- Year built
- 2020
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 1301
- Floors
- 10
- Landmark
- No
Every recorded sale at this building, 2021–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,779
- Listing discount
- 4.1%
- Recorded sales
- 10
- On record
- 2021–2026
The Emerson is a small building on an expensive premise. Eight residences, one per floor, on a corner lot barely wide enough to hold them, directly beside the High Line where the elevated park runs up Tenth Avenue through the gallery blocks. Almost everything interesting about the building follows from the size of the parcel and what it took to build ten stories on it.
GDS Development bought the site in September 2016 for $16 million and filed the new-building application that July. The lot alone could not carry the building that was designed for it. In April 2017 the developer recorded a transfer of development rights from 509–511 West 27th Street — a site two blocks north, not adjacent — with a transfer tax return showing $3.6 million in consideration. That is the Special West Chelsea District working exactly as intended: the zoning framework adopted around the High Line lets floor area migrate across the district so that individual sites can be built to a scale their own lots would never support. The Emerson exists in its built form because someone else's unbuilt floor area was moved onto it.
The architecture answers the constraint honestly. GDSNY designed the building and GF55 Architects carried the filings, and the result is a grid of limestone piers and windows rather than a glass box — Alabama limestone on the street elevations, a glazed eastern face with bronze detailing to pull light into floor plates that have no other option, and cantilevered upper floors that gain square footage and, in the process, produce loggias sheltering full-width terraces on the floors below. Exterior lighting is by L'Observatoire International. On a block of converted warehouses and gallery buildings, a solid-material contemporary is a deliberate choice, and it is the building's clearest positioning argument against the glass towers a few blocks in either direction.
The unit plan is the other half of the argument. Seven floor-through residences of roughly 2,375 square feet each, numbered 201 through 801, and a duplex penthouse of about 5,115 square feet with twelve-foot ceilings and a roof deck. One home per floor means no shared landings, no interior corridors, and elevator access opening into the residence — the configuration that boutique Chelsea buyers reliably pay for and that a larger building structurally cannot offer.
Two structural facts deserve to be stated plainly, because both are commonly gotten wrong. The building was finished in 2020, not 2018: the first temporary certificate of occupancy issued October 1, 2020 and the final certificate followed in April 2022, notwithstanding the 2018 year-built figure PLUTO and the Department of Finance both carry. And it is not in a historic district. The West Chelsea Historic District, designated in 2008, touches only one lot on this block, at the Eleventh Avenue end. The architect's own project page says otherwise. Landmarks records govern; no Certificate of Appropriateness is required here.
Architecture and unit composition
The site is a corner parcel assembled from 253 and 255 Tenth Avenue and tied together by a zoning-lot declaration recorded in January 2016. A four-story walk-up with stores stood on it until shortly before construction. PLUTO reports a 1,463-square-foot lot for the condominium billing lot, which is roughly half the 39-by-75-foot parcel Department of Finance records carry for the predecessor lot — the PLUTO land figure should not be relied on for this building.
Above a double-height commercial unit addressed 255 Tenth Avenue, the residential stack runs one home to a floor. Department of Finance records size the seven floor-through residences identically at approximately 2,375 square feet, which is a useful check: the building has no small line and no large line, so pricing variation between units is a function of floor level, terrace, and exposure rather than of layout. The penthouse is the exception at roughly 5,115 square feet across the top two levels, with twelve-foot ceilings and a private roof deck.
The eastern elevation is glazed with bronze detailing. The street elevations are Alabama limestone in a piered grid. The cantilever at the upper floors creates the covered loggias that shelter the terraces below, and it is the source of the building's silhouette from the High Line. The architect's project record reports a New York City green property certification for the building.
Buyers should test exposures carefully. This is a narrow corner site in a district that continues to develop, and the light that reaches the interior of a 2,375-square-foot floor plate depends on the eastern glass wall and on whatever gets built nearby.
Building operations
The Emerson is a nine-unit condominium, and its operating profile should be read that way rather than against full-service Chelsea towers. Staffing, storage licensing and bicycle provision are not documented in the public record reviewed for this page, and no offering plan for the building was located in either the Compass Offering Plan Library or The Roebling Research Library. Any buyer should ask the managing agent for the current operating budget, the reserve position, the staffing arrangement and the sponsor's remaining interest before contract.
Two operating facts are on file. A 2022 alteration application changed the roof use to a private accessory terrace, and a 2024 filing covered interior renovation of the ground-floor commercial space. The commercial unit is separately owned and has traded twice since the condominium was declared; its use and its share of common expenses are worth reading in the declaration, because on a building with only eight residences the commercial unit's allocation is a material share of the whole.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Resales close through a right of first refusal rather than a board approval, which produces the faster and more predictable 30-to-45-day closing pace typical of the form.
