- Year built
- 1920
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 12
- Floors
- 7
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Not documented in the records reviewed — confirm the house rules with the managing agent
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,635
- Listing discount
- 3.9%
- Recorded sales
- 18
- On record
- 2003–2025
The building's ownership history is the story. ACRIS shows a warehouse conveyed out of Baker & Williams in 1968 and passing through a short chain of realty corporations in the 1970s. Then, in November 1979, it went to a group of individual buyers rather than to a developer — among them the painter Nassos Daphnis and the sculptor Lila Katzen, both of whom worked at museum scale and are held in major American collections. That is the classic Hudson Square acquisition of the period: artists buying a warehouse outright because the neighborhood was still industrial and the floors were cheap, large and structurally sound.
They held it for eighteen years. In October 1997 the remaining interests were consolidated and conveyed to 459 Washington LLC, and the conversion followed. The Alteration Type 1 on file took the building from one dwelling unit to twelve; alteration and plumbing permits were issued through 2000, with a new standpipe and a fire-protection plan filed that year. The condominium declaration was recorded on June 4, 2002, and unit deeds ran from that June through September.
What makes the sellout unusual is who bought. Several of the original artist-owners took their own floors back as condominium units in June and July 2002, and their families held them for another decade — one line into 2019, another into 2025. The building did not so much sell out as reorganize. That is why the resale record is thin for a building of twelve residences: for most of its condominium life, most of the floors were held by people who had owned the building since 1979.
The physical result is a plain proposition. Seven stories, two residences per floor, north and south, mostly between 1,900 and 2,100 square feet, in a masonry warehouse on a corner. Published descriptions report exposed wood beams, cast-iron columns, wide-plank floors and wood-burning fireplaces, and the Department of Buildings record supports the last of those — a 2012 filing installed a fireplace on the fourth floor with a chimney run to the roof. Interior widths above thirty-two feet are the number that matters most; very few Hudson Square conversions deliver that on both exposures.
The last structural fact is location. Hudson Square is not Tribeca, though it is sold as Tribeca and the special zoning district that governs the lot is called Tribeca. The block is north of Canal Street, outside every historic district, and it carries five separate residential condominiums plus a rental building in a condominium wrapper. Comparables need to be drawn building by building, not from the block.
Architecture and unit composition
The lot runs roughly 68 feet along Washington Street to a depth of 80 feet, with the building covering about 68 by 70 feet and roughly 28,100 square feet of gross floor area across seven stories. Built as a warehouse around 1920, it is a load-bearing masonry structure of the type Hudson Square produced in quantity for the goods trade — no ornament to speak of, a strong regular window rhythm, and a cornice, which was replaced under a 2003 alteration filing.
Residences occupy floors two through seven, two per floor, designated north and south. Department of Finance records size the smallest at roughly 1,606 square feet and the largest at roughly 2,413, with the great majority between 1,938 and 2,097 — an unusually even distribution that reflects a floor plate divided the same way from top to bottom. Because the building holds a corner, the light situation differs materially between the north and south lines, and that difference is worth walking rather than reading.
The ground floor is a separate commercial condominium unit of roughly 3,885 square feet. It sits in the same condominium as the residences, with its own common-charge share and capital participation, and it has changed hands several times since the conversion.
Building operations
This is an unstaffed boutique condominium. No doorman, no amenity program and no on-site services appear in the records reviewed; the common elements are the elevator, the halls, the mechanicals and the roof, where a 2005 filing installed two arbors on an existing roof platform.
The capital record is legible and ordinary for a masonry warehouse of this age. The cornice was replaced in 2003. A sidewalk shed went up in 2003 for remedial repairs and again in 2014. Façade repair applications were filed in 2014 and again in November 2019. Boiler work was filed in 2013, and a building-wide sprinkler filing was made in 2018. That is a building that has kept up with its Local Law 11 obligations rather than deferring them — but with twelve residential owners and one commercial owner carrying the whole envelope, the reserve position and the current façade cycle are the two questions to ask first.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases close through a right of first refusal rather than a cooperative board approval, which produces faster and more predictable closing timelines.
