14 Second Avenue

The building occupies a twenty-five-foot interior lot and is built out to nearly its full permitted floor area ratio. That geometry drives everything: a single residence per floor, glass concentrated on the Second Avenue elevation and the rear, and side walls that are largely solid. Ten stories over two cellar levels, roughly a hundred feet to the roof, with a rear yard of about thirty feet behind the building.

Residences are full-floor, two- and three-bedroom, averaging roughly 1,685 square feet. Because there is one home per landing, the plans get the light on two opposite exposures and none of the interior-corridor compromise that a multi-unit floor plate forces. Specification is current new-development standard executed at the upper end: triple-pane windows — worth noting on an avenue this loud — wide-plank European oak floors, full-size washer and dryer, Miele and Bosch appliances with induction cooking and undercounter wine storage, Dornbracht and Kohler fittings, and radiant heated floors in the bathrooms.

Two things to test in person. First, exposure permanence: the First Street Green art park adjoins the site, which is the source of the northern light and the open outlook, but a buyer should establish with counsel which windows are lot-line windows and what the adjoining low-rise properties could support if they were redeveloped. Second, southern and western light on a full-glass elevation over a wide avenue produces real solar gain; the triple glazing is a genuine mitigation, and it is worth visiting at the hour you would actually be home.

Ten owners fund the whole building. There is no doorman payroll; the fixed costs of an elevator, a rooftop terrace, a fitness room, a virtual-doorman service, insurance, and building water and heat are divided ten ways rather than a hundred. A single large capital item — an elevator modernization, a facade repair cycle, a roof — lands as a meaningful per-unit number in a building this size.

The building is also young enough that its operating and reserve baseline is still forming. Ask for the current budget, the reserve balance, the sponsor's remaining unsold inventory if any, and the first several years of actual versus budgeted operating results before contract. In a ten-unit condominium, the quality of the budget matters more than the size of the amenity list.

No 421-a, 485-x or J-51 exemption appears on this building's tax lots in current city records. PLUTO's current release records no exemption amount for the condominium's billing lot, and residences have been taxed at full assessment from the first closings in 2023.

This is not an oversight by the developer, and it is not something a future application will fix. Under the Affordable New York Housing Program — the 2017 rewrite of 421-a that governed projects starting construction in this period — homeownership projects were eligible only outside Manhattan, and only subject to an assessed-value cap per unit. A Manhattan condominium was categorically ineligible. The prior 421-a program had already sunset before this project's new-building application. Section 485-x, adopted in 2024 for projects that commenced construction after June 15, 2022, has a homeownership option too, but it also excludes Manhattan. J-51 applies to the rehabilitation of existing multiple dwellings, not to ground-up construction.

Compare this apartment's current full tax bill and other charges with the actual costs and exemption schedules of abated alternatives. The absence of an exemption alone does not establish higher total monthly costs, and no benefit phase-out does not mean future taxes or charges stay fixed. Individual owners who occupy the residence as a primary home may qualify for the citywide co-op and condo property tax abatement, which is a separate and much smaller benefit and attaches to the owner rather than to the building. Run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator against the actual current bill for the specific unit rather than against a projection.

Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases close through the board's right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval. Thirty to forty-five days is a typical closing estimate.

Pets, pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC and trust ownership, foreign purchasers: Not established by the condominium form alone; confirm each in the current declaration, bylaws and house rules, including minimum lease terms and any pet limits.

Financing: No board-imposed ceiling; standard lender underwriting applies. New-construction lending in small buildings can raise presale and owner-occupancy questions with some lenders — worth clearing early with your loan officer.

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

Real estate taxes: No abatement. Underwrite the full unabated figure on the specific unit.

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 (2024) cleared a median $1,955/sf (recorded) across 4 sales. Median listing discount 5.0% 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 1-00442-7502; 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.

Underwrite full taxes from day one. There is no 421-a, no 485-x and no J-51 on this building, and none was legally available. This is the number that moves your monthly.

One home per floor is the product. If you are cross-shopping against larger new-development buildings, understand what you are trading: no attended lobby, no doorman, no pool or lounge program — in exchange for a full-floor plate with two exposures and nine neighbors.

Ten owners is a small denominator. Read the budget and the reserve. Capital work in a ten-unit building is expensive per unit, and the building is new enough that its true operating baseline is still being established.

Establish the exposures. The park next door is the source of the light. Have your attorney confirm which openings are lot-line windows and what the neighboring lots could support.

Second Avenue is a working avenue. Bus traffic, nightlife on the Houston and Bowery corners, and the F at Second Avenue a short walk west. The triple-glazed windows are a real mitigation; test them in the evening rather than midday.

Check the recorded name against the marketing name. The recorded condominium plan carries a different name from the building's street address branding. It is a paperwork detail, not a defect, but your attorney and your lender will see both and should not be surprised by either.

Lead with the floor plate. A full-floor two- or three-bedroom home with two exposures and no shared corridor is the scarce thing in the East Village. Amenity lists are not where this building wins.

Be direct about taxes. A sophisticated buyer will find the absence of an abatement. Presenting the full number up front, with the carrying-cost analysis and the explanation that no abatement was available to a Manhattan condominium in this period, allows buyers to assess the cost; disclosure does not determine how they negotiate.

Comparables come from new construction, not from the tenement stock. The surrounding East Village inventory is overwhelmingly older walk-ups and small co-ops with different economics and a different buyer. The right set is the small group of recent East Village and Bowery-corridor condominiums.

Same-building comparables are thin. With ten residences and a sellout that ran from 2023 into 2024, pricing depends on floor-level and exposure analysis rather than on a building average.

If you're considering 14 Second Avenue, also evaluate:

• 24 Second Avenue — East Village new-construction condominium (first closings 2019) nearby to the north on the same avenue; a peer by corridor and vintage
• 199 Bowery (NoLiTa Place) — Bowery-corridor condominium; the amenitized alternative a few blocks west
• 195 Bowery — Bowery loft building; the converted-building comparison
• 287 East Houston Street (287/LES) — boutique new-construction condominium on the same crosstown spine
• 240 East Houston Street (Houston Place) — larger East Houston condominium; the full-service alternative
• 101 East 2nd Street (The 101) — small East Village condominium one block east
• 175 East 2nd Street — boutique East Village building at lower density
• 40 Bleecker Street — NoHo new-construction condominium; the step up in price tier and amenity program
• 25 Bond Street — NoHo condominium with full staffing; the service-level comparison
• 72 East 3rd Street — small East Village building; the low-density alternative