214 West 15th Street (The Sebastian)
214 West 15th Street, New York, NY 10011
Chelsea
BBL 1007647505 · BIN 1013740
- Year built
- 2018
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 6
- Floors
- 7
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Pets permitted per listing records; confirm weight and breed rules in the house rules
Every recorded sale at this building, 2021–2022
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $2,196
- Listing discount
- 0.4%
- Recorded sales
- 9
- On record
- 2021–2022
Six residences in a seven-story building is not a scale that Manhattan builds anymore. Ground-up condominium development in the borough runs to towers, because land costs and soft costs only amortize across a large denominator. The Sebastian exists because of a specific piece of zoning: the lot sits in an R8B contextual district, which caps residential floor area at 4.0 FAR and imposes a low streetwall. The building as constructed carries a built FAR of 3.97 against a permitted 4.00. There was no bigger building available here at any price, so the developer built the best small one instead.
That constraint produced the building's defining characteristic. Rather than slice 17,000 square feet into a dozen apartments, the plan divides it into six, averaging roughly 2,850 square feet each. The result is a condominium where the individual residence is closer in scale to a Tribeca loft or a large prewar co-op line than to typical new Chelsea inventory, in a building small enough that the entire ownership fits around a table.
The site itself is worth understanding. The parcel was for decades an institutional property: a three-story building carried by the Department of Finance as Nazareth Nursery, classified as an asylum or home, in tax class 4, and holding a charitable exemption that survived on the assessment roll through 2018/19. It came to market in June 2018 at $12.65 million, was demolished that December, and the new-building application was filed two months before the demolition permit. That sequence — institutional exit, immediate residential filing, maximum-FAR building — is a familiar Chelsea pattern, and it is why so much of the neighborhood's newest small inventory sits on former church, school and community-facility lots.
Kutnicki Bernstein Architects carried every DOB filing on the project. The firm is a working New York practice founded in 1986 rather than a marquee design name, and the building reflects that: a competent contemporary masonry infill with a punched-window elevation, sized to the contextual streetwall, that does not attempt to be a landmark. The value proposition here is the floor plate, not the façade.
Architecture and unit composition
The lot is 24.75 feet wide by 86.5 feet deep — 4,282 square feet — and the building fills it with roughly 17,000 square feet of residential floor area. An interior lot of that width 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.
Building operations
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.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases close through a right of first refusal rather than a cooperative board approval, which produces faster and more predictable timelines — 30 to 45 days is typical.
Pets: Permitted per listing records; confirm limits in the house rules.
Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: All permitted under the standard condominium framework. 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. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit against the current bill.
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.
Local Law 97
This building is below the 25,000 sq ft threshold at which LL97 emissions caps apply. No regulatory capital pressure from this law specifically, current or 2030.
See full Local Law 97 analysis →Recent sales
The Sebastian closed its first residences in mid-2021 and completed its initial sellout within roughly a year. Six units means same-building comparables are thin by construction, and the residences differ enough by floor, layout and outdoor space that a building average is close to meaningless. Pricing analysis has to be line-specific and floor-specific.
On a per-square-foot basis the building prices in the band for new Chelsea condominium construction below 20th Street, and the absence of any tax abatement is the largest gap between headline price and true monthly cost. Comparables should be drawn from small new-construction and recent-conversion condominiums in the West 14th through West 18th Street corridor rather than from prewar cooperative inventory, whose economics, policies and buyer pool are structurally different. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 4, 2022 | TH2Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,776 sf | $6,245,000 | $2,250/sf | -0.8% |
| Feb 25, 2022 | TH1Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,776 sf | $5,945,000 | $2,142/sf | -5.6% |
| Oct 5, 2021 | LOFTSponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,397 sf | $5,400,000 | $2,253/sf | +0.0% |
| Oct 5, 2021 | LOFTSponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,397 sf | $5,500,000 | $2,295/sf | +0.0% |
| Oct 5, 2021 | LOFTSponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,388 sf | $5,600,000 | $2,345/sf | +0.0% |
| Jul 29, 2021 | 5Sponsor Sale | 2,388 sf | $5,300,000 | $2,219/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 16, 2021 | 3Sponsor Sale | 2,388 sf | $5,325,000 | $2,230/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 7, 2021 | PHSponsor Sale | 5 BR · 5.5 BA · 4,293 sf | $11,400,000 | $2,655/sf | -5.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2022) cleared a median $2,196/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 0.4% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00764-7505) 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; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
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.
What to know if you’re selling
Sell the floor plate. Roughly 2,850 square feet average in a six-unit Chelsea building is the argument. Nothing built nearby at tower scale offers it.
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.
Comparable buildings
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
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
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.
Considering a move at The Sebastian?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Sebastian 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.