38 West 9th Street (The Portsmouth)

Three six-story Queen Anne structures across roughly 161 feet of West 9th Street frontage on a 15,121-square-foot lot, carrying about 73,000 square feet of residential area over 54 apartments. Brick with terra-cotta spandrels; the ornament is concentrated at the entrances and the upper spandrel courses.

The apartment stock runs from three-room homes through eight-room layouts and later combinations. Ceilings are high, original detail survives in many apartments, and fireplaces are present throughout. Rear-facing apartments look onto the building's own back yard rather than a lot line — a real amenity on a Village block this dense, and one the house rules acknowledge by extending the no-smoking rule to it. Front apartments face the West 9th Street canopy.

Because the buildings are 1882 and 1883 construction, floor and joist condition is a genuine diligence item rather than a formality: a 2008 alteration at 38 replaced existing wood joists and flooring, and any buyer planning a gut renovation should have the structure looked at before pricing the work.

Tax history. The cooperative took a J-51 benefit on a rehabilitation carried out in 1978 and 1979 — a twelve-year exemption with a 90 percent abatement, calculated on roughly $103,500 of qualifying alteration cost. The Department of Finance record runs through tax year 1990, with the abatement grant tapering in its final years, and there is no later grant anywhere in the file. The J-51 burned off around 1990 and there is no abatement today. Real estate taxes are simply an operating expense, and a rising one: the corporation's audited statements show a taxable-valuation-driven increase from roughly $684,000 in fiscal 2018/19 to roughly $757,000 in fiscal 2020/21, with the 2021 budget assuming a further 4.2 percent rise. The corporation retains certiorari counsel on an ongoing basis to protest the assessment, which is the right posture and worth knowing about.

The underlying mortgage is the most important number in this building. Per the audited financial statements on file, the corporation carries a $6,700,000 first mortgage with the National Cooperative Bank, interest-only at 3.78 percent, maturing September 1, 2027, alongside a $1,500,000 revolving credit line with the same lender. Interest-only means no principal has been amortized; the full balance comes due at maturity. That refinancing sits inside the ownership horizon of anyone buying today, and it will be priced in a materially different rate environment than the one that produced 3.78 percent. Ask the board where the refinancing stands, what the projected debt service looks like, and how the difference is expected to be absorbed. This is the single question that most changes the economics of an apartment here.

Assessments are a recurring feature, not an exception. The statements on file record operating assessments imposed in March 2019 at roughly $10.75 per share over three months, in October 2019 at roughly $16.32 per share over seven months, and in March 2020 at roughly $7.40 per share over three months — with the following year's budget assuming another assessment at roughly $7.40 per share. Maintenance at the most recent year on file ran approximately $9.76 per share per month and was held flat year over year, which is a good outcome achieved partly by running assessments alongside it. Read the maintenance figure and the assessment history together; the first without the second understates the carry.

Reserves and capital work. The working capital reserve fund stood at roughly $489,000 at the most recent year-end on file, up from about $336,000 a year earlier, against total revenues of roughly $2.09 million. The building itself is fully depreciated on the books, the corporation has not commissioned a reserve study, and its governing documents do not require reserve accumulation — the statements say so plainly, and note that when major work is needed the corporation expects to use cash, borrow, raise maintenance, impose assessments, or defer. Recent capital work is documented in the same statements: an exterior restoration of roughly $453,000 and elevator upgrades in 2019, and a roof project in 2020. Department of Buildings filings corroborate this, with façade restoration applications filed on the front and rear buildings in August 2019.

The gas riser. In September 2017, contractors working on a shareholder renovation performed an unauthorized repair to a branch gas line while the line was live and charged, contrary to the corporation's alteration rules. Con Edison shut down the entire gas riser to the building, and the corporation was forced to carry out repairs and upgrades to the riser and branch lines. The corporation sued to recover its costs and fees; the matter was in discovery as of the most recent statements on file. Two things follow for a buyer. The alteration regime here is strict for a documented reason, and it will be enforced. And a building that has already replaced portions of its gas riser under emergency conditions is worth asking specific questions about on the state of the remaining distribution.

