247 West 115th Street (Delany Lofts)

The two buildings are twins: masonry mid-rise infill holding the West 115th Street street wall, with loft-style interiors marketed on the building's name. Listing records describe the mix as 36 one-bedroom layouts, 24 with one bath and 12 with two. The offering plan's unit schedule should be checked for exact layouts and square footage, because some units carry terraces or garden access as limited common elements.

In each building the ground floor has two units (A and B), floors two through five have three (A through C), and the sixth floor has four (A through D). The plan reserved the sponsor's right to combine units; no combinations appear in the Department of Finance lot structure, which still carries 36 unit lots.

Tax position. The Department of Finance carries every unit lot under exemption code 5114, a 25-year 421-a exemption without a cap, with a 2010 benefit start and a 2005 base year, at 100% on the 2027 roll. Under the schedule in the offering plan, the exemption covers 100% of the increase in assessed value over the pre-construction value for the first 21 years, then phases down over the final four. On a 2010 start, full benefit runs to about the 2030/31 tax year and the exemption ends around 2034/35. Confirm the exact phase-down years against the Department of Finance record before relying on them. Owners pay tax only on the small pre-construction assessment until the phase-down begins, so current common charges plus taxes understate the long-run carrying cost.

Finances. Per the draft 2019–2020 financial statements on file, the condominium ran operating deficits in both years after major repairs, including roof work and façade waterproofing. It levied two special assessments between 2018 and 2020: one to fund operating expenses and one to buy the superintendent's unit from the sponsor, which ACRIS records as a 2018 transfer to the board of managers. In 2020 it took a $150,000 ten-year bank note maturing in 2030. Cash reserves at the end of 2020 were thin for a 36-unit building. Those statements are a draft and are now six years old. Request the most recent audited statements, the current budget, and the status of the bank note at offer stage.

Staffing. A superintendent occupies the board-owned unit. There is no doorman; packages go through a virtual-doorman system, per listing records.

• Primary residence. Every unit deed carries this covenant, per the offering plan: for 25 years from the date of the deed, the grantee and any later owner must continuously occupy the unit as a primary residence. It binds resale buyers.
• Leasing. The plan states owners may not lease while the Subsidy Agreement, enforcement note and mortgage are in force. Afterward, leases of at least one year are allowed, subject to the board's right of first refusal. Whether satisfying an individual enforcement mortgage at resale also frees that unit from the deed covenant is a legal question for condominium counsel and HPD. Do not assume it does.
• Appreciation recapture. On a resale within three years of the first purchase, 100% of the appreciation goes to HPD. After three years it is 50%. In both cases it is capped at the remaining enforcement-note balance, which falls by one twenty-fifth each year of continuous owner occupancy. The seven affordable units also carry a Conditional Grant Agreement: 50% of appreciation on a transfer or refinancing, up to a grant balance that declines on the same schedule.
• Refinancing. For HPD to subordinate its lien to a larger refinanced loan, 50% of the amount by which the new debt exceeds the original purchase financing becomes payable on the note, per the offering plan.
• Right of first refusal. The board holds one on sales and leases.
• Pets. Permitted with board consent, per the house rules on file.

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 (2024) cleared a median $1,039/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 3.5% 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 1-01831-7502; 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.

This is a home, not an investment. The primary-residence covenant and the leasing bar make the building unsuitable for a pied-à-terre, a rental, or a purchase by a parent for a child who will not live there as a primary residence, unless counsel confirms the covenant no longer reaches the unit.

Ask for the seller's HPD payoff. Title will show whether the enforcement mortgage is open. If it is, the payoff comes out of the seller's proceeds at closing, and the contract should say so.

Underwrite the tax step-up. Model carrying cost at full taxes after about 2034/35, not at today's exempt bill.

Get the HPD payoff letter early. How much recapture you owe depends on when you bought, the appreciation, and the remaining note balance. Order the letter before you set a price.

Market to owner-occupants. The covenant narrows the buyer pool, so listing copy and qualification should address it directly.

• 313 West 119th Street (Brownstone Lane II): South Harlem condominium where HPD enforcement mortgages shape the resale comparables in the same way
• 2110 Frederick Douglass Boulevard: from the same mid-2000s boulevard wave, also carrying a 25-year 421-a
• 301 West 118th Street (SoHa 118): South Harlem new-construction condominium of the same vintage
• 320 West 115th Street: small condominium on the same street, in older stock
• 23 West 116th Street (The Adeline): later Harlem new construction without an HPD overlay
• 117 West 123rd Street (Windows on 123): 2008-vintage Harlem condominium
• 309 West 118th Street (Brownstone Lane): early-2000s South Harlem condominium