- Year built
- 2007
- Type
- Condominium
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark
- No
Every recorded sale at this building, 2009–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,206
- Listing discount
- 6.8%
- Recorded sales
- 24
- On record
- 2009–2026
This is a ten-residence building that most automated valuation output mis-files, and it is worth being precise about why.
Start with what it is. Della Valle Bernheimer designed and developed the building itself — an unusual arrangement, and one that shows in the result. The facade is two interlocking volumes, black aluminum panel nested into white fritted glass, with window openings large enough that the city outside functions as the primary interior finish. It is one of the more recognizable small buildings on the West Chelsea grid, and it was built from the ground up: the Department of Buildings record shows a demolition in December 2006 and a New Building application for an eleven-story residential structure, not an alteration of anything that stood before.
Now the correction that matters most in diligence. The building is routinely described as a Special West Chelsea District project, and published architectural commentary reads the massing as an expression of that district's rules. The tax lot does not support the claim. 459 West 18th Street sits between Ninth and Tenth Avenues on straight R8A zoning with a C2-5 commercial overlay, and no lot on block 716 carries a special-district designation in the city's zoning tax lot record. The offering plan's own location section describes the property as being in West Chelsea and within the "Hi-Line" district — a locational description, not a zoning one. Nothing in ACRIS shows a High Line easement or an air-rights transfer touching this lot. The building is an as-of-right R8A structure a short walk from the park, which is a different thing from a special-district building, and it matters when a buyer is comparing bulk, streetwall rules and the pricing that follows from them.
The third fact is the tax posture, and it is the single most useful number a buyer can carry into an offer. This building did receive a 421-a exemption. Department of Finance exemption records carry it against all eleven unit lots — the ten residences and the ground-floor commercial unit — under exemption code 5110, with a record created in 2011. Every one of those lots now shows a current exemption value of zero against a positive prior-year value. The benefit is gone. The offering plan's Schedule A had projected two sets of taxes, with and without 421-a, and warned that if the benefit were not granted, future taxes would be based on full post-construction value. That is now the operative case, permanently. A buyer here starts at the full number and stays there.
Architecture and unit composition
The lot is 3,483 square feet — small, interior, with no corner. Eleven stories carry 21,524 square feet of residential area across ten homes, which is an average above 2,100 square feet before accounting for the duplex at the top. The offering plan's Schedule A describes the mix precisely: one two-bedroom of roughly 1,451 square feet, six residences at approximately 2,177 square feet each, a penthouse of about 2,207 square feet, and a duplex penthouse of roughly 4,356 square feet carrying terrace as limited common element. Above the base, this is a full-floor building by arithmetic, not by marketing.
The remaining 2,254 square feet is the commercial unit at the ground floor, a separate condominium unit with its own lot, its own tax bill and its own common-interest allocation. The plan's budget and by-laws set out how expenses are apportioned between the residential units and the commercial unit, and they grant the commercial owner rights the residential owners do not have — including the right to transfer or lease that unit without offering the board a right of first refusal, and the right to alter and subdivide it. That asymmetry is ordinary in mixed-use condominiums and it is worth reading in the plan rather than assuming.
Building operations
The plan on file provides for hydronic radiant heating from a central gas-fired boiler located in a roof mechanical room, with cooling delivered by ceiling-mounted water-source heat pumps inside each residence on a building loop. That is a good system for a small building and a specific one to underwrite: the heat pump in a given apartment is the owner's to maintain, and its age and condition are a real line item on a resale twenty years into the building's life.
The projected first-year budget in the plan contemplates a modest service-contract set — elevator maintenance, extermination, boiler maintenance and fire alarm — and does not describe attended lobby staffing. Ten residences is a thin denominator against any fixed cost base, so common charges should be read against the current operating budget and the specific unit's common interest rather than inferred from the building's size. Ask for the current budget, the reserve position, and the most recent façade filing status before contract.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through a board right of first refusal at the same price and terms as the offer received; the board cannot approve or reject a buyer, which produces shorter and more predictable timelines than a cooperative.
Sponsor and commercial exceptions: Sponsor sales of unsold units and transfers of the commercial unit are not subject to the right of first refusal, per the by-laws summarized in the plan.
Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: Permitted under the standard condominium framework. Confirm minimum lease terms and any leasing registration requirement with the managing agent.
Flip tax or resale contribution: Not established in the documents reviewed. Confirm with the managing agent before pricing a sale.
