- Year built
- 1915
- Type
- Condop
- Ownership structure
- Cooperative; the city classifies the tax lot as a condominium (a condop structure)
- The Roebling Team's building profile
- Landmark status
- Not an individual landmark; not in a historic district
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Planning records, updated February 2026
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf, 2022
- $1,353
- floor-adjusted, 4 sales
- Listing discount
- 0.0%
- Recorded sales
- 40
- On record
- 2003–2025
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 261 Broadway 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.
261 Broadway occupies one of the most historically resonant sites in Lower Manhattan — directly opposite City Hall and City Hall Park, at the threshold between Tribeca and the Civic Center. Built around 1915 to a design by James B. Baker as the City Hall Office Building, the building has a deep commercial past: Thomas Cook opened his first American travel office on this site in 1872, and Scientific American was once among the building's tenants. That loft heritage gave the building the scale and bones that make its residential conversion appealing today.
The setting is the building's main advantage. Facing the open green of City Hall Park, the park-facing homes have a genuine park outlook — a rarity downtown — and it sits at the convergence of Tribeca's restaurant blocks, the Financial District, and the downtown transit hub. At 65 residences across 12 floors, it is an intimate, characterful building with a strong sense of place.
For buyers, the appeal is a pre-war loft-era home with park frontage, at the heart of one of New York's most storied districts.
Architecture and unit composition
The building presents as a dignified early-20th-century loft structure on a prominent Broadway corner, its proportions and detailing rooted in the commercial architecture of the period. The residential conversion preserved the scale and light that a 1915 loft building offers, with two elevator banks serving the floors and a planted roof garden crowning the building.
The 65 residences carry loft-era character — good ceiling heights, large windows, and flexible, open layouts — with the homes facing City Hall Park looking out over the green. Light and view vary by line and floor, and the park-facing homes command the strongest appeal. Throughout, the building pairs its pre-war bones with modern conveniences, including video intercom and updated systems.
Building operations
261 Broadway operates with a live-in superintendent and a full-time porter, supported by video intercom security — a model suited to an intimate building. Its standout amenity is the lushly planted roof garden, which offers residents sweeping city and park views, along with a second-floor laundry room and bicycle storage.
Ownership is cooperative. The building is a two-unit condominium — the ground-floor commercial unit and the residential unit — and a cooperative corporation owns the residential unit, so an apartment purchase is a transfer of shares and a proprietary lease, recorded in ACRIS as a share transfer rather than a deed. Expect a board application, share-loan financing, and maintenance that carries the residential unit's real estate taxes; confirm financing limits and pied-à-terre, sublet and LLC or trust rules with the managing agent. The location is exceptional for walking: City Hall Park at the door, Tribeca's restaurants and shops a block or two north, the Financial District to the south, and the full downtown subway network at hand.
Building staffing and amenities
- Virtual or video entry
- YesSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
- Live-in superintendent
- YesSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
- Elevator
- YesSource: NYC Department of Buildings elevator records
- Amenities noted
- Roof deck, garden, bike storage, 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
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City data last refreshed October 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the inspector (QEWI) identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair, with repairs due by the deadline stated in the filing. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
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 2020–25. 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
Recent transfers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 28, 2022 | 11A | 1 BR · 1 BA | $1,260,000 | +0.8% | |
| Aug 18, 2022 | 8B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 1,150 sf | $1,450,000 | $1,261/sf | -8.8% |
| Jul 7, 2022 | 3B | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,150 sf | $1,595,000 | $1,387/sf | +0.0% |
| Mar 11, 2022 | 9F | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,285 sf | $1,700,000 | $1,323/sf | -5.3% |
| Feb 22, 2022 | 11E | 2 BR · 1 BA · 1,260 sf | $1,565,000 | $1,242/sf | -2.2% |
| Feb 17, 2022 | 4B | 2 BR · 1 BA | $1,500,000 | -13.0% | |
| Oct 28, 2021 | 7B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 1,150 sf | $1,595,000 | $1,387/sf | +0.0% |
| Sep 22, 2021 | 2D | 2 BR · 1 BA · 1,390 sf | $1,650,000 | $1,187/sf | -6.5% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2022): a median $1,353/sf (floor-adjusted) across 4 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.
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 1-00135-7501). 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
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Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% 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
Apartments here are cooperative shares inside a two-unit condominium, so purchases go through a co-op board application; confirm financing limits and pied-à-terre, sublet and investor-ownership rules in the proprietary lease and house rules. The single biggest value lever here is exposure: the homes facing City Hall Park have a park view that the rear-facing lines do not, so prioritize accordingly. Beyond exposure, weigh ceiling height, layout, and the scope of any renovation, and review the building's financials and reserve position. The location — park frontage at the seam of Tribeca and the Financial District — is a durable asset.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the setting and the provenance: a 1915 loft-era cooperative opposite City Hall Park, with park views from the front-facing homes and a planted roof garden above. That park frontage is the building's rarest asset and the centerpiece of any park-facing listing. Benchmark to comparable Tribeca and Civic Center loft apartments, adjusting condominium sales for tenure, stage to the home's light and loft character, and present renovation history clearly. A resale needs the cooperative board's approval; explain the cond-op structure early so buyers expecting a condominium are not surprised.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 261 Broadway, also evaluate these Lower Manhattan and Tribeca peers (mostly condominiums; weigh the tenure difference):
- 270 Broadway — pre-war lower-Manhattan condominium nearby
- 176 Broadway — downtown loft-era building
- 233 Broadway — the Woolworth Tower Residences
- 25 North Moore Street — The Atalanta, a Tribeca warehouse loft conversion
- 240 Centre Street — The Police Building, a Beaux-Arts landmark conversion
More Tribeca buildings
- 250 West Street, 250 West Street at Hubert Street — 1906 condominium
- 258 Broadway — 1900 co-op
- The American Thread Building (260 West Broadway) — condominium
- 270 Broadway — 1930 condominium
- 275 Greenwich Street (Greenwich Court) — 1986 condominium by Gruzen Samton Steinglass
- 290 West Street — 2015 condominium by Morris Adjmi Architects
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Tribeca — read The Roebling Team Guide to Tribeca.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
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 261 Broadway?
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646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com