- Year built
- 1900
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 10
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark status
- Not an individual landmark; not in a historic district
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Planning records, updated February 2026
- Leasing by owners
- Permitted with conditions
- Pied-à-terre
- Permitted with conditions
- Pets
- Pets permitted with conditions; species not stated
- Doorman
- Full-time doorman
Every recorded sale at this building, 2021–2022
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf, 2022
- $2,450
- 1 sale
- Recorded sales
- 9
- On record
- 2021–2022
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at ABI Chelsea 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.
Two things about this building are routinely reported wrong, and both change how it should be underwritten.
The first is its age. City data carries 1900 for the tax lot, which invites the assumption that this is a loft conversion of the sort West Chelsea produced by the dozen. It is not. The Alteration Type 1 on file with the Department of Buildings describes partial demolition and vertical enlargement of a one-story structure, taking the lot from zero dwelling units to ten. What exists today is a new eleven-story residential building raised over a retained base. The 1900 date is a legacy field that survived because the work was filed as an alteration rather than a new building. Automated valuation output that treats this as a prewar conversion is working from the wrong building.
The second is its zoning position. The block is marketed as West Chelsea, and the High Line is a short walk west, but 455 West 19th Street sits between Ninth and Tenth Avenues on a straight R8A lot. It is outside the Special West Chelsea District, and nothing in the ACRIS record for this lot shows a High Line development-rights transfer or a High Line easement. The building was not built on transferred rail-yard air rights and is not governed by the special district's bulk and streetwall rules. It is also outside the Chelsea Historic District, whose boundary runs through the West 20th Street row houses immediately behind. That combination — as-of-right R8A, no special district, no landmark designation — is what made a ten-unit vertical enlargement possible on a block otherwise dominated by protected and low-scale fabric.
The site's provenance is the third fact worth carrying. The development parcel was bought in April 2014 for $22.5 million from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, which had used the one-story building as a project space. That transaction is in the public record, and it is the reason a modern residential building of this scale exists mid-block here at all.
Architecture and unit composition
The building occupies a 50-by-92-foot interior lot with no corner and no protected exposure on either flank. Eleven stories carry ten residences across roughly 19,863 square feet of aggregate residential area. That gross ratio does not establish apartment interior size or full-floor occupancy; consult the individual plans, including the duplex configurations described in the offering plan.
The remaining 5,341 square feet is the commercial unit at the base, a separate condominium unit that has operated as an art gallery. Buyers should understand that this is a genuinely separate owner with its own unit lot, its own tax bill and its own common-interest allocation. The offering plan budget on file allocates certain expenses between the residential units and the commercial unit by common interest and carves out others so that the commercial unit does not bear residential-only costs — a structure worth reading in the plan rather than assuming.
An easement recorded in November 2019 runs between the sponsor and the cooperative corporation at 452 West 20th Street, the property to the rear. A zoning lot declaration was recorded in June 2015. Both are ordinary instruments for a mid-block infill project, and both are worth pulling in diligence because they define what the rear of the lot can and cannot do.
Building operations
The offering plan on file provides for a doorman present twenty-four hours a day, a swimming pool that is separately metered for gas and water (the sponsor's brochure places the pool in the penthouse's private rooftop garden; confirm in the declaration who owns it and who pays for it), and ten licensed storage rooms lettered A through J at fixed monthly license fees. Storage here is licensed, not deeded — it does not transfer automatically with an apartment, and a buyer who wants it should confirm availability and assignment before contract rather than after.
A ten-unit building carrying full-time door staff and a fitness area has a thin denominator against a real fixed cost base. Common charges should be read against the current operating budget and the specific unit's common interest, not inferred from the building's size. The plan's projected first-year budget was built on ten residences, and any buyer should ask for the current budget and reserve position to see how the actual operating history compares.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through a board right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval process.
Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: Leasing by owners is permitted with conditions; confirm pied-à-terre, LLC, trust and foreign-ownership rules, minimum lease terms and any sublet registration requirements in the declaration and bylaws and with the managing agent.
Storage: Available under license agreements at monthly fees, per the offering plan on file. Not deeded.
Flip tax or resale contribution: Not established in the documents reviewed. Confirm any resale capital contribution with the managing agent before pricing a sale.
Real estate taxes: No exemption of any kind appears on the residential unit lots in the current assessment rolls. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit.
Application and transaction fees
Fees below are from building management's published schedule, as of September 2026. They are shown as published, item by item; no total is added because the total depends on the transaction. Deposits are listed apart from nonrefundable charges.
