196 Sixth Avenue
196 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013
BBL 1005040014 · BIN 1007802
- Year built
- 1893
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 20
- Landmark
- Designated
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 196 Sixth Avenue 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's history is unusual for the corridor: the co-op was built inside a police station. In 1893 the City put up a four-story station house here for the 10th Precinct, designed by Nathaniel Bush. LPC's records note that before 1919 the rear of the building was used for a time as a prison. The City sold the property around 1979–80, and the offering plan shows it kept a purchase-money first mortgage from December 1979. The sponsor bought the property in June 1983 and formed 196-Sixth Corp. that spring. Under Terrance R. Williams's design, everything above the first story was taken down and rebuilt to eight stories.
For a buyer, this means the building combines a nineteenth-century front at street level with a mid-1980s building above it. Plumbing risers, the elevator, the wiring and the apartment layouts all date from the rebuild. The 1893 fabric is at the base and the stoop. This matters for underwriting. The building's systems are about forty years old, not 130. Its capital cycle looks like a 1980s building's: façade and parapet repairs, a new boiler, and fire-alarm and sprinkler upgrades. It does not look like a prewar house's.
The Sullivan-Thompson Historic District was designated in December 2016. It brought this blockfront under LPC review, but the Commission classed No. 196 as non-contributing because so little original fabric is left. Exterior changes still need a Commission permit. The review focuses on whether the work fits the district, not on preserving historic fabric the building no longer has.
Architecture and unit composition
The lot is 50 by 100 feet, and the building is about 50 by 94 feet, with roughly 32,700 square feet of residential floor area. The offering plan brought 20 apartments to market: four studios, eleven one-bedrooms and five two-bedrooms. The apartment numbers show how the rebuild divided the floors. There is a run of first-floor units (1A through 1F). Duplexes stack through the middle of the building (2–3C, 4–5B, 6/7C, 7/8A). A penthouse (PH9A) sits at the top.
The count has fallen since conversion. A 2005 DOB filing combined two existing duplexes into one four-level home running from the cellar through the third floor. Recent ACRIS transfers carry 1D with 2B, and 6B with 7B, as single conveyances. Other DOB filings cover duplex renovations, convenience stairs, terrace openings and routine kitchen and bath work. Apartments are separately metered for electricity, per the plan.
Building operations
J-51 benefits: started in 1987, now expired. The offering plan was written around the J-51 program. It projected a 12-year exemption from July 1, 1986, plus an abatement of part of the rehabilitation cost, and made the conversion's conditions part of the plan. City J-51 records show the benefit starting in the 1987 tax year. The abatement was used up by 1991. The exemption shrank each year and last appears in tax year 2000. The Department of Finance's current exemption records (2021–2027) show nothing for the building, and the 2027 roll shows no exempt value. Budget the real-estate-tax line at full cost. City records for 1999 and 2000 also show a second entry with different terms. It adds nothing today, but a buyer's attorney may ask about it.
Underlying mortgage. The co-op opened with a $1.5 million wraparound mortgage at 12.5 percent over the City's 1979 first mortgage. Since then it has refinanced several times through a series of lenders. The current loan in ACRIS was recorded January 29, 2020: a consolidated $2.5 million mortgage with TD Bank. The rate, amortization schedule and maturity date are not in the documents we hold. On a building this size, the underlying mortgage largely drives the maintenance. Ask the managing agent for the note.
Proprietary lease term. The offering plan sets the proprietary lease to expire on December 31, 2031, extendable by a shareholder vote. Changing the lease form takes 75 percent of the shares. Many co-ops extend their leases, but a lease ending five years out affects share-loan underwriting. Confirm that it has been extended.
Rooftop and other income. ACRIS recorded a 2023 agreement between the co-op's lender and a wireless carrier. This usually means rooftop telecom equipment under a lease, which brings in income beyond maintenance. Ask for the lease terms.
