- Year built
- 1910
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 22
- Floors
- 12
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Pets permitted (pet-friendly building)
- Subletting
- Subject to cooperative board policy
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $879
- Listing discount
- 4.3%
- Recorded sales
- 31
- On record
- 2004–2026
28 West 38th Street is a boutique prewar loft cooperative on the Midtown South block of 38th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues — a stretch that sits at the meeting point of the Garment District, NoMad, and the lower Midtown commercial corridor. The building was constructed in 1910 as a commercial loft structure, part of the dense early-20th-century build-out of the blocks just north of Madison Square that housed the city's apparel, millinery, and wholesale trades. Like many of its neighbors, it was later converted to residential cooperative use, and today holds 22 apartments across 12 floors.
The appeal of the building is the appeal of the prewar loft co-op generally: large floor plates, high ceilings, generous window lines, and an apartment count low enough that the building reads as a small, owner-occupied community rather than an institution. Buyers drawn to 28 West 38th Street tend to be those who want loft-scale interior volume and prewar architectural character at a price point well below the Flatiron and NoMad new-development tier — and who value a central location with fast access to Bryant Park, Herald Square, Grand Central, and the Fifth Avenue retail spine.
The building's location is genuinely transitional, and that is part of its character. The immediate blocks remain a working commercial district by day; the residential register has grown steadily as loft conversions and ground-floor improvements have continued across Midtown South. For the right buyer, the trade is straightforward: a quieter, more affordable foothold in a central, well-connected part of Manhattan, in a building with real architectural bones.
Architecture and unit composition
The original 1910 structure is a classic Manhattan commercial loft building — a masonry-and-terra-cotta facade organized around large windows and column-free or lightly-columned floor plates, built to carry the loads and admit the daylight that the garment and wholesale trades required. The firm Starrett & Van Vleck, associated with several commercial and department-store buildings of the era, is credited with the design; buyers who care about original attribution should confirm the architect of record against building filings.
In residential use, the building's prewar loft DNA produces the qualities buyers seek: ceiling heights and window lines well above the postwar norm, deep and flexible floor plates, and apartment configurations that range from loft-style open layouts to more conventionally partitioned homes depending on how individual units were built out at and after conversion. With 22 units across 12 floors, the building runs to roughly one to two homes per floor — boutique scale that supports larger, lower-density apartments than a typical mid-block elevator building.
Apartment-level features — ceiling height, exposure, window count, and the degree of original detail versus renovation — vary unit by unit and are the primary drivers of value within the building. Evaluate each home on its specific configuration rather than on a building-wide average.
Building operations
28 West 38th Street operates as a self-contained residential cooperative under the 26-30 West 38 St Owners Corp. As an elevator building of its size and vintage, it carries the operating profile typical of the boutique prewar loft co-op: a resident or live-in superintendent, central building services, and the shared-equity governance structure of cooperative ownership.
The building is pet-friendly. The board's policies on pied-à-terre use, subletting, financing percentages, and alterations are set by the board and the proprietary lease. As a matter of practice, boutique co-ops of this scale often run conservative financing and sublet policies to preserve owner-occupancy. Prospective buyers should confirm the variable financial rules, the building's financial profile, recent assessments, and any planned capital work directly against current materials during due diligence; the cooperative's board financial specifics should be confirmed at offer stage.
Recent sales
Sales at 28 West 38th Street are best read on a co-op basis — that is, on price per room and on apartment-specific configuration rather than on a single price-per-square-foot figure, which is the more reliable lens for condominium product. The building sits in the affordable-to-mid tier of Midtown South prewar co-op pricing: a register substantially below the Flatiron and NoMad new-development condominiums and below the marquee Park- and Fifth-Avenue cooperative tier, reflecting the building's Garment District-edge location and boutique, amenity-light profile.
Within that register, value tracks the usual co-op variables — floor, exposure, light, ceiling height, apartment size and layout, and renovation condition. Larger, higher, better-lit, and recently renovated homes command the building's premium; lower-floor and dated units price below it. Because the building is small, comparable sales inside it are episodic; pricing any individual apartment requires reading both in-building history and the broader Midtown South prewar co-op market. Recent specific transactions should be confirmed against current public records at the time of any inquiry.
