan's own floor scheme runs cellar, first, second through twelfth, then fourteenth through sixteenth, skipping the thirteenth designation — which is why sixteen appears in marketing records against the fifteen in the city's structural count.

The stack is straightforward. Floors 3 through 7 hold three residences each; floors 8 through the designated 15th hold two; the designated 16th is a single duplex penthouse with a stair bulkhead to its private roof terrace. Two passenger elevators serve the core. Thirteen residences carry balconies or terraces as limited common elements. The commercial unit takes the portions of the first floor and cellar that are not common elements, with its own separate street entrance, and the plan expressly permits it to be subdivided among more than one rental tenant.

The offering plan's floor-level ceiling heights and interior specifications sit in Part II of the plan, which was not legible in the copy on file. Ceiling heights and appliance specifications should be confirmed against the plan's Part II or the current listing materials for a specific residence rather than assumed from the building's vintage.

The amenity program is proportionate to thirty units and concentrated on two levels. The second floor holds a lounge and fitness room opening to a rear outdoor terrace, with a half bath; published records describe an outdoor kitchen, dining area and fireplace on that terrace. The main roof carries a common terrace for all residential owners, separate from the penthouse's private roof deck. The cellar holds the bike room, the storage room containing the thirty licensed storage rooms, the superintendent's room, and the refuse and mechanical rooms. The plan states plainly that there is nothing else.

Storage is worth reading carefully. The thirty storage rooms were sold as licenses, not as deeded condominium units — an aggregate $300,000 offering, appurtenant to residences rather than separately conveyable property. A buyer who wants storage should confirm that the specific residence carries a license and on what terms.

The expense stack is split between shared expenses, residential common expenses and commercial common expenses, with the commercial unit bearing 7.5 percent of shared expenses per the first amendment's budget. Because the sponsor still holds the retail unit, that allocation is worth confirming as current — the sponsor's share of the building's operating costs and its voting weight both run through it.

The building is young. Its first several operating years are still establishing the expense and reserve baseline, and there is no long record of capital spending to read. Ask for the current budget, the reserve position, and any sponsor holdings before contract.

Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases close through the Board's right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval.

Transfers and leasing: The offering plan states that a unit owner may sell or lease to anyone, without restriction or limitation, subject only to the Board's right of first refusal at the same price and terms. There is no residency restriction in the documents on file.

Closing contributions: The original plan describes two months of common charges at the first sale of each unit, with working-capital and reserve uses. Note 2 to the 2024 financial statements in the Ninth Amendment separately describes one month of current common charges for working capital and one month for reserves upon a new purchaser's acquisition. The earlier statement that there was no separate working-capital contribution was incomplete. Obtain the current resale closing instructions and governing provisions to confirm the amount due on the transaction; do not assume that a resale is exempt

Flip tax: A separate percentage-of-price or percentage-of-profit transfer tax has not been established by this review. That does not mean a closing is contribution-free: the financial statements describe working-capital and reserve contributions above. Confirm all current fees, payer obligations and exemptions with counsel and the managing agent

Pets and house rules: The rules and regulations sit in Part II of the offering plan, which was not legible in the copy on file. Confirm the current pet, move-in and alteration rules with the managing agent.

Real estate taxes — no exemption, and read the abatement question carefully. No 421-a and no other exemption or abatement of any kind appears on any of the building's 31 unit lots in Department of Finance exemption records for tax years 2021 through 2027, and the FY2027 assessment roll shows zero exempt value on every unit lot. That is consistent with the offering plan: the tax counsel's projections in the third amendment on file are expressly made "prior to any tax exemptions or abatements," and project the residential units at an assessed valuation of $6,000,000 effective July 1, 2022 at a projected rate of 12.8 percent. Abatements apply at the bill level, so confirm on the apartment's current tax bill.

