16 Crosby Street

Five stories on a lot of roughly 8,800 square feet, carrying about 42,100 gross square feet — approximately 33,400 residential and 8,700 commercial. The lot measures 24 feet on Broadway and runs 200 feet through to Crosby, where the building presents a 75-foot width; DOF flags the lot as irregular, and the plan is best understood as a narrow Broadway front opening into a much wider Crosby-side body.

Three residences per floor across four residential floors. Ceiling heights and window openings are those of an 1876 warehouse, and the interiors have been reworked repeatedly under DOB permits — mezzanines built and rebuilt (2000, 2007), partitions rearranged, air-conditioning replaced building-wide in 2017, a gravity tank disconnected and a new six-inch sprinkler main and alarm valve installed in 2008. Common areas were upgraded under a 2013 permit. The permits record work over time; completion and current condition need confirming.

There is no elevator lobby in the full-service sense. DOB classifies the building as an elevator apartment building, but at five stories and twelve units, the circulation is a loft building's circulation.

Twelve residential shareholders and a ground-floor commercial tenancy on Broadway. This is a self-contained loft co-op, not a staffed building: expect a superintendent arrangement rather than a doorman, and expect the shareholders to be closely involved in how the building is run.

The reviewed instruments record approximately $1.0 million of debt around the 2005 and 2019 transactions. That historical amount does not establish the current balance, financial condition or leverage relative to value. The 2019 transaction added under $100,000 of new money and moved the loan to a new lender rather than levering up. Against that, twelve units is a small denominator: capital costs depend on the actual scope, financing and share allocations, rather than an automatic twelve-way split; any LPC review costs and timing depend on the work. The building's LPC file shows regular, small, permitted work; it does not by itself establish current condition.

Because no financial statement for this building is on file with us, the reserve position, the current operating budget, any live assessment and the underlying mortgage's maturity date were not established in the materials reviewed. They are the first four things to request.

This is the most important item on the page for a buyer, and it is one that routine diligence usually misses.

The apartments here are legally Joint Living-Work Quarters for Artists. DOB filings state it directly: a 2000 alteration describes the "renovation of existing JWLQ unit"; a 2012 alteration describes the "interior renovation of existing joint living work quarters for artist-in-residence at 2nd story in 5-story" building; the building's residential occupancy classification in DOB records is J-2. Under the M1-5B zoning that governed SoHo for four decades, this was the only lawful residential use in the district, and occupancy required certification as an artist by the Department of Cultural Affairs.

The December 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning changed the framework but did not automatically change any certificate of occupancy. The lot is now M1-5/R9X inside the Special SoHo-NoHo Mixed Use District. Under that text, joint living-work quarters existing on 15 December 2021 may be converted to conventional residential use only upon certification by the Chair of the City Planning Commission to the Commissioner of Buildings that the required instruments have been executed and recorded and that a contribution has been deposited in the SoHo-NoHo Arts Fund. A 2022 amendment deemed any non-artist who was a permanent occupant of a JLWQA unit as of 15 December 2021 to satisfy the artist requirement — which cured the exposure of occupants in place on that date.

What that leaves for a purchaser today is a live legal question rather than a settled one: whether this specific apartment's certificate of occupancy still reads JLWQA, whether the corporation has pursued or intends to pursue the conversion certification, and what the arts-fund contribution would cost if it did. Do not assume the 2021 rezoning resolved it. Have counsel read the operative certificate of occupancy, ask the managing agent whether the board has taken any position on conversion, and price the answer.

Ownership form: Cooperative. Purchase requires board approval following a full board package and, in the ordinary course for a building of this kind, an interview. The board's discretion is broad and it is not required to give reasons.

Financing ceiling, minimum down payment, post-closing liquidity requirement, sublet policy, flip tax, pied-à-terre use, pets, and purchase by a trust or an LLC: Not established in the materials reviewed. These terms live in the offering plan, the proprietary lease, the by-laws and the house rules, none of which we hold for this building. Small SoHo loft cooperatives vary widely — some permit unlimited subletting and pied-à-terre use, others prohibit both outright — so no default should be assumed here in either direction. Request the full document package from the managing agent before making an offer, and confirm the flip tax structure in writing, because in a twelve-unit building the difference between a percentage-of-price flip tax and a per-share flip tax is material to net proceeds.

Landmark constraint: The lot is inside the SoHo–Cast Iron Historic District. Primary-façade window replacement, storefront work, signage and rooftop equipment generally require LPC approval, with specified routine maintenance exemptions. Permit type depends on scope: some exterior work qualifies for staff approval, while other proposals need Commission-reviewed Certificates of Appropriateness. Coordinate any required DOB permit.

Recent sales

Recent transfers 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 $1,711/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 1.1% 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 1-00232-0009). 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

Budget the document request into your timeline. With no plan located in the reviewed libraries, the board package requirements, the financing ceiling and the flip tax all arrive from the managing agent on the managing agent's schedule. Start that request the day you decide to bid, not after contract.

Underwrite the JLWQA status specifically. Ask for the certificate of occupancy, in writing, for the apartment you are buying. Resolve the apartment’s lawful occupancy and any conversion requirements before contract.

The through lot is the product. Two street exposures across a 200-foot depth is not something the neighbourhood's later, narrower conversions can reproduce. Walk the apartment at two different times of day before pricing it.

Ask what the board's posture is on the commercial space. A Broadway retail frontage is an income and a liability at once. Understand how the commercial component is held, what it contributes, and whether the corporation carries any exposure to a vacancy there.

Run the co-op math before you offer. Confirm the board's current financing and liquidity requirements from its application instructions — Co-op Board Qualification Calculator.

Lead with the through lot and the 1877 pedigree, not with square footage. The Schweitzer & Greve cast-iron front, the Long Island Iron Works ironwork and the designation-report entry are documentable facts that separate this building from the generic "SoHo loft" pool.

Assemble the document package before you list. Buyers' counsel will ask for the proprietary lease, the by-laws, the house rules, the current financials and the certificate of occupancy. Providing those documents early supports review, but does not guarantee a shorter closing timeline.

Be straightforward about the JLWQA classification. Explain the apartment-specific occupancy requirements early; buyer response and any pricing effect depend on the facts and transaction.

Price the renovation honestly. Loft interiors here have been reworked repeatedly under permit; buyers will compare a finished apartment against a raw one on a dollars-per-foot basis and back out the difference. Renovation Cost Calculator.

If you're considering 16 Crosby Street, also evaluate:

• 45 Crosby Street — the closest peer in the portfolio: a twelve-residence SoHo loft cooperative with the same artist-occupancy history
• 42 Crosby Street — Crosby Street loft building two blocks north; different block, different building
• 30 Crosby Street — Crosby Street conversion between Grand and Broome
• 475 Broadway — cast-iron Broadway loft conversion in the same historic district
• 476 Broadway — Broadway loft building on the same avenue; a condominium that also includes cooperative-held apartments, so confirm the specific apartment's interest
• 33 Greene Street — small cast-iron loft building in the district's core
• 107 Greene Street — comparable boutique SoHo loft conversion
• 27 Wooster Street — small Wooster Street loft building; verify tenure
• 102 Wooster Street — SoHo loft conversion at similar scale
• 129 Lafayette Street — loft building on the district's eastern edge