400 West 38th Street (VITA)

The condominium occupies a 16,481-square-foot through-block lot on the west side of Ninth Avenue between West 37th and West 38th Streets and carries roughly 220,000 square feet of building area in two structures. The north building, at 400 West 38th Street and 501 Ninth Avenue, is filed at twelve stories and 120 feet with 63 residences. The south building, at 401 West 37th Street and 489–499 Ninth Avenue, is filed at eleven stories at the same 120-foot height with 58 residences. Each building has a 30-foot rear yard, and ground-floor commercial space fronts Ninth Avenue.

Residences run from one to three bedrooms. A substantial share carry private outdoor space — balconies on the avenue and street elevations, terraces at the upper setbacks — and the two rooftop terraces, one atop each building, are programmed with outdoor kitchens and lounge seating.

Interior specification is consistent across the inventory and is the level a buyer should expect at this price: kitchens in blonde oak veneer with Fusion Blue Quartzite counters, a fully integrated Gaggenau appliance suite and pewter-finished fixtures; primary bathrooms in honed Grigio Trambiserra marble with radiant heated Bardiglio Versilia floors; secondary bathrooms in artisanal ceramic tile over Bardiglio Versilia mosaic; European white oak floors throughout; a washer and dryer in every home; and smart thermostats and home systems tied to the mechanical ventilation.

The mechanical story deserves its own line in any comparison. Because the ventilation is continuous and centralized through heat recovery rather than through operable-window infiltration, indoor air quality and acoustic isolation are both materially better than the corridor norm — the same feature answers the Lincoln Tunnel question and the energy question at once.

VITA operates as a staffed condominium with 24/7 attended reception in a double-height lobby, shared amenity floors serving both buildings, and a full amenity package — fitness center, lounge with golf simulator, spa with steam room, sauna and a private treatment room, and the two rooftop terraces. Forty-two storage units are available for purchase rather than assignment, which is worth flagging as a separate line item in any budget.

The building is early in its life, which shapes what diligence should look like. The sponsor remains in control of the board during the sellout; the reserve fund and working-capital fund are as established by the plan rather than by operating history; and there is no assessment or capital history to read. In place of that history, the questions are: how far through the sellout the sponsor is, what the sponsor's continuing obligations and warranties are, whether the certificate of occupancy is temporary or final, what the actual first-year common-charge budget looks like against the plan's projection, and — because the amenity package is large relative to 121 units — how the amenity operating costs are allocated between the two buildings.

The Passive House envelope should show up on the operating side as lower fuel and electricity costs than a comparable conventional building of the same size. Ask to see actual utility figures rather than the projection, if any are available yet.

Ownership form. Condominium. Resale approval is a right of first refusal, not a board interview and vote. Pieds-à-terre, LLC and trust ownership, foreign purchase and subletting are all permitted in the ordinary condominium sense, subject to the declaration and by-laws.

Pets. Permitted in the ordinary condominium sense; confirm the current house-rule text, including any weight limit.

Subletting. Permitted subject to the condominium documents. Confirm the minimum lease term and whether the sponsor has imposed any restriction for the duration of the sellout — this is common and is often relaxed on completion.

Closing costs. In a sponsor sale the purchaser customarily pays the sponsor's New York State and City transfer taxes, the sponsor's attorney fee, and a working-capital contribution, none of which are flip taxes and all of which are disclosed in the offering plan's schedule of closing costs. Read that schedule before you negotiate price; on a $1.5 million purchase the transfer-tax shift alone is a meaningful number.

Taxes. Not documented in the public records reviewed. Establish whether an exemption applies, its term and its phase-out schedule, and model the fully phased-in tax. On a new development this is routinely the difference between an affordable and an unaffordable monthly five years out.

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) cleared a median $2,145/sf (recorded) across 5 sales.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00735-7502). 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 energy performance is the durable asset. Local Law 97 compliance costs are becoming a real line in Manhattan condominium budgets. A Passive House building is on the right side of that for the life of the ownership. Ask to see the building's projected emissions position, not just the marketing claim.

Read the schedule of closing costs before you talk about price. Sponsor transfer taxes and the working-capital contribution are the sponsor sale's hidden premium.

Establish the tax picture. Abatement status is not in the public record. Model the fully phased-in tax on the specific unit.

Position within the site matters more than usual. Two buildings, two retained walk-ups in the middle of the blockfront, the Lincoln Tunnel ramps to the west and Ninth Avenue to the east. Exposure, floor and orientation drive both light and noise here — visit the specific apartment, at the specific time of day you would live in it.

Amenity cost is real. A spa, a golf simulator, a fitness center and two rooftop terraces spread across 121 units is a comparatively high amenity load per apartment. Look at the common charge per square foot against the peer set, and ask how the shared amenity costs are apportioned between the two buildings.

Lead with performance, not just finishes. Gaggenau kitchens and honed marble baths are table stakes at this price. Passive House certification, radiant heated primary baths, filtered continuous ventilation and a slab-thermal-break envelope are not — and they are what separates a resale here from the corridor's 2008-vintage inventory.

Be precise about the corridor. This is the Hudson Yards edge, not the Hudson Yards core, and buyers know the difference. Sell the transit position — Moynihan, Port Authority, the A, C and E, Manhattan West — rather than the postcode.

Be transparent about the tax schedule. If an abatement applies, disclose the phase-out. Buyers run the math regardless, and the deal survives disclosure better than it survives discovery.

Expect to be compared against sponsor inventory. As long as the sellout is live, your comparable is the sponsor's remaining stack. Price and position accordingly.

If you're considering VITA, also evaluate:

• 505 West 43rd Street (Charlie West) — 2017 condominium; the newest full-amenity peer in the corridor and the closest comparison on finish level
• 520 West 45th Street (Inkwell) — 2016 conversion of a 1905 school; boutique-scale alternative for buyers who want character over performance
• 517 West 46th Street (Clinton West) — 2007 ground-up condominium; the mid-2000s construction cycle at similar unit sizes
• 505 West 47th Street (The 505) — 2008 condominium; full-service, and a useful benchmark for common charges per square foot
• 800 Tenth Avenue (Griffin Court) — 2008–2010 condominium with a large amenity package; the closest peer on amenity load
• 464 West 44th Street (Chatham 44) — 2007 condominium at smaller scale, for buyers trading amenity for price
• 350 West 42nd Street (The Orion) — 2006 tower condominium; the high-floor-view alternative in the corridor
• 635 West 42nd Street (The Atelier) — 2007 condominium with the corridor's deepest amenity program, further west
• 247 West 46th Street (The Platinum) — 2008 condominium in the Theater District, a comparable price tier on a different block character
• 15 Hudson Yards — the trophy Hudson Yards condominium; the reference point above VITA rather than beside it
• 348 West 36th Street — 1930s loft cooperative two blocks south; the space-per-dollar alternative, without the service or the envelope