- Year built
- 1867
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 2
- Floors
- 7
- Landmark
- No
- Financing
- No financing ceiling is documented — the standard condominium framework applies
Every recorded sale at this building, 2016–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $2,035
- Listing discount
- 5.5%
- Recorded sales
- 11
- On record
- 2016–2025
The public record gets this building wrong, and the correction is the point. PLUTO dates the lot to 1920 and leaves its historic-district field empty. Both entries are inaccurate. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's designation records for the Tribeca East Historic District carry two buildings on this tax lot: 52 Lispenard Street, built 1867–1868 by D. & J. Jardine for Joel E. Hyams, and 54 Lispenard Street, built 1866–1868 by Isaac F. Duckworth for Lewis Duhain, Jr. Both were store-and-loft buildings of the Civil War-era mercantile boom — masonry fronts with cast iron at the base, sandstone and metal cornices above, Italianate at one and Second Empire at the other. Both are designated. Any exterior work here requires Landmarks review before the Department of Buildings will act.
What sits on the lot today is a single seven-story building made from those two. Essex Development LLC bought the property in December 2011 and filed an Alteration Type 1 that combined the buildings, converted commercial floor area to residential use and added a vertical enlargement, raising the structure from five stories and 77 feet to seven stories and 105 feet. James Schelkle was the architect of record. The offering plan was accepted for filing in January 2014, the condominium declaration was recorded in January 2016, and the first unit deeds followed within weeks.
The building's defining characteristic is its size. Six residences across seven floors, with a ground-level unit at the base, produces one apartment per floor plate over most of the stack — full-floor lofts behind a designated 1860s façade, with private terraces and gardens at several levels carried as limited common elements. That is a scarce product type. Tribeca has a great deal of loft conversion inventory and comparatively little of it at one-per-floor density inside a landmarked cast-iron-era envelope.
The corollary is a small denominator. Six residences carry the entire operating base — elevator, water and sewer, insurance, management, and, in time, the façade obligations of two 1860s masonry fronts in a historic district. There are no amenities to spread that cost against and no commercial rent roll flowing to the residential owners. Common charges should be read against the building's actual budget rather than against the amenity roster, and the reserve position matters more here than it does in a hundred-unit building.
Architecture and unit composition
The combined structure presents roughly fifty feet of frontage on Lispenard Street — two 19th-century lots read as one — with the two-story enlargement set above the historic cornice line. The rooftop mock-up filed for Landmarks review in 2012 is the record of how that addition was negotiated: visible additions in Tribeca East are approved on a case-by-case basis, and the setback and materials were reviewed before construction.
The unit schedule runs TH1 and TH2 at the base, then units 2, 3, 4 and 5 through the middle of the building, then the penthouse. Recorded gross areas place the penthouse near 3,800 square feet. The Department of Finance carries lot 1701, designated TH1, in a different building class from the six residential lots and records its full 4,684 square feet as retail area; the final certificate of occupancy issued in August 2019 carries six dwelling units, one fewer than the temporary certificates that preceded it. The most defensible reading of the record is six residences plus a ground-level unit that is not counted as a dwelling. That unit remained in sponsor ownership on the FY2027 assessment roll.
Terraces and gardens are assigned to individual units as limited common elements rather than held in common. The plan on file caps roof-level improvements at 100 pounds per square foot of load and requires board approval for planting changes, which is worth knowing before planning any outdoor build-out.
Building operations
52 Lispenard is a self-directed, low-staff building. The projected operating budget on file contemplates individual electric metering for each unit with a single house meter for the elevator, intercom, security video, common lighting and common air conditioning, and it carried a reserve contingency line from the first year. There is no doorman and no amenity program.
The building's principal forward exposures are the ones common to landmarked masonry: Local Law 11 façade cycles executed under Landmarks review, and the long-run maintenance of the 2012–2019 enlargement, which is now old enough to have a warranty history worth asking about. A buyer should request the current budget, the reserve balance, any assessment history, the most recent façade report, and the Landmarks permit history for the property.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. The board holds a right of first refusal and has no power to approve or disapprove a purchaser, which produces predictable 30-to-45-day closings.
