- Year built
- 1908
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 24
- Floors
- 7
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Two passenger elevators (modernized from 2018), a service entrance and cellar storage rooms
- Flip tax
- A transfer fee exists; the audited statements record transfer-fee income. The rate is not documented
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 131–133 West 28th Street (Garden Lofts) 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.
This building went up in the middle of New York's wholesale flower district, and for most of a century its ground floor sold flowers. The Tarrytown Building Company assembled two five-story buildings on the site and filed plans in 1908 for a seven-story loft and office building. Historical records show wholesale florists sharing the ground floor by 1915, printers on the floors above, and florists still at street level in the 1950s. In the 1930s the upper floors housed labor-union offices, and in 1932 a violent clash between rival unions inside the building was reported in the press.
In 1982 a sponsor partnership converted floors two through seven into 24 lofts and kept the stores under a long-term lease. The structure is still in place: 24 apartments carry all 2,800 shares, and a commercial tenant pays rent to the corporation. In the 2019 audited statements that rent was about 17 percent of revenue.
Architecture and unit composition
The architect's report describes Class 3 non-fireproof construction, the building-code class for masonry walls with wood or unprotected interior framing. It gives ceiling heights of about 10 feet 9 inches on the ground floor and about 9 feet 3 inches on floors two through seven, measured before the conversion. Four lofts to a floor on a 53-foot frontage gives two street-facing and two rear-facing apartments per floor. DOB filings show the usual run of loft renovations. In 2008 a seventh-floor filing added a lot-line window and a skylight. Lot-line windows sit on the property line and can be lost if the neighbor builds, a live issue after the rezoning.
The two passenger elevators are original to the building and were converted to automatic operation before 1981. In December 2018 the corporation contracted for their modernization, about $506,000 before design fees, still in progress at the end of 2019.
Building operations
The audited statements on file, through December 31, 2019, show a building with modest debt and real estate taxes as its main cost:
- Real estate taxes were about 60 percent of operating expenses in 2019. The corporation protests its assessment every year and won a reduction in 2015.
- The store lease was set in the plan at 35 years with two 25-year renewal options, with rent moving in proportion to changes in maintenance. ACRIS records a lease between the corporation and the sponsor partnership in 1998, so the current terms may differ. Ask for the lease itself.
- Capital work: Local Law 11 repairs to the north chimney and new steel for the water-tank supports, completed in 2018. Local Law 11 is the city's periodic façade-inspection law. Elevator modernization followed from 2018.
- Liquidity: cash and securities of about $510,000 at the end of 2019.
- No reserve study. The auditor notes the corporation has not had a formal study of future major repairs done. The board reviews building systems as needs arise.
- Abatement pass-back: the corporation bills shareholders a special assessment roughly equal to the co-op tax abatement credited to them. A buyer who qualifies for the abatement should not count it as a net saving.
The 2021 refinancing retired the NCB loan and credit line that were due in October 2024. The statements on file predate it, so ask for the current audit and the new loan's rate, term and maturity.
The 2025 rezoning
Until 2025 the block was zoned M1-6, a manufacturing district. The architect's report in the 1981 plan says so, and residential use rested on the conversion-era certificate of occupancy. The August 14, 2025 Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan rezoned the lot to M1-8A/R11. That is a paired district that allows manufacturing and residential use side by side, inside the new MSX special district.
PLUTO records a residential floor-area ratio of 12.0 against a built ratio of 6.59. Floor-area ratio is a building's floor area divided by its lot area. On paper, the corporation holds unused development rights, but whether they are usable depends on the structure and the zoning lot. The more immediate effect is on the block. Several neighboring lots are hotels, low-rise retail and small commercial buildings, and they can now be redeveloped as housing. Underwrite what that could mean for light and views on your exposure.
Nothing reviewed suggests a Loft Law (Article 7-C) history. This was a sponsor's conversion under a filed offering plan, with a 1979 alteration application for the residential floors.
