44 Laight Street (The Grabler Building)
44 Laight Street, New York, NY 10013
Tribeca
BBL 1002207503 · BIN 1086557
- Year built
- 1896
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 18
- Floors
- 8
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,910
- Listing discount
- 2.9%
- Recorded sales
- 68
- On record
- 2004–2025
The Grabler Building is Tribeca North's signature loft conversion: an 1896 Renaissance Revival warehouse designed by Clinton & Russell — the firm behind the Apthorp — and developed by the firm's own principal, William H. Russell, as a speculative warehouse on the blocks where Tribeca's storage economy clustered. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's designation report documents the building's working life in full: leased to bonded-warehouse operators in its first decades, then home to the Grabler Manufacturing Company, whose pipe-fittings business left the painted signage that still names the building. In a district designated precisely for that warehouse character, 44 Laight wears its provenance on its facade.
The conversion is the other half of the thesis. Joseph Pell Lombardi — the preservation architect responsible for a long roster of downtown loft conversions — took the 75,000-square-foot building residential in the early 2000s, conserving the brown-brick-and-limestone envelope while adding a setback penthouse level and an in-building garage, both with Landmarks and City Planning approval. The result is the configuration Tribeca loft buyers actually want and rarely get in an 18-unit boutique building: authentic 1890s fabric (arched windows, cast-iron columns, deep floor plates), modern building systems, parking under the roof, and an attended lobby per brokerage records.
Position matters here too. The building fronts the open traffic square at the former St. John's Park — which buys the south-facing lines protected light and sky across a full block, two short blocks from Hudson River Park and Pier 25 — while placing the Holland Tunnel approach within the daily soundscape. That trade is the corridor's defining underwriting question, and buildings on this stretch price it efficiently.
Architecture and unit composition
The LPC report describes the facade in detail worth repeating: a 96-foot-wide Renaissance Revival front in brown brick trimmed with limestone, a two-story base defined by round-arched second-story windows beneath a dentiled brick band, a segmental-arched midsection retaining iron fireproof shutters, and an attic story of round-arched windows under brick moldings. The loading platform and sheet-metal awning — suspended on wrought-iron eyebars from decorative plates — survive at the base, and the street retains its Belgian-block paving. The building went up in two sections with a dividing partition wall, a construction history that still organizes the floor plates.
The 18 residences are large lofts in the classic Tribeca format: two- and three-bedroom layouts with arched window walls, interior columns, and deep proportions, topped by the conversion's setback penthouses, which carry multiple exposures and private terrace space of over 1,400 square feet on select units per listing records. With roughly two to three units per floor and more than 60,000 square feet of residential area across 18 apartments, average unit scale runs well past 3,000 square feet — boutique-building privacy at family-loft size.
Building operations
The building operates as a full-service boutique condominium by Tribeca standards: attended lobby per brokerage records, the on-site garage from the conversion, and in-unit laundry throughout the residences per listing records. Common charges support a small staff rather than an amenity floor — there is no pool or fitness program documented, and buyers comparing against Tribeca's amenity-rich newer condos (443 Greenwich, 70 Vestry) should weigh privacy and scale against program breadth. The condominium's governing documents were not in our archive at publication; we obtain the offering plan and by-laws during diligence.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $16,338/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $76
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
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
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed (secondary residence & corporate purchase allowed)
- Notable fees
- Condo. Max financing 100%. Buyer app $500 + $100/addl applicant; move fee $1,000 + $5,000 deposit; alteration $500 ($700 if DOB approval); 15 individually-owned parking spaces (transferable)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 8, 2025 | 6C | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,581 sf | $3,400,000 | $2,151/sf | -2.9% |
| May 20, 2025 | 2A | 3 BR · 3 BA · 4,012 sf | $5,612,500 | $1,399/sf | -6.4% |
| Apr 30, 2024 | 6B | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,808 sf | $5,250,000 | $1,870/sf | -0.8% |
| May 1, 2023 | 6C | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,581 sf | $2,850,000 | $1,803/sf | -9.5% |
| Sep 6, 2022 | 2B | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 4,400 sf | $6,175,000 | $1,403/sf | -11.7% |
| Nov 10, 2021 | 1B | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 4,125 sf | $5,400,000 | $1,309/sf | -1.7% |
| May 13, 2021 | 4B | 4 BR · 3.5 BA · 4,365 sf | $5,690,000 | $1,304/sf | -0.1% |
| Mar 15, 2021 | 3A | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,733 sf | $6,075,000 | $1,627/sf | -6.5% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,910/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 2.9% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
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 1-00220-7503) 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
Underwrite the square, not just the apartment. South exposures face open sky across the former St. John's Park — protected light that cannot be built out — but the Holland Tunnel rotary generates real traffic presence. Visit at morning and evening rush before pricing a south-facing line; the quiet rear and side exposures price differently for a reason.
Parking in the building is a structural premium. An in-building garage in an 18-unit landmarked conversion is rare in Tribeca North; confirm whether parking conveys with the unit, is licensed separately, or is waitlisted, because the answer materially affects value.
Condo mechanics, boutique scale. Eighteen owners govern the building; transfer mechanics are condominium-standard (no board interview of the co-op type), which keeps the buyer pool wide — including trusts, LLCs, and pied-à-terre use, subject to the by-laws. Confirm specific structures with your attorney.
The envelope is protected. Exterior work — windows, the awning, terrace structures visible from the street — runs through Landmarks within the Tribeca North Historic District. Budget approval timelines for anything touching the facade.
Verify the policy and fee stack. Doorman hours, sublet terms, pet rules, and any transfer fees are thinly documented publicly. We verify against the offering plan, by-laws, and managing agent during diligence.
What to know if you’re selling
Sell the provenance with specifics. Clinton & Russell, 1896, the Grabler signage, the Lombardi conversion, the eyebar awning — this building has a documented narrative that the Tribeca loft buyer pool responds to. Use the facts, not adjectives.
Position against the corridor's tiers. Your buyer is cross-shopping 443 Greenwich's renovated lofts, River Lofts at 92 Laight, and the Vestry Street new product. The Grabler pitch is authentic warehouse fabric plus parking and an attended lobby at a sensible per-foot basis.
Be precise about light and sound. The square-facing lines should be marketed on protected exposure with the traffic reality acknowledged; experienced Tribeca buyers discount evasion faster than they discount the tunnel.
Penthouse inventory is its own market. The conversion's setback penthouses — multi-exposure, large terraces — comp against Tribeca penthouse product broadly, not against the building's lower floors. Price from the penthouse comp set.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 44 Laight Street, also evaluate:
- 443 Greenwich Street — the corridor's marquee 1880s book-bindery conversion; the privacy-driven benchmark a block west
- 70 Vestry Street — Robert A.M. Stern's waterfront condo; the new-construction ceiling for the pocket
- 250 West Street — large-scale warehouse-to-condo conversion on the waterfront
- 145 Hudson Street — heavyweight Tribeca warehouse conversion with similar loft scale
- 195 Hudson Street — loft condominium two blocks south in the same historic fabric
- 60 Collister Street — neighboring Tribeca North stable-block conversion
- 92 Laight Street (River Lofts) — the larger loft condo at the river end of the street
- 79 Laight Street (Sugar Loaf Building) — boutique loft condominium directly in the district
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Tribeca — read The Roebling Team Guide to Tribeca.
Considering a move at The Grabler Building?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Grabler Building 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.