- Year built
- 2006
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 52
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- 24-hour attended lobby and concierge, fitness center, two roof decks, bike room, cold storage; the offering plan documents 36 storage lockers and 5 ground-floor parking spaces offered by license
- Pets
- Condominium framework; generally permissive per listing records — verify house rules
Every recorded sale at this building, 2007–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,109
- Listing discount
- 1.0%
- Recorded sales
- 150
- On record
- 2007–2026
Onyx Chelsea is a boutique-scaled product of the mid-2000s condominium wave that rebuilt Eighth Avenue's northern Chelsea blocks: 52 residences in an 11-story glass corner building designed by FXFowle, the firm behind some of the era's most disciplined New York commercial and residential work. The design is the calling card — a sharp-edged, Miesian massing with corner windows and floor-to-ceiling glass, and vertical bands of facade lighting running up the center of both street fronts that architectural records have compared to the lighting gestures of the Porter House at Ninth Avenue and 15th Street. On a stretch of Eighth Avenue otherwise dominated by tenement-scale walk-ups and institutional buildings, it reads as the block's deliberate modern object.
The location thesis has strengthened since the building opened. When sales launched, the pitch was proximity — the Fashion Institute of Technology across the street, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden a few blocks north, the 1 and C/E trains at the corner blocks. What the 2006 offering plan could not promise was everything that arrived after: the High Line two avenues west, the gallery district's consolidation in the West 20s, Hudson Yards, and Moynihan Train Hall. The building now sits between two of the strongest demand engines in Manhattan — Midtown South's transit core and West Chelsea's cultural corridor — at pricing well below the starchitect product on the High Line itself.
The documentation is solid. The condominium offering plan and its early amendments are on file in The Roebling Research Library, and they settle the structural facts: 52 residential units plus a retail unit and a community facility unit at the base, 36 storage lockers and 5 parking spaces offered by license, a 10-year 421-a tax schedule that has since fully expired, and a sponsor reservation of the right to rent rather than sell units — a disclosure that shaped the building's early owner-investor mix and is worth understanding when reading its transaction history.
Architecture and unit composition
FXFowle organized the building as a glass corner slab with masonry returns, maximizing the two street exposures: south-facing units run along 28th Street, west-facing units along Eighth Avenue, and the corner lines take both. Floor-to-ceiling glazing and corner windows do the architectural work; the vertical lighting accents give the building its night identity. The 52 residences run from one-bedrooms through larger corner two- and three-bedroom lines, several with private terraces, finished at the mid-2000s luxury standard — open kitchens with Sub-Zero, Bosch, and Viking appliances, marble and limestone baths with radiant-heated floors, in-unit washer/dryers, and central air throughout per architectural and listing records.
Building operations
Full-service at boutique scale: 24-hour attended lobby, concierge, fitness center, two roof decks, bike room, and cold storage. Storage lockers and the small ground-floor parking inventory transfer by license arrangement under the framework documented in the offering plan — confirm availability and current terms during diligence, as both are scarce assets in the building. The retail and community-facility units at the base are separately owned condominium units whose permitted uses are broad under the plan; your attorney should review the commercial-unit provisions as part of standard diligence. The offering plan and early amendments are on file in The Roebling Research Library.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $10,959/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $18
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Recent sales
Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 14, 2026 | CFU | 3,455 sf | $3,100,000 | $897/sf | off-mkt |
| Jan 15, 2026 | 6E | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,214 sf | $1,425,000 | $1,174/sf | -20.6% |
| Dec 9, 2025 | CFUSponsor Sale | 3,455 sf | $2,173,302 | $629/sf | off-mkt |
| Sep 3, 2025 | 2D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 795 sf | $950,000 | $1,195/sf | -19.1% |
| May 22, 2025 | 8A | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,438 sf | $2,175,000 | $1,513/sf | -5.0% |
| Feb 27, 2025 | 8F | 1 BR · 1 BA · 683 sf | $1,090,000 | $1,596/sf | -5.2% |
| Nov 18, 2024 | 4C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 737 sf | $1,095,000 | $1,486/sf | +0.0% |
| Aug 15, 2024 | 4B | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,265 sf | $1,975,000 | $1,561/sf | -6.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,109/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 1.0% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
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 1-00778-7501) 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
The condo mechanics are the entry point. No board interview, and LLC, trust, investor, and pied-à-terre purchases are all materially easier than in Chelsea's co-op stock. Confirm the building's current leasing rules and any board right of first refusal with the managing agent.
Underwrite the full, unabated taxes. The 10-year 421-a schedule documented in the offering plan has long since burned off. Unlike buildings still marketing abated carrying costs, what you see here is the real number — run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator on the specific unit.
Read the owner-renter mix. The sponsor's reserved right to rent units, disclosed in the plan, plus condominium leasing flexibility, means a meaningful rental presence in the building's history. For most buyers this is neutral; for financing and house-rule expectations it is worth quantifying during diligence.
Eighth Avenue is the trade. The corner location buys light, transit (1, C/E, and Penn Station/Moynihan within blocks), and FIT's energy across the street — and it carries avenue noise on the west-facing lines. Spend time in the specific unit at rush hour before pricing the exposure.
Storage and parking are scarce, licensed assets. Only 36 lockers and 5 parking spaces exist under the plan. If either matters to you, establish availability before contract, not after.
What to know if you’re selling
Market the design identity. FXFowle authorship, the corner glass lines, and the lit facade give this building a nameable architectural story that most mid-2000s Chelsea condos lack. Use it specifically.
Position against both Chelseas. Your buyer is cross-shopping eastern Chelsea conversions and West Chelsea glass towers. The argument is the middle path: full-service modern product, two roof decks, and in-unit laundry at a meaningful per-foot discount to the High Line corridor.
Be precise about carry. Sophisticated buyers will model the unabated taxes immediately. Lead with the honest monthly number and let the price-per-foot comparison to newer product do the work.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 261 West 28th Street, also evaluate:
- 520 West 28th Street — Zaha Hadid's High Line condominium three avenues west; the starchitect price ceiling for the street
- +art (540 West 28th Street) — the West Chelsea gallery-district alternative on the same street
- 101 West 24th Street (Chelsea Stratus) — the closest like-for-like: mid-2000s full-service glass condo tower in central Chelsea
- 252 Seventh Avenue (The Chelsea Mercantile) — the neighborhood's benchmark full-amenity loft conversion
- 130 West 30th Street (The Cass Gilbert) — landmark pre-war condominium conversion just north; the character alternative
- 245 Tenth Avenue — boutique High Line-facing glass condo; the design-forward step west
- 148 West 23rd Street (Chelsea Mews) — the co-op alternative at a lower entry point
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
Considering a move at Onyx Chelsea?
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