461 West 22nd Street

Two houses of roughly sixteen and a half feet each on a 33.33-foot lot, four stories over cellars, about 8,100 square feet of building between them. The elevation is brownstone finished in brownstone stucco with rusticated stone at the base — the Anglo-Italianate idiom of mid-1850s Chelsea, which reads flatter and more restrained than the round-arched Italianate that arrived on the blocks to the east a decade later.

Six apartments across two four-story houses means the building averages three homes per house, so the layouts do not resolve into a tidy one-per-floor pattern; expect a mix of floor-throughs and duplexes, with the garden and top-floor apartments carrying whatever outdoor space exists. Lot depth of 98.75 feet against a building depth of 54 feet leaves genuine rear yard behind both houses, which is the single most price-relevant variable in a building this size after floor level. Department of Buildings filings record interior renovation work in 2005, 2007 and 2012, and PLUTO flags alterations in 1979 — the work that preceded the conversion and earned the J-51 — and again in 2009.

A four-story walk-up cooperative of six apartments is run by its shareholders. There is no doorman and no elevator; superintendent coverage, porter service, heat and utility arrangements, and whether the building carries a managing agent at all are not established in the public record and should be confirmed in writing before contract. The practical operating questions in a building of this scale are narrow and answerable: who holds the boiler service contract, when the roof was last replaced, what the Landmarks permitting history looks like, and whether any assessment is running or contemplated.

Current policy terms were not established in the sources reviewed. No offering plan, house rules or financial statement was located in The Roebling Research Library. Everything below has to come from the managing agent or the board, in writing, and should be obtained before an offer rather than after acceptance:

The board package and interview. In a six-shareholder cooperative the reviewing board is the neighbors. Expect a full financial package, tax returns, reference letters and an interview, and expect the process to be personal rather than administrative. Prepare with the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator.

Financing ceiling and post-closing liquidity. Neither figure is documented here. Ask for the maximum permitted loan-to-value and the liquidity standard the board has actually applied to recent purchasers, not the one written down years ago.

Sublet policy and flip tax. Undocumented. Ask whether subletting is permitted at all, on what term, after what period of owner-occupancy, and at what fee — and ask for the flip tax formula in writing, so its actual amount, if any, can be compared with mortgage payoff, brokerage costs and other closing expenses.

Pied-à-terre, trusts and entity ownership. Also undocumented. ACRIS shows one 2026 transfer into a living trust, which is real evidence that trusts have been accommodated at least once; it is not evidence of a written policy. If your purchase depends on a trust, an LLC, parental assistance or non-primary use, raise it in the first conversation.

Recent sales

Recent transfers 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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $1,831/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount -1.2% over ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00720-0016). 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

Request the documents first, and treat their absence as information. No offering plan and no financial statement sit in either library. Ask the managing agent for the plan, the last two years of financial statements, the house rules, the alteration agreement and the minutes, and read what comes back before you commit to a board package.

Confirm the no-mortgage picture. The reviewed public record shows no blanket mortgage since 1982; confirm all current liabilities, reserves and assessments before drawing conclusions about maintenance or refinancing exposure. Compare it honestly against a leveraged cooperative's number using the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator rather than comparing headline maintenance.

Price the Landmarks constraint into any renovation plan. Windows, ironwork, stoop, cornice and anything else visible from the street require a permit inside the Chelsea Historic District Extension. Budget the time as well as the money.

Ask what the last three capital items cost and how they were paid for. The six-apartment cooperative has no blanket mortgage in the reviewed record, but its current liabilities and reserve balance remain to be confirmed. The answer to that question tells you more about this building's finances than any ratio.

Present the specific row-house apartment. Compare its 1854 landmarked setting and actual plan with recent transfers; unit count does not establish turnover, and the absence of a recorded blanket mortgage requires confirmation against current liabilities. Market it against the specific alternative — the district's other small cooperatives and row-house condominiums — not against Chelsea generally.

Assemble the document set before listing. The reviewed library did not contain the policy and financial documents. Obtain the financials, house rules and alteration agreement so counsel can review them; document preparation does not establish a fixed reduction in contract time.

Get the flip tax in writing early. Its terms were not established in the reviewed sources; determine whether a fee applies and compare its amount with the other sale costs. Run the result through the Seller Closing Cost Calculator before you set an asking price.

If you're considering 461 West 22nd Street, also evaluate:

• 429 West 22nd Street — the same block and the same builder, two 1855 houses on one lot, the closest like-for-like anywhere
• 458 West 20th Street — landmarked row-house cooperative two blocks south
• 445 West 20th Street — condominium alternative inside the same landmarked fabric
• 333 West 22nd Street — small Chelsea cooperative on the same street, comparable scale and governance
• 228 West 21st Street — small walk-up cooperative one block south
• 365 West 20th Street (Chelsea Court Tower) — the full-service cooperative alternative in the historic district
• 360 West 22nd Street (London Towne House) — elevator cooperative on the same block, for buyers weighing services against character
• 500 West 22nd Street — the West Chelsea alternative a block west
• 420 West 23rd Street — boutique condominium a block north