Recent transfers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 10, 2026 | 9E | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,000 sf | $1,970,433 | $985/sf | -12.4% |
| Aug 14, 2024 | 5E | 2 BR · 2 BA · 2,000 sf | $1,450,000 | $725/sf | -3.0% |
| Jul 26, 2024 | 3E | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,000 sf | $1,570,000 | $785/sf | -7.6% |
| Jun 7, 2024 | 4E | 2 BR · 1 BA · 1,800 sf | $1,485,000 | $825/sf | -4.2% |
| Apr 16, 2024 | 10W | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,000 sf | $1,800,000 | $900/sf | -4.3% |
| Jun 28, 2023 | 6E | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,900 sf | $1,758,000 | $925/sf | -9.8% |
| Mar 10, 2023 | 11E | 3 BR · 1,800 sf | $1,450,000 | $806/sf | off-mkt |
| Sep 11, 2019 | 6W | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,950 sf | $1,985,000 | $1,018/sf | -13.7% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $879/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.3% 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.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 13, 2022 | 1B | $1,825,000 |
| Aug 11, 2015 | 5B | $2,100,000 |
| Nov 15, 2013 | 9W | $2,200,000 |
| Jul 25, 2013 | 6B | $1,800,000 |
| Mar 28, 2012 | 1B | $999,999 |
| Mar 6, 2012 | 5W | $1,225,000 |
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 1-00839-0063) 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
What to know if you’re buying
This is a prewar loft co-op — price and underwrite it as one. Value here is a function of room count, configuration, light, and condition, not a single square-foot number. Build your comparable analysis on a price-per-room basis and on apartment-specific features.
Confirm the board's financing, sublet, and pied-à-terre policies before you commit. Boutique co-ops vary widely on permitted financing percentages, post-closing liquidity expectations, and sublet rules. These policies materially affect both your purchase and your future flexibility. Confirm them at offer stage.
Diligence the building's finances and capital plan. Review the most recent financial statements, the reserve position, any current or anticipated assessments, and the status of building systems — a prewar structure of this vintage will have an ongoing capital agenda.
Location is central but transitional. The block is a working Midtown South commercial district by day, with excellent transit and a fast walk to Bryant Park, Herald Square, and Grand Central. Visit at multiple times of day to confirm the daily-life environment fits you.
Closing timelines are co-op-standard. Plan for board application and approval, and a longer timeline than a comparable condominium purchase.
What to know if you’re selling
Foreground the loft-scale interior and the central location. The building's structural selling points are prewar volume — ceiling height, window lines, floor plate — and a genuinely central, transit-rich Midtown South address. Apartment-specific marketing should lead with the home's exposure, light, ceiling height, and renovation condition.
Price on apartment-level comparables. With a small in-building sample, pricing should triangulate recent comparable co-op sales in the building and across the Midtown South prewar co-op market on a price-per-room basis.
Prepare the buyer for board review. Cooperative purchase requires board application and approval; a well-prepared board package and a financially qualified buyer are central to a clean closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 28 West 38th Street, also evaluate:
- 36 West 35th Street — a comparable boutique prewar co-op a few blocks south, on the Herald Square / Garment District edge
- 372 Fifth Avenue — a larger Midtown South loft cooperative with a department-store-to-residential history, at Fifth Avenue and 35th Street
- 30 West 15th Street — a 1908 loft cooperative of similar boutique scale on the Flatiron / Union Square edge
- 33 East 30th Street — a NoMad prewar cooperative of comparable vintage
- 1182 Broadway — a NoMad condominium for buyers weighing the ownership-structure trade-off in the same broad area
The Roebling Team at 28 West 38th Street
The Roebling Team at Compass works the Manhattan cooperative and condominium market across Midtown South, Flatiron, and NoMad, with substantive engagement in the prewar loft co-op segment. We publish this building profile because buyers and sellers of boutique prewar co-ops deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, operating reality, and the apartment-level pricing considerations that a generic market read cannot provide.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 28 West 38th Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point. We'll bring the full context this page provides plus the transactional specifics your situation requires.
Corey Cohen · The Roebling Team at Compass 646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Flatiron — read The Roebling Team Guide to Flatiron.
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