214 West 15th Street (The Sebastian)

The site combines two former tax lots, 214 and 216 West 15th Street, each recorded at 24.75 by 86.5 feet and demolished under separate Department of Buildings filings — 4,282 square feet in all, or roughly 49.5 feet of frontage (the condominium lot's recorded 24.75-foot frontage reflects only one of them; confirm the surveyed dimensions). The building fills it with roughly 17,000 square feet of residential floor area. An interior lot with no corner means glass is concentrated on the north and south elevations and the side walls are effectively blind. Both neighboring parcels are themselves developable, so any lot-line windows in a specific residence are worth identifying before contract, along with what could be built beside them.

The stack is arranged so that the lower floors carry duplex layouts and the upper portion of the building resolves into a duplex penthouse. Listing records describe entertaining rooms running to roughly 45 feet, private terraces with southern exposure on some lines, and primary baths finished in Ceppo di Gre marble. Each residence has dedicated storage and multi-zone central air. A 2022 DOB filing to install a rooftop grill and run a gas line from the seventh floor to the roof indicates that the top residence carries private roof rights — worth confirming in the declaration for any specific unit, since roof access at a six-unit building is a limited common element with real value and real dispute potential.

This is a six-unit building, and its operating economics follow from that. There is no doorman-around-the-clock cost structure and no amenity program of consequence: an attended lobby, a roof deck, storage, and a laundry room. Listing records describe the lobby staffing inconsistently, which usually means the schedule has changed at some point since delivery. The building's budget is the document that settles it.

The more important operating fact is the denominator. Six units means every fixed cost — insurance, water and sewer, elevator service maintenance, façade compliance, professional fees — divides six ways rather than sixty. A single major capital item lands hard. Buyers should read the current budget and reserve position rather than reasoning from the common-charge figure alone, and should ask whether the building has completed its first façade inspection cycle.

Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases run through the condominium's application and right-of-first-refusal process rather than a cooperative board approval; confirm the timeline with the managing agent.

Pets: Permitted per listing records; confirm limits in the house rules.

Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: Not documented; confirm in the declaration, bylaws and house rules. Recorded deeds at the building include LLC and trust purchasers. Minimum lease terms for subletting should be confirmed with the managing agent.

Financing and flip tax: Neither a financing ceiling nor a resale transfer fee is documented in public records. Both should be confirmed with the managing agent before pricing a sale.

Real estate taxes: No exemption of any kind appears on any residential unit lot in the FY2027 assessment roll. Abatements apply on the tax bill, not the roll; underwrite against the current bill on the specific unit.

Governance: With six units, the board is the building. Ask who is currently serving, whether the sponsor retains any unit, and whether the building has adopted house rules beyond the by-laws.

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 (2022) cleared a median $2,196/sf (recorded) across 2 sales. Median listing discount 0.4% 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 1-00764-7505; 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. Every unit lot shows a zero exemption on the current roll.

Get the budget, not the amenity list. A six-unit denominator means fixed costs and any capital item land heavily per residence. The operating budget and reserve position matter more here than in a 100-unit building.

Identify the lot-line windows. The side walls are largely blind by design and both neighbors are developable. Know which windows in your unit are lot-line windows.

Read the declaration on outdoor space. Terraces and roof rights at a small condominium are limited common elements, and the exclusivity, maintenance obligation and alteration rules are set in the declaration, not in the listing.

There is no offering plan on file with us. We were unable to locate one in either library. Ask the managing agent for the plan and all amendments, and read the sponsor's remaining interest, if any, before contract.

Document the specific floor plate. Present verified dimensions, layout, ceiling height and outdoor rights for the actual residence. The six-unit count and approximate gross-area ratio do not establish interior size or exclusivity against nearby towers.

Be direct about taxes. Buyers comparing against abated new development elsewhere will find the difference. Presenting the full number with a carrying-cost analysis up front produces better outcomes than letting it surface late.

Distinguish the building from its block. The Elisa at 251 West 14th Street occupies the same tax block and is a different condominium with different economics. Buyers and appraisers conflate them; correct it early.

Same-building comps barely exist. With six units and a short trading history, pricing depends on the specific line and floor.

If you're considering The Sebastian, also evaluate:

• 251 West 14th Street (The Elisa) — the other new condominium on the same tax block; larger, later, and a separate condominium entirely
• 250 West 15th Street — the established larger building on the same street; the full-service alternative at a different scale
• 100 West 15th Street — Chelsea condominium inventory closer to Sixth Avenue
• 366 West 15th Street — the same street at the far western end, closer to the High Line and the Meatpacking District
• 130 West 16th Street — small-building Chelsea alternative one block north
• 111 West 16th Street — boutique Chelsea condominium with a comparable unit count
• 209 West 14th Street — the 14th Street corridor alternative
• 217 West 14th Street — same block front on 14th Street; different vintage and economics
• 245 West 14th Street — the western end of the same corridor