The only tax benefit the plan discusses is the New York City co-op and condo property tax abatement, and the plan's tax counsel expressly declined to assume it. That caution matters here in a way it does not at every building: roughly a third of the residential unit lots are held in LLC or trust names on the FY2027 assessment roll, and units owned by corporations or LLCs, and units that are not the owner's primary residence, generally do not qualify for that abatement; a trust-held unit qualifies only if it is the primary residence of the trustee, all of the trust's beneficiaries, or the life estate holder. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit and check the ownership vehicle before assuming any abatement applies.

Recent sales

Recent closings 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 (2025) cleared a median $1,793/sf (floor-adjusted) across 2 sales. 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 1.9% 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 1-00798-7508; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

Expect the address to fight your data. City records address the tax lot and the retail unit as 130 West 23rd Street and the residences as 128. PLUTO also still reports two buildings on the lot. Neither is an error about the property; both are artifacts of the 2014–17 assembly and the 2021 condominium subdivision.

Underwrite full unabated taxes, and check the ownership vehicle. There is no 421-a here and no other exemption. If the residence will be held in an LLC or used as a second home, the city's co-op and condo abatement is generally unavailable too; held in a trust, it qualifies only if the unit is the primary residence of the trustee, all beneficiaries, or the life estate holder.

Identify the lot-line windows. The west façade carries them with no easement, and the plan puts the sealing cost on the affected owner. Ask which windows in the specific unit are lot-line windows and what the neighboring site could support.

Price the service level honestly. Sixteen hours of part-time concierge coverage and a visiting superintendent is a lean, sensible model for thirty units — but it is not a doorman building, and the difference shows up in package handling and after-hours access.

Confirm the storage license. Storage rooms here are licenses appurtenant to residences, not deeded units. Confirm in writing that one comes with the apartment.

Ask about the retail unit. The sponsor still owns it, it can be subdivided for multiple tenants, and it carries 7.5 percent of shared expenses under the budget on file. Its use, its tenancy and its share of the building's costs are all worth reading before contract.

Lead with the assembly. Two lots merged into fifty feet of frontage is why this apartment is the size it is. On a block of converted lofts and small prewar units, purpose-built family layouts with private outdoor space are the scarce thing.

Get ahead of the address. Buyers and their lenders will pull records that say 130 West 23rd Street and report two buildings. Explaining it in the setup costs nothing; letting it surface in diligence costs momentum.

Be direct about taxes. No abatement, and no city abatement for LLC or non-primary owners, or for a trust unless the trustee, all beneficiaries or the life estate holder live in the unit. Present the full number with a True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis rather than letting a buyer's attorney find it.

Comparables are thin by design. Thirty residences delivered in a single 2021–22 sellout means same-building history is shallow. Line-specific and floor-specific analysis will carry the pricing argument further than a building average.

If you're considering Graydon Chelsea, also evaluate:

• Citizen (124 West 23rd Street) — 2012 ground-up condominium two doors east; the closest new-construction peer on the same block front
• 136 West 23rd Street — 1889 Artist-Artisan Institute building converted to lofts; the loft-conversion alternative on the same block
• The Flynn (155 West 18th Street) — 2016 new-construction condominium; the nearest peer by vintage and construction type
• 133 West 22nd Street — 2008 ground-up condominium one block south; the prior-generation new-construction comparable
• Verde Chelsea (125 West 22nd Street) — 2006 condominium; a boutique alternative with a different amenity and service model
• The Clement Clarke (140 West 22nd Street) — 1911 loft building gut-converted in 2008; the converted-loft comparison a block south
• 126 West 22nd Street — 1910 loft building converted in 1999; the smaller, older boutique alternative
• Chelsea Stratus (101 West 24th Street) — 202-residence full-amenity condominium; the large-building alternative with a very different cost base
• Carriage House Chelsea (159 West 24th Street) — 24-residence prewar conversion; the boutique-scale conversion comparable
• 124 West 24th Street (124W24) — 20-residence loft conversion; the closest match on unit count, at the opposite end of the construction spectrum