49 East 21st Street

The building is a 12-story masonry loft structure in the pre-war commercial idiom — a solid facade with a regular grid of large industrial windows, the kind of building that gave the Flatiron and lower Park Avenue South their distinctive texture. Its scale and materials place it firmly among the neighborhood's converted-loft stock.

Inside, the residences are true lofts. Ceilings run from roughly 11 to 13 feet with original beams, windows are oversized, and wide-plank African oak floors and chef's kitchens with high-end appliances feature in the renovated homes. The 43 residences are generally configured as one- to two-bedrooms, ranging from roughly 1,280 to over 1,500 square feet, with many offering flexible bonus space that buyers use as a home office, den, or nursery. The combination of ceiling height and flexible square footage is the building's signature — and where its value is concentrated.

49 East 21st Street operates as a full-service condominium with a doorman, a rooftop terrace, and private storage — a focused package appropriate to a boutique pre-war loft building, where the residences themselves are the principal draw.

The location is a defining asset. Gramercy Park's gated green is a short walk east, Madison Square Park and Union Square are minutes away, and the immediate blocks include some of New York's best-known dining destinations. Multiple subway lines converge nearby — the 6 at 23rd Street and the 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, and W at Union Square — making the building one of the most transit-connected addresses on the Flatiron–Gramercy line. For buyers who want pre-war character without sacrificing convenience or condominium flexibility, the position is hard to match.

This is a condominium; compare its specific application and ownership terms with those of nearby loft buildings without assuming a corridor-wide tenure mix. There is no co-op board admission; purchases run through the condominium's application and right-of-first-refusal process rather than a board package and interview. Leasing by owners is permitted with conditions; confirm financing and pied-à-terre, trust, LLC and investor ownership in the current declaration, bylaws and house rules. Focus diligence on the apartment itself — ceiling height, exposure, window line, and the scope and quality of any prior renovation — because that is where value lives in a pre-war loft. We help buyers read the condominium documents, benchmark the loft pricing, and structure the deal.

Recent sales

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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026 to date) cleared a median $1,675/sf (floor-adjusted) across 6 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 2.7% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00850-7506; 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.

Describe the documented combination: authentic pre-war loft space — beamed 11-to-13-foot ceilings, oversized windows, flexible layouts — in a condominium. That pairing differentiates a resale here from both the co-op lofts nearby and the glass new-construction condominiums in the area. Benchmark to comparable pre-war loft condominiums on the Flatiron–Gramercy line, weighting ceiling height and renovation quality. The condominium application and right-of-first-refusal requirements determine closing mechanics; verify the current deadlines and required materials without assuming a faster closing or a particular buyer profile. Staging that reads the home as a true loft, and a precise comparable set, position a resale to its strength.

If you're considering 49 East 21st Street, also evaluate nearby Flatiron and Gramercy loft and condominium inventory:

• 21 East 22nd Street — Flatiron loft building nearby
• 23 East 22nd Street — Flatiron building nearby
• 15 East 26th Street — Madison Square loft building
• 150 East 23rd Street — ODA-designed Gramercy condominium
• 200 East 20th Street — new-construction Gramercy condominium