40 Mercer Street

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 residences span thirteen 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.

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, available to residents under the current building rules. 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.

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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026 to date) cleared a median $3,154/sf (recorded) across 2 sales. Median listing discount 3.5% 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 1-00474-7506; 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.

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, 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 offers a specific design proposition.

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 features to document when comparing a home here with other SoHo condominiums. 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.

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