Policy framework
Board package and interview. You are buying shares in the corporation and a proprietary lease, the lease that gives a shareholder the right to occupy a specific apartment. The board must approve the purchase.
Non-smoking certification. This is the rule most likely to catch a buyer off guard. Since September 2019, every new purchaser and subtenant has had to certify that no resident of the apartment smokes. The board states it may withhold approval if they will not. Smoking is also banned in all common areas and within 20 feet of any entrance or window.
Pets. No animal without the corporation's written, revocable permission. Ask for the current practice before you sign a contract.
Alterations. Work needs an alteration agreement and board approval before a contract is signed. Demolition is capped at five weeks, with a $100-a-day charge beyond that. Contractor work runs weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., and the board may require a bond. Through-wall and central air conditioning need an electrician's certification.
Refinancing. Refinancing a share loan, or taking a home-equity loan against the shares, requires board approval.
Not documented: sublet policy, flip tax rate (a flip tax is a fee the corporation charges on a sale), financing ceiling (the maximum share of the price you may borrow), minimum down payment, post-closing liquidity, pied-à-terre use, and purchases through trusts or LLCs. All of these have to come from the managing agent.
Recent sales
Turnover is steady for 24 apartments. ACRIS shows share transfers in most years since 2004, across all six residential floors, between unrelated parties. There is no sponsor block of apartments; the sponsor's lasting interest was the store lease.
These are open lofts, so price follows size, floor, exposure, ceiling height and renovation more than room count. The right comparison is other prewar Chelsea and NoMad loft co-ops with commercial income, not new condominiums nearby.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent transfers at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 12, 2026 | 7A | $1,106,000 |
| Apr 15, 2025 | 2A | $1,100,000 |
| May 10, 2022 | 5C | $1,550,000 |
| Jan 21, 2022 | 6A | $1,350,000 |
| May 12, 2021 | 5AD | $2,200,000 |
| Jul 9, 2019 | 7C | $1,760,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00804-0018) 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.
Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% 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
Get the 2021 loan terms. The refinancing is recorded, but its rate and maturity are not in the file. They determine the building's next refinancing exposure.
Ask about the store lease. It is a meaningful share of income, indexed to maintenance, with renewal options that can run for decades. Know who the tenant is and where the lease stands.
Check lot-line windows. If an apartment relies on a lot-line window, assume the next building could close it. The rezoning makes that more likely.
Confirm the smoking certification before you bid. It applies to everyone who will live in the apartment.
What to know if you’re selling
Screen for the non-smoking rule early. A buyer who cannot sign the certification cannot close.
Lead with volume. Ceiling height, windows and layout carry value in a loft. Measured plans do more than room counts.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 131–133 West 28th Street, also evaluate:
- 116 West 29th Street — 1912 loft cooperative a block north, converted around 1980 and also inside the MSX district
- 249 West 29th Street — 1927 loft cooperative on the Chelsea–NoMad border
- 142 West 26th Street — 1911 full-floor loft cooperative at the NoMad edge
- 250 West 27th Street — 1918 Chelsea warehouse converted to a loft cooperative
- 107 West 25th Street — 24-apartment loft cooperative over ground-floor retail, converted in the same years
- 11 West 30th Street — Empire State Lofts, a NoMad loft cooperative
- 315 Seventh Avenue — Kheel Tower, a 1926 loft condominium at the end of West 28th Street
- 144 West 27th Street — prewar loft building converted to full-floor condominiums a block south
More Chelsea buildings
- 130 West 30th Street (The Cass Gilbert) — 1927 condominium
- Chelsea House, 130 West 19th Street — 2005 condominium
- 131 West 16th Street — 1918 condominium
- 133 West 17th Street — 1920 co-op
- 133 West 22nd Street — 2008 condominium by CetraRuddy Architects
- 136 West 17th Street — new-construction condominium
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
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.
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