- Year built
- 1987
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 26
- Floors
- 7
- Landmark status
- Not an individual landmark; not in a historic district
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Planning records, updated February 2026
- Doorman
- Part-time doorman
259 Elizabeth Street (Empire Condominium) sales history: 19 recorded sales
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf, 2025
- $1,894
- floor-adjusted, 1 sale
- Listing discount
- 1.7%
- Recorded sales
- 19
- On record
- 2004–2025
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 259 Elizabeth Street (Empire Condominium) 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.
259 Elizabeth Street is a 1980s new-construction condominium in Nolita, built on a lot that had been vacant for at least three years before work began in 1986. It predates the neighborhood's later boutique condominiums by well over a decade, and it offers small residences with condominium ownership and no co-op board.
The structure is the first thing a buyer should understand. The Empire Condominium is a mixed regime. Alongside the 26 residences are four professional units that, under the offering plan, may be used for any lawful purpose, are not subject to the right of first refusal, and have their own seat on the board of managers (five residential managers and one professional manager). The professional units held about 12 percent of the common interest at the offering. There are now also two commercial lots on the ground floor. The residential owners have no approval right over how the professional units are used.
The tax story is simple, and settled. The residences were offered with a ten-year 421-a exemption that phased down in 20-percent steps every two years. That benefit burned off in the late 1990s, so today's carrying costs are fully taxed. Unlike the post-2000 condominiums nearby, a buyer here faces no phase-out still to come.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a seven-story elevator building on a lot of about 4,200 square feet, with Elizabeth Street frontage of about 48 feet. The plan describes the residences as studios, one-bedrooms and convertible one-bedrooms. Its price schedule marks some apartments with a greenhouse, terrace, roof garden, duplex or sleeping-loft designation, and those units are the building's distinctive product. The recorded residential lines run A through D on floors two through seven, with two residences on the ground floor (1B and 1C).
A note on the unit count. The plan offered 28 residences. The current DOF roll shows 26 residential lots and two ground-floor commercial lots (COMM-A and COMM-D), and HPD registers 26 legal apartments. That points to the two ground-floor units at the A and D positions having been reclassified as commercial after the offering. The amendment that did this was not located among the documents reviewed.
Building operations
The plan set up a lean operation: a superintendent serving both the residential and professional sections, a single elevator under a service contract, and a laundry room run by concession. The professional units are separately metered for water and carry their own limited common elements, whose upkeep falls on the professional owners alone. The board, current staffing, managing agent and reserve position are not documented in the public record. Buyers should get the current budget, the latest audited financial statements and board minutes during diligence.
Policy framework
- Right of first refusal: An owner who sells or leases a residence must give the board of managers notice with the signed contract or lease. The board has 20 days to match; if it declines, the owner has 60 days to close on the stated terms.
- Professional units: Any lawful use, no right of first refusal, and a guaranteed professional manager on the board.
- Sponsor-held units: Unsold units may be leased by the sponsor free of the right of first refusal. The sponsor's name remains on at least two residential lots on the current DOF roll.
- Pets, minimum lease term, pied-à-terre use, in-unit laundry: Not documented in the material on file. Confirm with the managing agent and the current bylaws and house rules.
Building staffing and amenities
- Doorman
- Part-time doormanSource: recent listing records
- Elevator
- YesSource: NYC Department of Buildings elevator records
- Amenities noted
- Laundry roomSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
Staffing and amenities as our building profile and recent listing records describe them. A feature not listed is not confirmed absent. Outdoor space, parking and some facilities can belong to particular apartments or to a separate owner; confirm access for the specific apartment.
Local Law 97
This building is below the 25,000 sq ft threshold at which LL97 limits apply to a building on its own. It is still covered if it shares a tax lot or condominium board with buildings totaling over 50,000 sq ft; confirm on DOB’s covered-buildings list.
