408 Greenwich Street

The elevation is masonry and terracotta rather than curtain wall, with arched window openings carried on rounded columns at the base and a regular punched rhythm above. It sits at the scale of its neighbors on a small, irregular corner lot of 4,329 square feet, with roughly 32,600 square feet of built area — a floor-area ratio of about 7.54 on a lot whose residential maximum is 6.02, which reflects the site's mixed-use zoning within the Special Tribeca Mixed Use District rather than a violation.

Internally the building is a stack of one-unit floors. ACRIS designations run RETL1 at the ground, COM 1 through COM 4 above it, and RES 6 through RES 9 at the top, and at least one lot is deeded as a combination — recorded as "7A&B." The top-floor residence carries the building's only terrace as an exclusive right. The offering plan places mechanical equipment on floors two, five and six as well as the cellar and roof, which is worth locating relative to any specific unit, and records lot-line windows on the north and west façades — openings that depend on the neighboring properties remaining unbuilt at that height.

One provision in the offering plan deserves a buyer's attention because it is not standard: the non-residential unit owners hold a right, with sponsor consent, to alter, modify or restore the exterior façade abutting their units and to create new means of ingress and egress. In a nine-unit building where four or five of the units are non-residential, that is a meaningful allocation of control over the street elevation, subject in practice to Landmarks review.

This is a very small operating entity, and the audited financial statement on file makes that concrete. Total operating expenses ran $323,505 in 2018 against $313,190 in 2017, on common charge income of $352,800 in both years — a budget roughly the size of a single large apartment's annual carrying cost in some Tribeca buildings. The largest lines were services, utilities and maintenance, and staffing costs are consistent with a small crew rather than a full doorman roster, notwithstanding the plan's provision for a lobby attended around the clock.

Three facts from the audited statement are worth carrying into any diligence:

There is no capital reserve fund. The statements record explicitly that no capital reserve fund was established at either year-end, and that the only restricted balance is a working capital fund of $24,661, unchanged year over year. Total fund balances stood at $2,442 at the end of 2018 against $10,432 a year earlier. The board elected to omit the reserve-study supplementary information ordinarily required, on the reasoning that it makes capital repairs on an ongoing basis. That is a defensible operating philosophy in a nine-unit building, and it also means capital work is funded when it arrives.

There is no underlying mortgage and no line of credit. No mortgage, note payable or credit facility appears on the balance sheet or in the notes. That is a clean balance sheet with no refinancing exposure.

No assessment was levied in either year, and the statements carry no litigation note. Capital spending in 2018 ran through below-the-line charges — a Local Law 11 façade item, pump room and boiler room repairs, and an intercom replacement — totalling roughly $44,000, which produced a small net loss for the year.

Because real estate taxes are billed directly to unit owners rather than run through common charges, the common charge figure quoted for any unit here is not comparable to a building where taxes are pooled. Add the specific unit's tax bill before comparing.

Ownership form: Condominium. No board approval of purchasers; the Condominium Board holds a right of first refusal to purchase or lease a residential unit on the same terms, with an express exception for leases of less than one year. Sponsor and non-residential unit owners are exempt from that restriction.

Use: Residential units are restricted to residential use by one family, plus zoning-permitted home occupation. Entity-owned units are limited to designated principals, their families and guests.

Working capital contribution: Two months' common charges at closing.

Flip tax: None in the offering plan on file. Confirm with the managing agent whether one has been adopted since.

Washer/dryer: Hookups provided; equipment is the owner's. No common laundry room.

Financing: Not a purchase contingency under the plan; a 20 percent deposit was required.

Real estate taxes: No abatement. The ten-year 421-a exemption expired after FY2021 and no exemption appears from FY2022 forward. Taxes are billed directly to owners. Confirm the tax class of the specific unit lot before underwriting.

Recent sales

Recent closings 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 (2026) cleared a median $2,760/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 10.2% 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 1-00217-7502) 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.

Pull the tax bill for the specific unit lot. Four of the nine lots are still classified as commercial in tax class 4. A residence on one of them is taxed on a different basis than a residence on a class 2 lot. This is the largest single variable in the carrying cost here.

Ask which certificate covers your unit. The final certificate of occupancy of April 29, 2025 records seven dwelling units. Have counsel confirm that the specific unit's residential use is covered by it.

There is no reserve fund. Ask for the most recent audited statement, the current fund balances, and the board's plan for the next Local Law 11 cycle. In a nine-unit building a façade cycle is a per-unit number, not a line item.

Bring your own washer and dryer, and check the hookups. There is no common laundry room in the building.

Locate the mechanicals and the lot-line windows. Equipment sits on floors two, five and six; the north and west façades carry lot-line windows that depend on the neighbors.

Do not read PLUTO or the LPC building record literally. PLUTO says four residential units; LPC's building record describes a 1929 garage. The building has seven certificated dwelling units in a 2008 structure.

Lead with the architecture and the district. New construction approved inside the Tribeca North Historic District is not a thing that can be repeated on demand, and the Adjmi elevation is the building's most durable differentiator.

Get ahead of the unit-count confusion. A buyer's counsel will find four different unit counts across four public records within an hour. Assemble the certificate of occupancy, the tax roll entry and the plan's unit schedule and present them together.

Be direct about taxes. The 421-a is gone and has been since FY2022. Present the current bill for the specific lot with True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis rather than a per-foot common charge figure, which understates the number here because taxes are billed separately.

Price against boutique Tribeca, not full-service Tribeca. There is no gym, no laundry room and no roof deck. The comparable set is the small buildings, and the pitch is floor plate and light.

If you're considering 408 Greenwich Street, also evaluate:

• 250 West Street — a separate condominium on the same tax block; the full-service, large-floor-plate alternative a few hundred feet away
• 79 Laight Street — also on this block; a different conversion and a useful read on how block-level pricing separates by building type
• The Sterling Mason (71 Laight Street) — Morris Adjmi Architects again, a block away; the closest architectural peer in Tribeca North
• 92 Laight Street (River Lofts) — loft condominium in the same pocket; larger, with services
• 415 Greenwich Street (TriBeCa Summit) — the full-amenity Greenwich Street alternative; the counterweight on common charges
• 443 Greenwich Street — the Tribeca full-service conversion benchmark; a different buyer at a higher tier
• 39 North Moore Street — boutique Tribeca condominium with no abatement; a close match on scale and tax posture
• 11 Beach Street — Tribeca North conversion two blocks south; comparable unit count and buyer pool
• 60 Collister Street (American Express Carriage House) — small Tribeca conversion of an industrial building; the low-density alternative
• 387 Greenwich Street (The Fischer Mills Building) — the same street, a historic conversion rather than new construction