- Year built
- 1909
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 21
- Floors
- 8
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Furnished common roof deck, bike room, video intercom. No doorman
- Pets
- Permitted per management-sourced records — confirm any weight or breed rules in the house rules
- Financing
- Up to 80 percent permitted (20 percent minimum down) per listing records — verify current terms with the managing agent
Every recorded sale at this building, 2002–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $900
- Listing discount
- 0.5%
- Recorded sales
- 19
- On record
- 2002–2026
This is one of the small number of genuinely early loft conversions left in Chelsea that is still a cooperative rather than a condominium. The building went up in 1909 as a manufacturing loft across three lots, and the shareholders' corporation — Chelsea Lofts Corp. — took title at the beginning of 1978, before the loft conversion wave that Article 7-C and the 1982 Loft Law would later formalize. It converted the old-fashioned way: an owner-occupant group bought the building, filed alterations, and took a J-51 benefit on the work in 1981.
That history produces the building's defining characteristic, which is apartment scale. Twenty-one residences occupy roughly 59,000 square feet of residential area across eight floors of a 120-foot-wide, 92-foot-deep plate. The arithmetic is a per-unit average approaching 2,800 square feet before any combination — loft floor plates, not converted flats. Apartments carry loft-building designations rather than conventional letters (2A, 3SW, 4NE, PH7NE), and the stack runs from full-width lower floors to penthouse units under the roof deck.
The second structural fact is the retail. About 9,600 square feet of the building's roughly 68,700 square feet is commercial — a ground floor and lower level fronting West 19th Street. Commercial income of that magnitude in a 21-unit cooperative is a meaningful subsidy to maintenance, and it is the single most important thing for a buyer to underwrite: what the space is leased at, when the lease expires, and what the corporation's exposure looks like if it goes dark. The corporation's own financial statements answer those questions; the public record does not.
The third is how little debt the building carries. The underlying mortgage was refinanced in October 2016 at $1,400,000, with a $250,000 line alongside it — roughly $67,000 per residential unit against apartments trading in the low millions. Low underlying leverage is a durable advantage in a small cooperative, because it means capital work gets funded by assessment or by the line rather than by a refinancing that resets everyone's maintenance.
Architecture and unit composition
The building presents a dark two-story base beneath a lighter rusticated upper facade, eight stories of loft fenestration across a 120-foot frontage. It reads as one building because it is one building — the three original street numbers are historical lot lines, not separate structures, and the lot has been consolidated in the tax record for decades.
Interiors are loft interiors: high ceilings, exposed masonry and structural elements in many apartments, large window openings on the street and rear elevations, and layouts that were cut from open floor plates rather than laid out as apartments. Because floors were subdivided differently over time and several apartments have been combined — Department of Buildings filings record a combination of units 2D and 3SW by internal stair in 2009, among others — the mix is genuinely irregular. There is no line-by-line consistency in this building, and comparables must be drawn unit by unit.
Facade restoration was carried out in 2008 under a full sidewalk shed and hoist, and parapet, roof and cap-flashing work followed in 2018.
Building operations
Self-service: one elevator (replaced in recent years per management-sourced records), a furnished common roof deck, a bike room, and video intercom. There is no doorman and no attended lobby, which is consistent with the building's size and with the cost structure buyers should expect — maintenance here reflects a small staff and a large commercial rent roll rather than a full-service payroll.
The certificate of occupancy is worth attention. In April 2009 the cooperative filed an Alteration Type 1 application to amend the certificate of occupancy, principally to change the first floor from a cultural establishment to a store. A permit was issued in 2010. The Department of Buildings then issued a run of temporary certificates of occupancy against that job between June 2016 and November 2018 — the last one on November 28, 2018, showing 18 dwelling units. No final certificate of occupancy appears in the published record for that job. This is not unusual for a small cooperative that filed an amendment and never closed it out, and the pre-existing certificate governs the parts of the building the job did not touch. It is nonetheless a live diligence item: a purchaser's attorney should ask the managing agent for the current certificate of occupancy and the open-job status before contract.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Cooperative. Purchase is a share transfer accompanied by an assignment of the proprietary lease, subject to a board package and an interview. Every closing in this building recorded in ACRIS is a share transfer, which is what a real cooperative looks like in the public record.
Financing: Up to 80 percent permitted, 20 percent minimum down, per listing records. That is a permissive ceiling by Manhattan cooperative standards and widens the buyer pool materially relative to a 50 percent building.
Pied-à-terre and subletting: Both considered case-by-case with board approval per listing records. "Case-by-case" is not a policy; it is the absence of one. Ask the managing agent for the sublet rule as written in the house rules, including any seasoning requirement, term cap and sublet fee.
Pets: Permitted per management-sourced records.
Flip tax: Not documented in public records. Small cooperatives frequently carry one and just as frequently do not publish it. Confirm before pricing.