The plan of cooperative organization was filed with the Attorney General on May 22, 1973 and presented four days later. At presentation, 38 of the apartments were rent controlled, and the plan proceeded under the 35 percent purchase threshold that the Rent Control Law then required. The sponsor's declaration of effectiveness, sworn October 16, 1974, lists the qualifying purchases — sitting tenants, most of them long-tenured, several with occupancies running past thirty years. Purchase prices in the plan ran in the eight to twenty-two thousand dollar range against maintenance of roughly $13.30 per share for the first projected year of operation, which was estimated to be calendar 1975.

Two things from that history still matter to a buyer. First, the corporation was formed in 1970 and the building has been shareholder-owned for half a century, so there is no sponsor overhang and no unsold-shares problem. Second, the plan's schedules record apartments of six, seven, seven-and-a-half and eight rooms alongside three- and four-room units, plus one apartment carried as a professional office. The layouts are genuinely varied, and the plan's own footnote warns that apartments had already been altered away from the typical floor plans by 1973. Fifty years later that warning is more true, not less: the building's larger homes are a mix of original large layouts and later combinations, and the Department of Buildings record documents merges of 3A with 3E, 6C with 6D, 4A with 4E and 5D with 5E across the last two decades.

One durable quirk follows from the three-building structure. The two halves of the cooperative number their apartments differently. Filings at the 38–44 buildings identify apartments by sequential number — 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 12 — while filings at 46–50 use floor-and-letter — 2A, 3C, 5D, 6C. The same convention appears in the recorded transfer history. It is harmless once you know it, and confusing when you do not.

Every item below comes from the December 2017 house rules or the audited financial statements on file. None of it is published by the cooperative, and all of it should be confirmed as current with the managing agent.

Ownership form: Cooperative. Full board package and interview. Budget eight to twelve weeks from executed contract to closing.

Flip tax: 1 percent of gross sale price, recorded as paid-in capital by the corporation. Confirm who pays it in the current schedule.

Financing ceiling and post-closing liquidity: Not documented in the materials we hold. Both are board-set and both should be asked before an offer, not after. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator against the specific apartment.

Subletting: Restrictive. Three years of shareholder residency in the apartment before any sublet will be considered; board approval required; the subtenant completes a full application package and sits for an interview; six-month minimum and one-year maximum term, with renewals at board discretion; non-refundable application fee. Treat this as an owner-occupant building.

Pied-à-terre: Not addressed in the house rules on file. Given the three-year sublet seasoning, a buyer intending part-time use should get an explicit answer from the board in advance.

Trusts and LLCs: ACRIS shows repeated completed transfers into and out of individually named revocable trusts, so trust ownership is workable here in practice. That is not a published policy and LLC ownership is a separate question. Confirm both.

Pets: Permitted, with a prohibition on animals known to bite and on breeds with a propensity to be dangerous. Leashed or carried in common areas.

Alterations: Prior board and managing-agent approval, a written scope, licensed plumbing and electrical work, an alteration agreement, contractor and subcontractor insurance, and certified architectural or engineering plans. The corporation charges back the cost of any independent architect or engineer it engages to review the work, billed as additional maintenance. Construction is weekday-only, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with only quiet mobilization in the first half hour. No Jacuzzis are permitted. Central air conditioning requires board approval on a case-by-case basis with engineered specifications.

Fireplaces: Usable, subject to a metal-lined chimney inspected by a board-approved company, annual cleaning and inspection at shareholder expense, and metal ash containers. Records of inspection are kept by the managing agent.

Floor covering: At least 80 percent of walkable floor area in every room except kitchens, bathrooms and closets must be carpeted or otherwise sound-treated.

