261 West 28th Street (Onyx Chelsea)
261 West 28th Street, New York, NY 10001
BBL 1007787501 · BIN 1087714
- Year built
- 2006
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 52
- Floors
- 11
- 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
- Landmark status
- Not an individual landmark; not in a historic district
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Planning records, updated February 2026
- Doorman
- Full-time doorman
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, 2026 to date
- $1,363
- floor-adjusted, 3 sales
- Listing discount
- 1.6%
- Recorded sales
- 125
- On record
- 2007–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at Onyx Chelsea 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.
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. 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 Midtown South’s transit core and West Chelsea’s cultural corridor. Compare recent closed sales with High Line buildings after adjusting for apartment size, condition, views, amenities and carrying charges.
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.
Monthly carrying charges in recent sales
- Common charges + taxes, per room
- $792 per room a monthMedian of 6 recorded sales since October 2023Source: recorded sales, refreshed October 2026
- Common charges + taxes, per square foot
- $3.31 per square foot a monthMedian of 6 recorded sales since October 2023Source: recorded sales, refreshed October 2026
- Common charges alone, per square foot
- $1.80 per square foot a monthMedian of 12 listings since October 2023 that give the annual taxSource: listing records, refreshed October 2026
- Real estate taxes alone, per square foot
- $1.51 per square foot a monthMedian of 12 listings since October 2023 that give the annual taxSource: listing records, refreshed October 2026
Common charges plus real estate taxes, combined into one monthly figure the way New York condominium listings show them. Add a mortgage payment for the monthly outlay. The split into common charges and taxes comes from the listings that also give the annual tax, a different sample, so the two lines need not add up exactly to the combined median; a tax abatement can hold taxes below the full amount until it expires. A summary of recorded sales and listings, not a current bill; charges change.
Building staffing and amenities
- Doorman
- Full-time doormanSource: recent listing records
- Concierge
- YesSource: recent listing records
- Attended lobby
- YesSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
- Elevator
- YesSource: NYC Department of Buildings elevator records
- Amenities noted
- Fitness room, roof deck, bike storage, storage, cold storageSource: 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
- $25,925/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $42
- Modeled exposure split equally across 52 units (the residential count on the city's lot record). Not an assessed amount; condominium owners are typically charged by each unit's common-interest percentage.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City data last refreshed September 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 2015–20 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 September 2026.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 9, 2026 | 3C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 737 sf | $990,000 | $1,343/sf | -0.9% |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 10D | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,519 sf | $2,200,000 | $1,448/sf | -2.2% |
| Jan 15, 2026 | 6E | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,214 sf | $1,425,000 | $1,174/sf | -20.6% |
| 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 to date) cleared a median $1,363/sf (floor-adjusted) across 3 sales. 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 1.6% 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 1-00778-7501; 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 Onyx Chelsea, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 6 | $5,450 |
| 2 bedroom | 6 | $9,400 |
12 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease July 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 Onyx Chelsea and nearby.
At the recent median sale of $1.09M (7 sales in the past 24 months, since October 25, 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $49,285 to close, or 4.5% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $10,950
- Mortgage recording tax: $15,809
- Title insurance: $4,928
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $17,598
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
The condo mechanics are the entry point. As a condominium, there is no co-op board admission; purchases run through the condominium's application and any right of first refusal. Confirm leasing, pied-à-terre and LLC, trust or investor ownership rules in the current declaration, bylaws and house rules 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 plan reserves the sponsor’s right to rent units, but that permission does not establish how many units were rented or who owns them today. Obtain the current owner-occupancy and rental schedule for financing and house-rule 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 to compare with High Line corridor apartments on measured area, condition and current charges.
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; compare current asking and closed prices with tenure and carrying-cost adjustments
More Chelsea buildings
- 257 West 17th Street — 1908 condominium
- 260 West 22nd Street — 1905 co-op
- 261 West 22nd Street — 1917 co-op
- The Seymour (261 West 25th Street) — 2015 condominium
- 263 Ninth Avenue — 1913 condominium
- 270 West 19th Street (The Sedona) — 2004 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
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 Onyx Chelsea?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com