Purchase
5 items
Fees and charges
| Item | Paid by | When | Amount | Refundable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application Processing Fee | Paid by Buyer | When With the application | Amount $750 | Refundable Non-refundable |
| Credit Check FeePer applicant | Paid by Buyer | When With the application | Amount $100 per applicant, occupant, guarantor | Refundable Non-refundable |
| Criminal Check FeePer applicant | Paid by Buyer | When With the application | Amount $100 per applicant, occupant, guarantor | Refundable Non-refundable |
| Working Capital Contribution | Paid by Buyer | When With the application | Amount Equal to two (2) months of residential common charges (To be mailed, with a hard copy of the package) | Refundable Non-refundable |
Deposits
| Item | Paid by | When | Amount | Refundable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Deposit | Paid by Buyer | When With the application | Amount $1000 (To be mailed, with the hard copy of the package) | Refundable Not stated |
Rental or lease
5 items
Fees and charges
| Item | Paid by | When | Amount | Refundable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application Processing Fee | Paid by Tenant | When With the application | Amount $750 | Refundable Non-refundable |
| Credit Check FeePer applicant | Paid by Tenant | When With the application | Amount $100 per applicant, occupant, guarantor | Refundable Non-refundable |
| Criminal Check FeePer applicant | Paid by Tenant | When With the application | Amount $100 per applicant, occupant, guarantor | Refundable Non-refundable |
Deposits
| Item | Paid by | When | Amount | Refundable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Deposit | Paid by Tenant | When With the application | Amount $1000 (To be mailed, with the hard copy of the package) | Refundable Not stated |
Lease renewal
Fees and charges
| Item | Paid by | When | Amount | Refundable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application Processing Fee | Paid by Tenant | When With the application | Amount $250 | Refundable Non-refundable |
Management updates its schedule without a public filing. The date is when management last updated the page, not when a rule changed. Confirm the current schedule with management before you apply.
Considering an apartment here? Send Corey the listing to discuss the building's costs and purchase requirements.
Own an apartment here? Request an apartment-specific pricing review.
Sublet and pied-à-terre policy
A condominium owner leasing a unit and a co-op shareholder subletting are different rules, and a building-wide rule is different from a restriction on one apartment. This is the building's rule; confirm it for the specific apartment.
- Leasing by owners
- Permitted with conditionsMinimum term of 12 months.Source: building management's published schedule, as of September 2026
- Pied-à-terre ownership
- Permitted with conditionsCase by case, board discretionSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
Considering an apartment here? Send Corey the listing to discuss the sublet and pied-à-terre rules for that apartment.
Pets and in-unit washer/dryer
- Pets
- Pets permitted with conditions; species not statedNo aggressive breeds. No pets for tenants.Source: building management's published schedule, as of September 2026
- In-unit washer/dryer
- Not verified
Considering an apartment here? Send Corey the listing to confirm the pet and washer/dryer rules for that apartment.
Building staffing and amenities
- Doorman
- Full-time doormanSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
- Concierge
- YesSource: recent listing records
- Attended lobby
- YesSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
- Elevator
- YesSource: NYC Department of Buildings elevator records
- Amenities noted
- Fitness room, pool, roof deck, storageSource: The Roebling Team's building profile
Staffing and amenities as our building profile and recent listing records describe them. A feature not listed is not confirmed absent. Outdoor space, parking and some facilities can belong to particular apartments or to a separate owner; confirm access for the specific apartment.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $4,746/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $40
- Modeled exposure split equally across 10 units (the residential count on the city's lot record). Not an assessed amount; condominium owners are typically charged by each unit's common-interest percentage.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City data last refreshed September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Recent sales
455 West 19th Street has ten residences; evaluate the number, recency and similarity of actual sales rather than assuming its unit count makes useful internal comparables impossible. Pricing has to be argued from the unit's own attributes — floor, exposure, outdoor space, ceiling height — against the broader West Chelsea condominium market rather than against a building average.
Two structural facts drive the carrying-cost math and should be modeled explicitly. There is no tax abatement on the roll, so there is no phase-out to model, though taxes and common charges can still change. And full-time door staff is a large fixed cost for ten units, which can push common charges per square foot above what a ten-unit building would otherwise carry; confirm from the budget whether any pool cost is shared or billed to the penthouse alone. Both are knowable in advance and both belong in the analysis before an offer, not after.
