40 Mercer Street
40 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10013
SoHo
BBL 1004747506 · BIN 1087559
- Year built
- 2007
- Type
- Condominium
- Landmark
- Designated
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
- $3,154
- Listing discount
- 4.2%
- Recorded sales
- 132
- On record
- 2007–2026
40 Mercer Street is SoHo's signature piece of contemporary architecture — a glass condominium designed by Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Jean Nouvel in collaboration with hotelier André Balazs, completed in 2007 in the heart of the SoHo–Cast Iron Historic District. Its façade of glass animated with red-and-blue fenestration, capped by a deep-blue rooftop, has become an unofficial landmark of the neighborhood — a deliberate modern counterpoint to the surrounding cast-iron loft buildings, built under Landmarks Preservation Commission review precisely because of its historic-district setting.
The building's design DNA is unusually distinct. Conceived initially as a hotel and reworked into residences, it carries Nouvel's signature spatial ideas: 11-to-12-foot ceilings, vast floor-to-ceiling glass, and — most famously — electronically retractable window walls on certain residences, a feature that essentially opens an apartment to the air, a rarity in New York. The result is a building that lives differently from anything around it.
For buyers, 40 Mercer offers architect-driven, light-and-air SoHo living with a full amenity suite, in a 41-unit condominium that has held its place as one of downtown's most recognizable addresses since it opened.
Architecture and unit composition
Jean Nouvel's design is the building's whole argument. The glass curtain wall — punctuated by panels of colored glass and crowned by the blue rooftop — reads as a piece of contemporary art on a street of nineteenth-century iron façades, a contrast that the historic-district review process ultimately endorsed. The 11-to-12-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling glazing flood the residences with light, and the retractable window walls on select homes are the design's most theatrical gesture, dissolving the boundary between apartment and sky.
The 41 residences span roughly thirteen to fourteen stories, with layouts that range from spacious lower-floor homes to the penthouses that crown the building. As an architect-driven project, the apartments emphasize volume, glass, and finish over a uniform stack of lines — each floor reads individually, and the upper residences command the open light and outlooks that the glass envelope was designed to capture.
Building operations
40 Mercer runs as a full-service condominium with a deep amenity program for its size: an indoor lap pool, a fitness center, spa treatment rooms, a steam room and sauna, a private garden courtyard, a residents' lounge, a screening room, and a children's playroom — a wellness-and-social roster more typical of a far larger building, reserved for 41 households. The lobby is attended, and common charges reflect that staffing and the amenity package; real estate taxes are billed per unit in the standard condominium structure.
The condominium format gives the building the ownership flexibility SoHo buyers expect. Financing is flexible, purchases clear through a right-of-first-refusal rather than a board interview, and pied-à-terre, trust, LLC, and investment ownership are customary — well suited to the international and design-minded buyers the building attracts. Subletting and pet specifics follow the condominium's governing documents and are confirmed through the managing agent.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $62,342/yr
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $156,703/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $127 – $319
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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 →Management & transfer contacts
- Notable fees
- Condo lease fee 5% of annual rent; working capital 2 months' common charges; refundable pet deposit $5,000
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2026 | 30 | 4 BR · 3.5 BA · 3,006 sf | $13,250,000 | $4,408/sf | off-mkt |
| May 29, 2026 | 5 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,370 sf | $4,500,000 | $1,899/sf | +4.7% |
| Aug 29, 2024 | 33 | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,206 sf | $7,350,000 | $3,332/sf | -1.9% |
| Mar 28, 2024 | 32 | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,706 sf | $9,000,000 | $3,326/sf | -5.3% |
| Jul 18, 2023 | 22 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,649 sf | $3,815,000 | $2,314/sf | -9.1% |
| May 9, 2023 | 39 | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,206 sf | $7,900,000 | $3,581/sf | -7.0% |
| Aug 16, 2022 | 20 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,415 sf | $3,800,000 | $2,686/sf | off-mkt |
| Feb 17, 2022 | 21 | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,745 sf | $3,935,000 | $2,255/sf | -8.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $3,154/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 4.2% 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 1-00474-7506) 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 case for buying here is design and light in condominium form. You are buying a Jean Nouvel building — one of the few in New York — with extraordinary ceiling height, walls of glass, and, on select homes, retractable windows that no other building offers, plus a full amenity suite and the ownership flexibility of a condominium in the SoHo Historic District. The trade-offs are that the architecture is assertive and specific: the glass envelope, the colored fenestration, and the open layouts suit buyers who want a contemporary, light-flooded home, not a traditional loft. Light exposure and floor level matter enormously in a glass building, so the specific residence is the thing to evaluate. For the design-forward buyer who wants a marquee SoHo address with amenities, the building is a singular match.
What to know if you’re selling
A resale at 40 Mercer markets itself on its architecture: Jean Nouvel, the colored-glass façade, the 11-to-12-foot ceilings, and the retractable windows are durable, unrepeatable differentiators that distinguish a home here from any conventional SoHo condominium. The condominium structure widens the buyer pool to international, pied-à-terre, and investment purchasers and delivers a faster closing through a right-of-first-refusal. Pricing belongs against SoHo's high-design condominium and loft set, with floor level, light, and the presence of retractable glass driving the spread. Presentation should let the architecture lead — these residences show best when the glass, the volume, and the light are foregrounded. Marketing to the design-literate, flexibility-minded buyer this building attracts is the path to a strong sale.
Comparable buildings
If you're evaluating 40 Mercer Street, these nearby downtown loft and design-driven condominiums make a useful comparison set:
- 311 West Broadway — SoHo / Tribeca loft residences
- 335 Broadway — downtown loft building
- 270 Broadway — Lower Broadway pre-war conversion
- 261 Broadway — downtown residential conversion
- 176 Broadway — downtown loft-style residences
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Tribeca — read The Roebling Team Guide to Tribeca.
Considering a move at 40 Mercer Street?
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Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 40 Mercer Street 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.