165 Hudson Street (Spice Lofthouse)

Six stories of masonry on a 50-by-100-foot lot, roughly 30,000 square feet of building area, of which about 25,000 is residential and 5,000 commercial. LPC classifies the design as neo-Renaissance and the original building type as a warehouse; the surviving fabric is the industrial vocabulary of the type — heavy masonry pier-and-spandrel bays, large window openings on a regular rhythm, and the deep floor plates that make a warehouse worth converting.

The record lists fifteen apartments, six floors and a 5,000-square-foot footprint. Neither that ratio nor labels such as 2B, 3S, 6C and PHA establishes individual interiors or full-floor/half-floor layouts; use approved plans and measurements. Three penthouse-level residences carry private decks per management-sourced records. Department of Buildings filings show apartment combinations on the second floor and interior alterations throughout, consistent with a building where owners have reconfigured raw plates over four decades.

Because the building sits inside the Tribeca North Historic District, window and storefront alterations, façade work and rooftop construction generally require LPC approval, with specified routine maintenance exempt. Some work qualifies for staff permits and other work requires a Commission-reviewed Certificate of Appropriateness; street visibility alone does not determine the route. Obtain any DOB permits required by the scope. That is the operative constraint on renovation here, and it is the one buyers most often underestimate.

This is a self-service building. The amenity set is a common roof deck, a package room, a bike room and an elevator; there is no doorman and no attended lobby. Ground-floor retail is documented on Hudson Street, with first-floor store work filed in 2018. Confirm the commercial leasehold or ownership arrangement, actual rent collections and allocated expenses before treating retail area as income to the cooperative.

The public capital record describes sidewalk sheds and pipe scaffold in 2004, 2013 and adjacent years; those filings do not establish a FISP cycle for the documented six-story building; interior and exterior façade repair filed in 2012; a fire alarm system with central-office connection installed in 2006; sprinkler work in 2004; a low-pressure steam boiler replaced in 2018; and a chimney offset at the roof in 2012. A 2015 filing records that a special pressurized smoke test was not required. Filings alone do not establish completed work or current condition; obtain sign-offs and recent engineering reports.

The financial record is the gap on this page and it should be the first thing a buyer closes. No offering plan and no audited financial statements for this building are currently held in The Roebling Research Library. The reviewed filings record a $1.4 million first mortgage and $250,000 line in January 2023, not necessarily current outstanding debt. The reviewed materials do not establish current reserves, assessments, façade condition or the commercial rent roll. Request the last two years of audited financials and the current budget at contract.

The reviewed materials establish only some policies. Obtain the operative lease, bylaws, house rules and authorized current policies from management; absence from this review does not establish public unavailability.

Known from management-sourced records: subletting is permitted and the building is pet-friendly. Both should be confirmed in writing, because in a building this small a permissive posture can change with one board.

Not established in the materials reviewed — obtain current written terms before contract:

Financing ceiling and minimum down payment. Small loft cooperatives run the full range from 90 percent financing to all-cash. There is no way to infer it here.

Post-closing liquidity requirement. Not established in the reviewed materials.

Board package and interview. Expect the standard Manhattan cooperative package — application, contract, financial statement with supporting account statements, tax returns, employment verification, personal and business references, and a bank recognition agreement where financed — followed by a board interview. In a fifteen-apartment building, the interview matters more, not less: the board is drawn from a small group of owners.

Sublet seasoning, term limits and fee. Not established in the reviewed materials.

Flip tax. Existence, basis and payer were not established in the reviewed materials. Obtain the operative provision and fee schedule without assuming a fee from the building’s type or age.

Pied-à-terre. Not established in the reviewed materials.

Trust and LLC ownership. Not established in the reviewed materials. Recorded share transfers on this lot are overwhelmingly to individuals and couples, which is what one would expect in a primary-residence building, but that is a pattern, not a policy.

Alteration agreement. Ask for it early. In a landmarked loft building, the interaction between the co-op's alteration agreement and the Landmarks approval process governs what you can actually do to the apartment, and the answer should be settled before you sign.

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. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2023): a median $1,438/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 6.1% 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 1-00219-0026). 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.

Get the financials before you sign. The materials reviewed do not establish current reserves, assessments or the commercial rent roll. For the fifteen apartments, each share of an assessment follows the governing allocation; unit count alone does not establish funding capacity.

Settle the policy stack in writing. Obtain current financing, liquidity, sublet, flip-tax and pied-à-terre requirements; these were not established in the reviewed materials.

Resolve occupancy and tax status from the operative records. C6-2A zoning, J-2/R-2 filing labels and a 1980 J-51 start do not alone settle JLWQA or Loft Law status. Obtain the current CO and relevant Loft Board orders, and separately verify current benefits and the historical J-51 exemption and abatement schedules.

Assess the Landmarks requirements. Obtain scope-specific LPC advice for windows, roof deck work, storefronts and façade alterations; specified routine maintenance is exempt, and qualifying work may use staff permits. Budget the applicable process and cost.

Confirm the certificate of occupancy. We could not retrieve it. Ask the managing agent for the current C of O and read the residential use classification for your floor.

Provide the legal-occupancy records. Present the documented 1980 milestones alongside the current CO, approved zoning use and any Loft Board orders. The review described here did not establish an absence of artist restrictions or continuing Loft Law obligations; a tax benefit history is not proof of lawful occupancy or a shorter diligence period.

Provide dated debt figures. Show the January 2023 $1.4 million mortgage and $250,000 credit line alongside current balances, draws, terms and the actual share allocations.

Have current records ready. Supply two years of audited financials, the current budget and written policy terms to support review; those documents do not guarantee a faster or better transaction.

Document any alteration. If the apartment has been reconfigured, produce the approved alteration agreement, the Department of Buildings sign-off and any Landmarks permit. Those records help resolve alteration questions, but do not establish a fixed contract timeline.

If you're considering 165 Hudson Street, also evaluate:

• 169 Hudson Street — James E. Ware's 1893–94 warehouse on the same tax block, converted as a condominium; the immediate structural counterpoint
• 52 Laight Street (The Laight House) — also on this tax block, around the corner on Laight
• 44 Laight Street (The Grabler Building) — loft conversion one block away
• The Cobblestone Lofts (28 Laight Street) — Laight Street loft alternative
• River Lofts (92 Laight Street) — larger full-service loft building to the west
• 145 Hudson Street (Sky Lofts) — Hudson Street loft conversion two blocks south
• 195 Hudson Street — Hudson Street loft building to the north
• 219 Hudson Street (Everly) — Hudson Street alternative further north
• 39 Vestry Street — small-scale Tribeca North alternative
• 67 Vestry Street — Vestry Street loft peer
• 60 Collister Street (American Express Carriage House) — boutique North Tribeca conversion
• 100 Hudson Street (Franklin-Hudson Building) — larger Hudson Street loft cooperative to the south