Comparables should be drawn from small West Chelsea condominiums of similar vintage rather than from the larger Special West Chelsea District towers along the High Line, whose air-rights economics, bulk and buyer pool are different. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 2022 | 4SSponsor Sale | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,122 sf | $2,749,275 | $2,450/sf | — |
| Oct 27, 2021 | PHSponsor Sale | 4 BR · 4 BA · 3,794 sf | $20,000,000 | $5,271/sf | -12.1% |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 5SSponsor Sale | 1,303 sf | $3,225,059 | $2,475/sf | — |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 5NSponsor Sale | 1,219 sf | $3,196,710 | $2,622/sf | — |
| Mar 3, 2021 | 4NSponsor Sale | 1,400 sf | $3,674,700 | $2,625/sf | — |
| Mar 3, 2021 | 7Sponsor Sale | 2,379 sf | $7,349,400 | $3,089/sf | — |
| Mar 3, 2021 | 6NSponsor Sale | 1,219 sf | $3,092,872 | $2,537/sf | — |
| Feb 24, 2021 | 6SSponsor Sale | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,303 sf | $3,680,824 | $2,825/sf | — |
Market read. Most recent trades (2022) cleared a median $2,450/sf (recorded) across 1 sale.
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 1-00717-7505; 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.
What would your apartment rent for?
Enter your apartment and I'll send you what it would rent for, from comparable closed leases at ABI Chelsea and nearby.
Buying here? Condo closing costs with a mortgage typically run 3 to 6% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
Keep up with ABI Chelsea and its market
The Roebling Report, monthly: Manhattan sales data and analysis, including buildings like ABI Chelsea. Unsubscribe anytime.
We’ll use your email for The Roebling Report and note your interest in this building. See our privacy policy.
What to know if you’re buying
Ignore the 1900 build year. The residential building was created by a vertical enlargement filed in 2014 and subdivided into condominium lots in January 2020. Any analysis that prices this as a prewar loft conversion is wrong on both construction and systems.
It is not in the Special West Chelsea District. If a proximity-to-the-High-Line argument is being made to you, test it. The lot is straight R8A between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, with no special district and no recorded High Line easement or air-rights transfer.
Underwrite full taxes. There is no 421-a, no J-51 and no 485-x on these unit lots, and nothing is phasing out.
Read the residential-versus-commercial expense split. The ground-floor gallery is a separate condominium unit with its own common interest. The offering plan sets out how expenses are apportioned; that allocation is the thing to verify, not the amenity list.
Confirm storage in writing. The ten storage rooms are licensed, not deeded. A license does not travel with the apartment by operation of law.
Test the exposures. This is an interior lot with no corner and adjacent buildings on both flanks. Establish which windows in a specific unit are lot-line windows.
What to know if you’re selling
Correct the record before it costs you. Buyers and their attorneys will pull city data showing 1900. Lead with the DOB alteration record and the January 2020 condominium subdivision so the building is understood as what it is.
Present the specific plan and dimensions. The roughly 19,900 square feet of aggregate residential area across ten residences is a building total, not a measurement of the apartment being sold.
Be direct about the tax posture. Presenting the full unabated number with a True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis up front produces better outcomes than letting it surface in diligence.
Price against small West Chelsea condominiums. The nearest prewar co-ops and the large High Line towers are both the wrong comparable set for different reasons.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 455 West 19th Street, also evaluate:
- 435 West 19th Street — small condominium on the same block; the closest same-street alternative
- 445 West 19th Street — larger condominium immediately adjacent; different scale and policy footing on the same frontage
- 452 West 19th Street — the south side of the same block; small-building alternative
- 456 West 19th Street — small West Chelsea building across the street
- 505 West 19th Street — new construction west of Tenth Avenue and inside the Special West Chelsea District; the direct contrast in zoning posture
- 520 West 19th Street — High Line-adjacent condominium; the air-rights-driven alternative
- 500 West 21st Street — boutique West Chelsea condominium of comparable unit count
- 200 Eleventh Avenue — small, highly specified West Chelsea condominium; the closest peer on scarcity of units
- London Terrace — the large prewar alternative farther north, with entirely different economics and approval mechanics
More Chelsea buildings
- 450 West 17th Street (The Caledonia) — 2008 condominium by Handel Architects
- 450 West 23rd Street — 1856 co-op
- 452 West 19th Street — 1920 condominium
- 456 West 19th Street — 2008 condominium
- 458 West 20th Street — 1845 co-op
- 459 West 18th Street — 2007 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at ABI Chelsea?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
646.939.7375 · c.cohen@compass.com