Pets, pied-à-terre, subletting and financing: Not documented in the records reviewed. No building-specific house rules, offering plan or management-sourced policy summary for The John Watts was located. Under the standard condominium framework pied-à-terre use, subletting and LLC and trust ownership are permitted, but this building's actual rules — including any sublet minimum term, any pet restriction and any board application requirement — should be confirmed with the managing agent before contract.
Flip tax: Not documented. Any resale capital contribution should be confirmed with the managing agent before pricing a sale.
Real estate taxes: No exemption or abatement appears on the residential unit lots in the FY2027 roll, and no J-51 grant appears for this lot in the Department of Finance's historical J-51 file. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2025–30. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 27, 2025 | PH7S | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,783 sf | $4,550,000 | $1,635/sf | -8.9% |
| Jul 28, 2023 | 2S | 1 BR · 2 BA · 2,097 sf | $3,500,000 | $1,669/sf | -4.1% |
| Jan 4, 2022 | 4S | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,409 sf | $4,200,000 | $1,743/sf | +5.1% |
| Nov 18, 2021 | 5S | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,420 sf | $4,750,000 | $1,963/sf | +0.0% |
| Jan 6, 2021 | COM | 3,885 sf | $3,200,000 | $824/sf | off-mkt |
| May 28, 2019 | 6S | 2,097 sf | $3,460,000 | $1,650/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 23, 2018 | 2S | 1 BR · 2,420 sf | $3,625,000 | $1,498/sf | -1.9% |
| Jul 11, 2018 | 6N | 3 BR · 1,945 sf | $3,700,000 | $1,902/sf | -1.3% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,635/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 3.9% 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 1-00595-7503) 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
Get the certificate of occupancy. The lot sits inside the Special Tribeca Mixed Use District, and the conversion took the building from one dwelling unit to twelve. Confirm how the residential use is classified and whether any joint living-work quarters restriction applies.
Ask for the policy stack in writing. No offering plan or house rules for this building were located in the public record or in the Roebling libraries. Pets, sublet minimums, pied-à-terre use and any flip tax all need to come from the managing agent.
Read the façade and reserve position together. The building has filed cornice, shed and façade work repeatedly since 2003. That is a good sign about maintenance and a real question about reserves in a thirteen-lot condominium.
North and south are different apartments. The floor plate splits the same way on every level, but the corner means the two lines do not get the same light. Walk both.
Do not comp off the block. Five separate condominiums sit on this tax block, plus a rental in a condominium wrapper. Confirm which building a comparable actually belongs to before you rely on it.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the width. Interior widths above thirty-two feet with two exposures on a corner are the scarce feature, and no new construction in Hudson Square reproduces them.
Bring the documents to market. Because so little building-level policy material is publicly available, a seller who can hand a buyer the house rules, the current budget and the reserve position removes most of the friction from diligence.
Be direct about the tax posture and the absence of staff. No abatement, no doorman. Both are findable, and both are better presented alongside the common charges than discovered later.
Distinguish the building. Buyers searching this block will surface four other condominiums. Say plainly which building the residence is in, how many units it has, and how it differs.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 459 Washington Street, also evaluate:
- 465 Washington Street — separate condominium on the same tax block; the immediate neighbor and the closest comparable by location
- 471 Washington Street — separate condominium on the same tax block, at similar boutique scale
- 481 Washington Street (Spice Warehouse) — 13-residence warehouse conversion on the same block; the closest peer by unit count and vintage
- 415 Washington Street — Washington Street loft ownership a few blocks south
- 330 Spring Street — larger Hudson Square condominium around the corner; the serviced alternative
- 28 Laight Street (The Cobblestone Lofts) — converted Tribeca warehouse with a comparable loft product
- 39 Vestry Street — northwest Tribeca loft ownership at boutique scale
- 28 Vestry Street — the new-construction alternative in the same submarket
- 407 Greenwich Street (15 Hubert Street) — converted Greenwich Street loft condominium
- 415 Greenwich Street (TriBeCa Summit) — the full-amenity alternative a few blocks south
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Tribeca — read The Roebling Team Guide to Tribeca.
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.
Considering a move at The John Watts?
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