Pets, pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: The standard condominium framework applies. Specific house rules — pet limits, minimum sublease terms, any resale capital contribution — are not documented in public records for this building. Because no offering plan was located, these should be confirmed in writing with the managing agent at offer stage rather than assumed.
Flip tax / transfer fee: Not documented. Confirm with the managing agent.
Real estate taxes: No abatement of any kind appears on any unit lot in the FY2026 or FY2027 assessment rolls. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit from day one, and run True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis against the current bill rather than a projected schedule.
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 →Recent sales
The Emerson closed its sellout in a tight window. The seven floor-through residences and the penthouse recorded their first deeds between October 2021 and February 2022, and the commercial unit transferred separately in December 2022 and again in 2024. Resale activity since has been light, which is the expected pattern for a building with eight homes.
That scarcity cuts both ways for pricing. There is almost no same-building comparable set, so valuation has to be built from the small group of boutique West Chelsea condominiums along the High Line rather than from a building average. On a per-square-foot basis the building prices in the upper band for boutique West Chelsea inventory, and the absence of any tax abatement is the single largest variable separating a headline price from the true monthly number — a distinction that matters here because several nearby buildings of similar vintage were delivered with abatements and are not directly comparable on carrying cost.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 31, 2026 | 8 | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,225,000 | $1,779/sf | -1.7% |
| Feb 2, 2022 | 201Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,000,000 | $1,684/sf | off-mkt |
| Dec 30, 2021 | 3Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,000,000 | $1,684/sf | -2.4% |
| Dec 29, 2021 | 5Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,300,000 | $1,811/sf | -21.7% |
| Dec 17, 2021 | 6Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,500,000 | $1,895/sf | +0.0% |
| Dec 13, 2021 | 4Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,100,000 | $1,726/sf | -24.0% |
| Nov 30, 2021 | 7Sponsor Sale | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,375 sf | $4,500,000 | $1,895/sf | +0.0% |
| Oct 12, 2021 | 701Sponsor Sale | 2,375 sf | $4,400,000 | $1,853/sf | off-mkt |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,779/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.1% 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 1-00696-7504) 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
Correct the year built. City data says 2018. The certificate-of-occupancy record says the building was first occupied in October 2020 and finally signed off in April 2022. Any automated valuation or depreciation assumption built on 2018 is working from the wrong date.
It is not landmarked. Despite the architect's own description, the lot sits outside the West Chelsea Historic District. There is no Certificate of Appropriateness requirement, which matters for façade work, window replacement and terrace alterations.
Underwrite full taxes. There is no 421-a, no J-51, no 485-x. Nothing steps up later because nothing was ever abated.
Ask for the documents. No offering plan for this building was found in either library. The policy stack, the common-charge allocation between the eight residences and the commercial unit, and the reserve position all live in documents you will have to request.
Understand the commercial unit. A separately owned, double-height retail space at the base of a nine-unit condominium is a meaningful governance and expense variable. Read the declaration on voting and common-charge allocation.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the plate, not the amenity list. One 2,375-square-foot home per floor, private elevator landing, limestone and bronze, terraces under the cantilever. That is the product. A boutique building does not win on amenities and should not try to.
Be direct about the tax posture. Buyers cross-shopping abated new construction elsewhere in Chelsea will find the difference themselves. Presenting the full unabated number alongside True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis produces better outcomes than letting it surface late.
Price against boutique High Line inventory, not against the towers. The right comparable set is the small group of low-unit-count West Chelsea condominiums on and around the park, whose economics and buyer pool differ sharply from the large full-service buildings a few blocks west.
Same-building comparables are thin by design. With eight residences and a sellout that closed inside four months, floor-level and terrace-specific analysis carries the pricing argument.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Emerson, also evaluate:
- 245 Tenth Avenue — the immediate neighbor on the same block, a 20-residence Tenth Avenue condominium; the closest peer by address and the most direct comparable set
- 503 West 24th Street (The Getty Residences) — Peter Marino's ultra-boutique condominium on the same block, at a materially higher price tier
- 508 West 24th Street — small-plate Cary Tamarkin condominium a few doors west; the closest match on unit count and full-floor configuration
- 520 West 28th Street — Zaha Hadid Architects on the High Line; the architecturally driven alternative at larger scale
- 551 West 21st Street — Foster + Partners condominium in the same district; full-service, larger, higher tier
- 100 Eleventh Avenue — Jean Nouvel's curtain-wall tower; the opposite material argument in the same neighborhood
- One High Line (500 West 18th Street) — the large full-service High Line alternative with a hotel-grade amenity program
- 527 West 27th Street (Jardim) — twin cast-concrete buildings around a planted courtyard two blocks north; close in vintage, different in scale
- 500 West 22nd Street (Park House Chelsea) — Selldorf Architects; ten residences plus a ground-floor commercial unit, and the closest structural analog to The Emerson in the district
- 505 West 19th Street — Thomas Juul-Hansen's paired High Line buildings; boutique, design-led, higher price tier
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 The Emerson?
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