See full Local Law 97 analysis →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. A filed Safe grade is not a guarantee of current condition: owners still maintain the facade and, where required, observe parapets each year. Future inspection timing (Local Law 49 of 2025 changed the cycle framework from October 1, 2026), repair and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — a licensed professional engineer or registered architect who meets DOB’s FISP qualifications and signs the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2025–30. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City data last refreshed October 2026.
Recent sales
259 Elizabeth trades as a small-unit Nolita condominium priced per square foot, and ownership is spread across individual buyers and single-purpose LLCs, per the DOF roll and ACRIS. Resales come through a few times a year. Pricing within the building depends mostly on private outdoor space, the duplex and loft layouts, and floor; the plain studios and one-bedrooms on the middle floors form the base of the range. Against Nolita's newer boutique condominiums, compare actual entry prices, apartment sizes, condition and carrying costs, accounting for this building's 1980s construction and current use rules. Market statements here are indexed to 2025, the last complete year.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 2025 | 5D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 600 sf | $1,080,000 | $1,800/sf | -4.0% |
| Nov 1, 2021 | 6C | 483 sf | $1,020,000 | $2,112/sf | — |
| Aug 10, 2021 | 3B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 700 sf | $920,000 | $1,314/sf | -7.9% |
| Dec 4, 2019 | GRDNB | 1 BR · 1 BA · 650 sf | $1,100,000 | $1,692/sf | +0.0% |
| Jan 23, 2015 | 2C | 1 BR · 450 sf | $700,000 | $1,556/sf | — |
| Feb 12, 2014 | 5A | 1 BR · 1 BA · 450 sf | $805,000 | $1,789/sf | — |
| Jun 7, 2013 | 4D | 718 sf | $700,000 | $975/sf | — |
| Jun 7, 2013 | 4B | 723 sf | $700,000 | $968/sf | — |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,894/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 1.7% 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 1-00508-7501; 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.
Closed rents at 259 Elizabeth Street (Empire Condominium), last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 3 | $6,000 |
5 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease March 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
What would your apartment rent for?
The figures above are the building's closed leases. Enter your apartment and I'll send you what yours would rent for, from comparable leases at 259 Elizabeth Street (Empire Condominium) and nearby.
Buying here? Condo closing costs with a mortgage typically run 3 to 6% 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
Understand the professional units. Four units with unrestricted use and their own board seat are a real part of the regime. Ask what they are used for today, whether any use has drawn complaints or violations, and how shared costs are split between the sections.
Taxes are already at full value. The 421-a ran out decades ago. The current tax bill is the real figure.
Confirm the apartment's legal description. Greenhouse, terrace, roof-garden and sleeping-loft designations come from the plan. Make sure the outdoor space and loft in your unit match the declaration and the certificate of occupancy.
The mansion tax may apply. Many resales here are priced around the $1 million threshold. Run the numbers with the Mansion Tax Calculator below.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with condominium flexibility on a Nolita block. There is no board interview, and the right-of-first-refusal window is 20 days. Present these procedures for comparison with the co-op inventory nearby.
Have the regime paperwork ready. Buyers' attorneys will ask about the professional and commercial units. Current budgets, the declaration and bylaws, and a note on present uses shorten diligence.
Comparable buildings
- 211 Elizabeth Street — Roman and Williams's red-brick boutique condominium at the corner of Prince Street, a short walk south
- Eleven Prince (11 Prince Street) — prewar Nolita condominium between the Bowery and Elizabeth Street
- 8 Prince Street — prewar doorman condominium in the center of Nolita
- 34 Prince Street — seven-residence landmark conversion of the former orphan asylum and convent
- 306 Mott Street — boutique loft-style condominium at the Nolita / NoHo border
- 199 Mott Street — eleven-residence Nolita new-development condominium
- 195 Bowery — 2004 full-floor loft condominium on the Bowery nearby
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 259 Elizabeth Street (Empire Condominium)?
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646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com