Trusts, LLCs and guarantors: Not documented. In a 21-unit self-managed-scale cooperative, these are board-discretion items rather than written policy, and the answer should be obtained in writing before an offer is structured around them.
Taxes: No abatement or exemption. Underwrite the full unabated real estate tax component of maintenance.
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 FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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 2025–30. 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
139 West 19th Street trades as a large-format prewar loft cooperative — priced on volume and room count rather than on amenity. The building's recorded share transfers span a wide band because the apartments do: small upper-floor units and penthouse studios sit at one end of the range and full-floor and combined lofts at the other. Against Chelsea condominium inventory of comparable size, the cooperative structure and the absence of a doorman produce a discount; against Chelsea's smaller prewar walk-up cooperatives, the loft plates command a premium.
Indexed to the last complete year, Chelsea loft cooperatives price on a per-room and per-square-foot basis that reflects renovation condition more than address — an estate-condition loft and a fully rebuilt one in the same building can be a million dollars apart. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Recent transfers 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 5, 2026 | 4NE | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,500 sf | $2,250,000 | $900/sf | +0.0% |
| Aug 24, 2024 | 2A | 1 BR · 2 BA · 1,200 sf | $2,160,000 | $1,800/sf | +0.5% |
| Nov 15, 2022 | 5SW | 3 BR · 2 BA · 3,178 sf | $3,700,000 | $1,164/sf | -11.9% |
| Feb 15, 2022 | 3SW2D | 4 BR · 4 BA · 3,853 sf | $5,425,000 | $1,408/sf | -1.1% |
| Aug 31, 2016 | 2A | 1 BR · 1,200 sf | $2,000,000 | $1,667/sf | +5.5% |
| May 20, 2016 | PH8E | 2 BR | $3,700,000 | -5.0% | |
| Apr 19, 2011 | 3SW | 3 BR · 3,000 sf | $1,600,000 | $533/sf | off-mkt |
| Sep 5, 2010 | PHPENTHSE7NE | 4 BR · 3,000 sf | $2,575,000 | $858/sf | off-mkt |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $900/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 0.5% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00795-0014) 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
What to know if you’re buying
Underwrite the commercial lease, not just the apartment. Roughly a seventh of the building's floor area is income-producing retail. Ask for the lease, the expiration, the escalation schedule and the corporation's plan if the tenant leaves. That single document does more to determine your maintenance over the next decade than anything in the apartment.
The building's debt is low and that is a real asset. $1.4 million of underlying mortgage across 21 apartments is conservative. Read the audited financials to confirm reserve position and whether an assessment is running.
Get the certificate of occupancy status in writing. The 2009 amendment produced temporary certificates through 2018 and no final. Have your attorney resolve it with the managing agent rather than assume it away.
The apartments are large and irregular. Do not price this building on a per-square-foot average. Combinations, penthouse units and full-floor plates trade on entirely different math, and the roof deck is a shared amenity, not private outdoor space.
80 percent financing is the pool-widener. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering — a permissive financing ceiling does not mean a permissive board on post-closing liquidity, and the two are underwritten separately.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with scale and ceiling height. The competition in this stretch of Chelsea is new-construction condominium inventory with smaller rooms and higher carrying costs. Square footage and volume are what this building has that they do not.
Prepare the board package before you list. Twenty-one shareholders means a small board and a personal process. Sellers who assemble the financial statements, the house rules and the sublet policy in advance shorten the contract-to-closing window measurably.
Be forthright about the certificate of occupancy and the retail. Buyers' counsel will find both. Presenting them with the corporation's own answer is a materially better outcome than letting them surface in diligence.
Price the line, not the building. Penthouse and full-floor units clear at a different level than lower-floor apartments here. Run the Renovation Cost Calculator against the condition of your specific apartment before setting an ask.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 139 West 19th Street, also evaluate:
- 121 West 19th Street — the condominium on the same tax block; the condo alternative with different policy and financing rules
- 142 West 19th Street — condominium directly across the street on the north-side block; the closest like-for-like address
- 130 West 19th Street — Chelsea condominium a block west; new-development economics on the same street
- 16 West 19th Street — Flatiron-edge loft building on the same street; the eastern comparable
- 27 West 19th Street — prewar loft conversion in the Ladies' Mile district; landmarked where this building is not
- 210 West 19th Street — Chelsea cooperative west of Seventh Avenue; smaller-format prewar alternative
- 241 West 19th Street — West Chelsea cooperative; the quieter block at a different price point
- 100 Seventh Avenue — Seventh Avenue prewar cooperative; full-service alternative nearby
- 160 Seventh Avenue — Chelsea cooperative on the avenue; doorman building for buyers who want staff
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, 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.
Considering a move at 139 West 19th Street?
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