- Year built
- 1918
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 48
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- In a historic district
- Amenities
- Elevator, on-site laundry room, bike storage, private storage, live-in superintendent, intercom; pet-friendly per building records. No doorman, gym, roof deck, or parking
- Financing
- Condominium framework applies — verify down-payment and lending specifics against the by-laws at offer stage
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 131 West 16th Street would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
131 West 16th Street is Chelsea prewar-loft ownership at its most straightforward: a six-story 1918 loft building converted to a 48-unit condominium in 1988, on one of the quiet residential blocks between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. In a corridor whose ownership stock runs from cast-iron loft conversions to glassy new-construction towers, this is the mid-market prewar condo — loft-scale interiors and condominium flexibility at a monthly carry well below the full-service buildings a few blocks in either direction.
The format is the thesis. This is a self-managed-scale building rather than an amenity tower: an elevator, a laundry room, bike and private storage, and a live-in superintendent, with no doorman, gym, or roof deck to underwrite. Buyers coming from full-service condos trade the staffed lobby and amenity stack for a lower common-charge base and the condominium's transactional ease — no board interview, financing and use flexibility, and a fast closing.
For buyers, the pull is location and price discipline. The building sits within a short walk of the Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue subway lines, Union Square to the east and the Meatpacking/High Line edge to the west, and the whole of Chelsea's gallery and retail fabric — with the low-rise tenement and loft blocks around it keeping the immediate street quiet and light reaching the upper floors.
Architecture and unit composition
The building rises six stories in prewar masonry across a wide, deep loft footprint — roughly 31,000 square feet of building area on a 100-foot frontage, a full-block-depth lot converted in 1988 into 48 residences. The apartments read as compact loft product: one-bedrooms concentrated around 528 square feet and two-bedrooms in the 800-to-875-square-foot range per recorded floor plans, with the light and ceiling character of a converted prewar loft rather than the low-ceilinged partitioning of a purpose-built apartment house. R8A zoning and the low-rise surrounding fabric preserve light at the upper floors. This is a boutique-scale building by unit count relative to its wide footprint, and the loft layouts are the product.
Building operations
This is efficient prewar condo ownership: an elevator, a central laundry room, bike and private storage, an intercom, and a live-in superintendent, with common charges spread across 48 owners and no doorman or amenity payroll to carry. Buyers coming from full-service buildings should price the trade consciously — low monthly carry against self-service logistics. Condominium governance at this scale is a working board of resident owners; the offering plan and by-laws should be reviewed carefully during diligence, and we obtain current building documents from the managing agent for clients at offer stage.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair, with repairs due by the deadline stated in the filing. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 13, 2008 | 117 | 448 sf | $575,000 | $1,283/sf |
| Sep 22, 2006 | 442 | 528 sf | $600,000 | $1,136/sf |
| Aug 11, 2006 | 118 | 765 sf | $825,000 | $1,078/sf |
| May 1, 2006 | 224 | 754 sf | $750,000 | $995/sf |
| Jul 16, 2004 | 110 | 762 sf | $641,000 | $841/sf |
Market read. Most recent trades (2008) cleared a median $1,283/sf (recorded) across 1 sale.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00792-7501). 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.
Buying here? Condo closing costs with a mortgage typically run 3 to 6% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
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What to know if you’re buying
The format is the value. Elevator, laundry, storage, and a live-in super in place of a staffed lobby and gym. If that service model fits how you live, the carrying-cost math is favorable; run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator against full-service alternatives in the corridor.
Loft layouts vary line to line. A converted prewar loft building produces meaningful variation in ceiling height, light, and layout across lines and floors. Walk the specific unit — the upper floors and the lines with the best exposure carry the premium.
Condominium flexibility is real. No board interview, financing and pied-à-terre use governed by the by-laws rather than a co-op board's discretion, and a fast closing. Verify the specific pet, sublet, and financing rules against the offering plan during diligence.
Same-building comps are unusually deep. With 48 units and a long trading history, the building's own recent closings anchor pricing well — a rarity at this scale. We pull the current comparable set at offer stage.
Mansion tax applies at the top of the range. Two-bedroom pricing here crosses the $1 million threshold — run the Mansion Tax Calculator at the intended price before offering.
What to know if you’re selling
Market the loft character and the carry. The pitch is prewar loft scale plus low monthly cost against the corridor's amenity towers — position the trade honestly and let the format and location argument do the work.
Use the building's own history. With a deep closing ledger, your own building's recent sales are a genuine anchor — adjusted for floor, line, exposure, and condition. That is a marketing advantage most boutique buildings don't have.
Condition and light drive the spread. In a converted loft building, renovated units with strong exposure separate meaningfully from dated stock on lower or darker lines. Price to the specific apartment.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 131 West 16th Street, also evaluate:
- 212 West 18th Street — the full-service Walker Tower alternative a few blocks west; the amenity-and-scale counterpoint
- 252 Seventh Avenue — prewar Chelsea condominium on Seventh Avenue; the larger full-service option
- 222 West 14th Street — boutique condo on the Chelsea–Village seam
- 3 West 13th Street — prewar-loft condominium on the Village edge; a close format comparable
More Chelsea buildings
- 130 West 20th Street (Prima) — 2008 condominium by H. Thomas O'Hara Architects
- 130 West 30th Street (The Cass Gilbert) — 1927 condominium
- Chelsea House, 130 West 19th Street — 2005 condominium
- 131–133 West 28th Street (Garden Lofts) — 1908 co-op
- The Stanwick, 132 West 22nd Street — 1913
- 133 West 14th Street
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at 131 West 16th Street?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.