Real estate taxes: No exemption remains. Underwrite the full unabated figure on the specific unit.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $2,171/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $18
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).
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
Ten residences will never generate a statistically meaningful in-building comparable set, so pricing has to be argued from a unit's own attributes — floor, exposure, ceiling height, outdoor space, and the condition of finishes now nearly two decades old — against the wider West Chelsea condominium market.
Two structural facts should be modeled explicitly before an offer. The 421-a benefit is fully expired, so the monthly carry starts where it stays. And the unit sizes here are large relative to the neighborhood's condominium stock, which pulls the dollar figure up while the price per square foot may sit below smaller, newer product nearby. Comparables are best drawn from small West Chelsea condominiums of similar vintage and scale rather than from the large Special West Chelsea District towers along the High Line, whose air-rights economics, amenity load and buyer pool are all different. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 6, 2025 | 2 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,451 sf | $1,745,000 | $1,203/sf | -6.1% |
| Oct 2, 2025 | 3 | 3 BR · 3 BA · 1,451 sf | $1,753,725 | $1,209/sf | off-mkt |
| Aug 15, 2024 | PH | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,871 sf | $3,400,000 | $1,817/sf | -2.7% |
| Dec 1, 2023 | PH2 | 4 BR · 4 BA · 3,447 sf | $7,500,000 | $2,176/sf | -11.8% |
| Aug 4, 2023 | 6 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 2,117 sf | $2,825,000 | $1,334/sf | -21.5% |
| Oct 1, 2019 | PH2 | 4 BR · 4 BA · 3,447 sf | $7,900,000 | $2,292/sf | -20.6% |
| Sep 24, 2015 | 6 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 2,177 sf | $3,900,000 | $1,791/sf | -2.4% |
| May 30, 2013 | 5 | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,177 sf | $3,550,000 | $1,631/sf | -8.4% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2025): a median $1,206/sf across 2 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 6.8% 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 1-00716-7504) 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 full taxes. The 421-a is gone from every unit lot in the Department of Finance record. Nothing is phasing out and nothing is coming back.
Test the Special West Chelsea claim. It is not in the district. The lot is R8A with a C2-5 overlay, no special district, no recorded High Line easement or air-rights transfer.
Read the residential-versus-commercial split. The ground-floor commercial unit is a separate owner with its own common interest and with transfer and alteration rights the residential owners do not share.
Ask about the heat pump. Cooling is per-unit water-source heat pumps on a building loop. Age, service history and replacement cost belong in your inspection, not in a surprise after closing.
Establish the exposures. Interior lot, no corner, adjacent buildings on both flanks. Identify which windows in the specific unit are lot-line windows before you price the light.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with square footage. Full-floor residences above 2,100 square feet in West Chelsea are a scale argument that no photograph makes on its own, and the offering plan's Schedule A supports it in writing.
Present the tax number up front. The abatement is fully burned off. Handing a buyer a True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis at the outset produces a better outcome than letting it surface in week three of diligence.
Correct the zoning story before a buyer's attorney does. The building is a strong as-of-right R8A building. Presenting it as a Special West Chelsea District project invites a correction that costs credibility.
Price against small West Chelsea condominiums. The High Line towers and the neighborhood's prewar co-ops are both the wrong comparable set, for different reasons.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 459 West 18th Street, also evaluate:
- 447 West 18th Street — the immediate same-block neighbor on the same frontage; the closest like-for-like on street and vintage
- 456 West 19th Street — the rear side of the same tax block, completed in 2008; the direct contemporaneous alternative
- 428 West 19th Street — newer construction on the same block; the current-vintage contrast
- 452 West 19th Street — small conversion on the same block; the loft-scale alternative
- 444 West 19th Street — same-block prewar-stock condominium
- 455 West 19th Street — ten-residence boutique condominium one block north on block 717; the nearest peer on unit count and price tier
- 435 West 19th Street — small West Chelsea condominium a short walk east
- 505 West 19th Street — inside the Special West Chelsea District west of Tenth Avenue; the direct contrast in zoning posture
- 520 West 19th Street — High Line-adjacent condominium built on the district's air-rights economics
- 200 Eleventh Avenue — highly specified small West Chelsea condominium; closest peer on scarcity of units
- London Terrace — the large prewar alternative two blocks north, with entirely different economics and approval mechanics
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, 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.
Considering a move at 459 West 18th Street?
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