At transfer: Before any apartment transfer, the shareholder must deliver a licensed electrician's letter confirming the apartment's circuit breaker box is code compliant — or the incoming shareholder must agree in writing to bring it into compliance within six months. This is an unusual closing condition and it is easy to miss.

Storage: Lockers are licensed month to month at a fee set by the board, and the license terminates automatically on sale or sublet.

Fees and enforcement: Maintenance and all other charges due by the 10th; $50 late fee. House rule violations are fined at $100, $250 and $500 for first, second and subsequent violations, and constitute a default under the proprietary lease.

Smoking: Prohibited in all common areas, including stairwells, elevators, basement, stoops, the adjacent sidewalk and the back yard.

The journalist Ida Tarbell lived at 38–44 West 9th Street from 1901 to 1908 — the years spanning the publication of her history of the Standard Oil Company. The attribution is LPC's own, recorded in the Landmarks Preservation Commission's building database entry for the building. Historical records also associate the painter Hans Hofmann with the buildings; we have not confirmed that in a primary source and treat it as unverified.

Recent sales

Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,167/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 2.5% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00572-0017) 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.

The 2027 mortgage maturity is the question to lead with. $6.7 million, interest-only at 3.78 percent, due September 1, 2027. Ask the board what the refinancing plan is and what the projected debt service does to maintenance.

Model assessments into the carry. Three assessments across two years, with a fourth budgeted, is a pattern. The maintenance number alone is not the number.

PLUTO says 1900. The buildings are 1882 and 1883. Any valuation output or renovation estimate keyed to the PLUTO year is working from the wrong construction era, which matters for structure, systems and Landmarks exposure alike.

Sublets are hard here. Three years of residency before a sublet will even be considered, then a one-year maximum. If flexibility matters to you, this is the wrong building and it is better to know now.

Check the apartment numbering. The cooperative is three buildings and two numbering conventions. Confirm which structure the apartment is in — it affects the stack, the exposure and the elevator you use.

The alteration regime is strict, and there is a reason. Weekday-only hours, no Jacuzzis, engineered plans for central air, chargeback of the building's consultant fees. Read the alteration packet before you price a renovation, and get the circuit-breaker letter requirement onto your closing checklist early.

There is no abatement. The J-51 from the 1978–79 rehabilitation ended around 1990.

Correct the construction date in your materials. 1882 and 1883, Ralph S. Townsend, purpose-built apartment houses inside the Greenwich Village Historic District, on LPC's own record. That is a stronger story than "1900," and it is the true one.

Lead with the fireplace and the garden. Working fireplaces in every residence and a rear yard are the two things this cooperative has that most competing Village inventory does not.

Get ahead of the mortgage question. A sophisticated buyer's attorney will read the financials and find the 2027 maturity. Presenting the board's plan alongside it, rather than waiting for it to surface, is worth real money at contract.

Document the layout. In a building where apartments run from three rooms to eight and several have been combined, the floor plan does more selling than the square-foot number. Run the Renovation Cost Calculator if you are weighing pre-sale work against pricing to condition.

If you're considering 38 West 9th Street, also evaluate:

• 35 West 9th Street — directly across the street; the closest comparison by block and character
• 30 West 9th Street — the immediate neighbor toward Fifth Avenue on the same block
• 12 West 9th Street — prewar cooperative on the Fifth Avenue end of West 9th
• 69 West 9th Street — the same street west of Sixth Avenue; a different block character at a different price
• 45 West 10th Street — Village prewar cooperative one block north with comparable scale
• 15 West 11th Street — prewar cooperative on a comparable Gold Coast side street
• 31 West 11th Street — small prewar cooperative two blocks north
• 24 Fifth Avenue — full-service lower Fifth Avenue cooperative; the doorman alternative with different economics
• 33 Fifth Avenue — lower Fifth Avenue cooperative at the corner of the same corridor
• 11 Fifth Avenue (The Brevoort) — the large postwar full-service alternative a block east