217 West 19th Street (The Dance Building)

Eleven floors on a 75-foot-wide lot, with roughly 50,800 square feet of gross building area split between a theater-and-studio base of about 24,000 square feet and roughly 26,700 square feet of residential space above. That split explains the plans: with the whole floor plate available to one or two apartments and the structure carrying a performance space below, the residential floors are column-free and generously proportioned, which is not typical of new construction at this size.

Residences are full-floor and half-floor lofts. Marketed and recorded configurations have run from two to four bedrooms in the roughly 2,000-to-2,700-square-foot band, with private balconies, near-nine-foot ceilings and open kitchens. The upper floors gain open northern outlooks over the lower buildings across West 19th Street. Because there are only twelve residences and no two floors were finished identically, individual apartments differ substantially in layout and renovation history — line-by-line analysis matters here more than a building average.

One item to test in person: sound. A theater and rehearsal studios in the base of a residential building is a designed condition, and the structure was built for it, but the acoustic performance of a specific apartment relative to the performance schedule below is the kind of thing that only a site visit at the right hour resolves.

The building runs as a small mixed-use condominium. Common charges are allocated across a residential and a commercial component, which is the single most important operating feature to understand: the theater unit is a large share of the building's gross area, and how the declaration allocates common expenses, capital costs, insurance, and Local Law compliance between the commercial and residential components determines what a residential owner actually pays. Ask for the declaration's common-interest schedule and the current budget, and read them together.

Allocate building-wide roof, façade, elevator and mechanical costs under the declaration, including the separate theater unit, rather than dividing them only among twelve residences. The building is past twenty years old, but actual condition and maintenance records determine replacement needs. Request the reserve balance, the assessment history, and the current Local Law 11 cycle status.

Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through the board's right of first refusal rather than a cooperative-style approval. Recorded deeds in this building include purchases taken in the name of revocable trusts and of limited liability companies; confirm current ownership-entity rules in the declaration and bylaws.

Pets, subletting and pied-à-terre: Governed by the declaration and by-laws, which are recorded with the City Register, and by house rules, which are not recorded. Confirm current terms — including any minimum lease term — with the managing agent.

Flip tax: Not documented in public records. Confirm any resale capital contribution before pricing a sale.

Real estate taxes: No exemption of any kind appears on the residential unit lots. The ten-year 421-a benefit that ran from the building's completion expired after the 2012/13 roll and has no remaining phase-out. The exemption visible on this lot in aggregate city data belongs entirely to the theater unit and is a charitable exemption, not an abatement. Abatements apply on the tax bill; underwrite against the current bill for the specific unit.

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 (2025) cleared a median $1,958/sf (recorded) across 2 sales. Median listing discount 5.4% 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 1-00769-7506; 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.

Model the taxes from the actual bill, not from city aggregates. The exemption that appears on this building in public data belongs to the theater. The residential unit lots have shown no exemption on the assessment roll since 2013/14; abatements appear on the bill itself. This is the error most likely to break your carrying-cost math.

Read the commercial/residential cost allocation before anything else. The theater and studio unit occupies roughly half the building's gross area. How the declaration splits common charges, capital assessments, insurance and Local Law compliance between the commercial and residential components is the defining economic fact of owning here. Have your attorney read the declaration's common-interest schedule against the current budget.

Check the residential and theater allocations. The twelve residences and separate theater/studio unit do not establish twelve equal payers for roof, façade, elevator or mechanical work. Read the declaration's cost pools and common-interest schedule against the capital plan. Ask for the reserve balance, the assessment history and the Local Law 11 status.

Visit during a performance, and walk the entrance. The base is an active performing-arts facility, and a residential lobby sharing a building with a public cultural venue works differently from a conventional one. The building was designed for this and residents have lived above it for two decades, but form your own view at an hour when the studios and theater are in use.

Confirm the policy stack in writing. Pets, minimum sublet term, pied-à-terre use and any flip tax are set in the recorded declaration and by-laws and in house rules and board resolutions that are not recorded. Pull the recorded documents and get the current rules from the managing agent before you offer.

Sell the plan, not the neighborhood. Two-thousand-plus-square-foot column-free floors with balconies, one or two per floor, are scarce in Chelsea at any vintage. That is the argument, and it does not depend on finishes.

Address the tax posture up front. A sophisticated buyer will find the burned-off 421-a in diligence. Presenting the current tax bill at the outset — paired with the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator — produces better outcomes than letting it surface late.

Explain the theater, don't apologize for it. The cultural base is the building's identity and the reason its residential floors are configured as they are. Buyers who want it are a real pool; buyers who don't self-select early, which is efficient for everyone. And with twelve residences and long holding periods, resale pricing depends on floor- and condition-specific analysis rather than on a building average.

If you're considering The Dance Building, also evaluate:

• 192 Eighth Avenue (Novum Chelsea) — five-residence condominium on the same tax block; the closest neighbor in scale and the nearest boutique alternative
• 241 West 19th Street — 1100 Architect condominium of 2006–07 on the same street; the full-service alternative a block west
• 251 West 19th Street — 1910 loft building converted to condominium in 2002; the prewar loft alternative at the same vintage of conversion
• 210 West 19th Street — directly across the street; a different scale and price tier on the same blockfront
• 130 West 19th Street (Chelsea House) — larger full-service Chelsea condominium; the amenity alternative
• 142 West 19th Street — boutique condominium on the same street; comparable density, different plan type
• 121 West 19th Street — Chelsea condominium of similar vintage a block east
• 503 West 24th Street (The Getty Residences) — five full-floor residences above gallery and foundation space; the West Chelsea expression of the same art-institution-plus-residences model, at a much higher price tier
• 555 West 23rd Street — large West Chelsea condominium; the high-density comparison for buyers weighing amenities against floor size