Capital work on record. DOB filings cover stucco removal and an exterior insulation system with new parapet flashing and lintels on floors six through nine (2002). They also cover façade repairs in 2007, 2011 and 2016, a new boiler and burner (2009), a backflow preventer (2013), and a fire-alarm and sprinkler system (2016). The façade will need attention on every Local Law 11 inspection cycle. Ask where the current cycle stands.
Sponsor position. None of the records we reviewed show a remaining sponsor block. Share transfers since 2004 involve dozens of different buyers and sellers across the apartment list, which suggests the shares are widely held. Confirm with the managing agent whether any unsold shares remain.
Recent sales
ACRIS has recorded share transfers here since 2004, running just over one a year. That is normal for 20 apartments, and it means comparables inside the building are thin. Pricing depends on the apartment type: a first-floor unit, a mid-building duplex, a combined multi-level home and the penthouse are different products. Outdoor space and condition drive the rest. The building offers a small elevator co-op on Sixth Avenue in the South Village, with 1980s systems behind a landmark-district front. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2025 | 5A | $1,600,000 |
| Nov 26, 2024 | 4-5B | $1,950,000 |
| Sep 6, 2022 | 3A | $2,500,000 |
| Jun 8, 2022 | 1B | $840,000 |
| Sep 22, 2021 | 1C | $1,190,000 |
| Apr 26, 2021 | 6A | $1,861,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00504-0014) 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.
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 lease term confirmed. The proprietary lease ends December 31, 2031 unless it has been extended. Your lender will check this, so ask before you order an appraisal.
Ask for the mortgage note. A $2.5 million consolidated loan was recorded in 2020, and its maturity is not public. Refinancing risk at maturity is the biggest unknown in the maintenance line.
The tax line is full cost. The J-51 ended more than twenty years ago. A listing that mentions an abatement is out of date.
The board package is the gate. This is a share purchase, so expect a board package, an interview and board discretion. The financing ceiling, minimum down payment, post-closing liquidity requirement, sublet and pet policies, and any flip tax are not public. Get them in writing before you bid. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator on your own numbers. Ask whether the board allows purchases through a trust or an LLC, and whether it allows pied-à-terre ownership.
Exterior changes go through LPC. Being non-contributing makes the review easier, but it does not remove the permit requirement. Build that time into any plan for windows, a terrace or the roof.
What to know if you’re selling
Tell the building's history. A co-op built inside an 1893 police station is easy to remember and easy to verify. The LPC report and the offering plan document it.
Settle the diligence questions before you list. Buyers will ask about the lease extension, the mortgage maturity, the telecom lease and the Local Law 11 status. If you have the answers ready, the board package moves faster.
Price the apartment type, not the building average. Duplexes, combined homes, first-floor units and the penthouse trade differently. Use comparables for the same type.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 196 Sixth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 176 Sixth Avenue: One Vandam, the new-construction condominium at the south end of the same tax block
- 208 Avenue of the Americas: a prewar cooperative a few blocks south on Sixth Avenue
- 2 King Street: a 1960s cooperative over retail at King Street and Sixth Avenue
- 57 Thompson Street: a 1905 cooperative in the same historic district
- 131 Thompson Street: a turn-of-the-century cooperative in the Sullivan-Thompson district
- 17 Thompson Street: a manufacturing loft converted to a cooperative; the loft alternative
- 140 Thompson Street: an 1885 elevator loft cooperative with ground-floor commercial space
- 182 West Houston Street: a postwar cooperative at the northern edge of the area
More Greenwich Village buildings
- 184 Thompson Street — 1970 condominium
- 185 Grand Street — 2021 condominium by Morris Adjmi Architects
- 195 Prince Street — condominium
- 199 Mott Street — 2012 condominium by Kutnicki Bernstein Architects
- 204 West Houston Street — 1869 co-op
- 208 Avenue of the Americas — 1928 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Greenwich Village — read The Roebling Team Guide to Greenwich Village.
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.
Considering a move at 196 Sixth Avenue?
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