Subletting: Permitted, with a minimum lease term of one year under the plan on file. The plan sets no limit on the number of owners who may purchase for investment.
Entity, trust and fiduciary purchasers: Permitted, subject to additional requirements set out in the by-laws.
Working capital contribution: Three months of common charges, payable at every closing including resales, per the plan on file. Confirm the current figure with the managing agent — it moves with common charges.
Real estate taxes: No exemption on any unit lot on the FY2027 roll. The plan states that to the sponsor's knowledge the building never received J-51 benefits. Underwrite full unabated taxes.
Landmarks: Exterior alterations require Landmarks approval. Interior work does not, but any change affecting a visible façade element, window, storefront, terrace enclosure or rooftop condition does.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $4,222/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $59
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 filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
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
52 Lispenard prices as a boutique full-floor Tribeca loft condominium and should be compared on dollars per square foot against the small-building conversion stock in the Lispenard, Walker, White and Leonard Street blocks rather than against the amenitized West Tribeca towers. The building's arguments are floor-plate exclusivity, private outdoor space, and a designated 1860s envelope with a modern mechanical system behind it. Its constraints are the small denominator, the absence of services, and the Landmarks overlay on any exterior change.
Because there are only six residences, same-building comparables are thin by construction and the resale record is shallow. Pricing here depends on floor, outdoor space and condition rather than on a building average. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 23, 2025 | 4 | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,341 sf | $6,800,000 | $2,035/sf | -6.2% |
| Jun 18, 2025 | 3 | 3 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,336 sf | $7,100,000 | $2,128/sf | -3.4% |
| Feb 11, 2025 | TH2 | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,518 sf | $3,300,000 | $1,311/sf | -5.7% |
| Jul 17, 2024 | 2 | 4 BR · 3.5 BA · 3,804 sf | $8,000,000 | $2,103/sf | off-mkt |
| Jan 21, 2021 | 4 | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,341 sf | $6,000,000 | $1,796/sf | -11.4% |
| Mar 1, 2017 | 2 | 4 BR · 3,804 sf | $7,568,437 | $1,990/sf | -5.3% |
| Jan 29, 2016 | 4 | 5 BR · 4 BA · 3,341 sf | $6,975,012 | $2,088/sf | +4.9% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $2,035/sf across 3 sales. Median listing discount 5.5% 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 1-00194-7508) 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
Do not trust PLUTO on this lot. The year-built field says 1920 and the historic-district field is blank. Both are wrong. The buildings date to 1866–1868 and the property is inside the Tribeca East Historic District. Any automated valuation or age-based underwriting built on the PLUTO record will be wrong.
Confirm what TH1 is. The record is genuinely mixed: seven unit lots, seven residential units in the offering plan, six dwelling units on the final certificate of occupancy, and 4,684 square feet recorded as retail at the base. Ask the managing agent for the current use and the certificate of occupancy before you underwrite the building's unit count or its common-charge allocation.
Six units is a small denominator. One deferred capital item is a meaningful per-unit number. Read the budget, the reserve and the assessment history before contract.
Landmarks binds the exterior. Terrace enclosures, window replacement, storefront changes and rooftop equipment all require review. Build the schedule and the cost into any renovation plan.
There is no abatement and never has been. Full unabated taxes from day one, with no step-up schedule to model.
Check the (E) designation. The zoning lot carries an environmental (E) designation. Confirm that all remediation obligations at the property have been discharged.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 52 Lispenard Street, also evaluate:
- 37 Lispenard Street — a boutique full-floor loft conversion on the same street; the closest peer by product type and scale
- 51 Walker Street — small loft condominium on the block immediately south, inside the same historic district
- 55 White Street — Tribeca East loft conversion at comparable boutique density
- 14 Leonard Street — small-building Tribeca condominium with similar economics and policy posture
- 91 Leonard Street — the amenitized new-construction alternative a few blocks south; the opposite service model
- 108 Leonard Street — large-scale landmarked conversion; the full-service comparison point
- 155 Franklin Street — Tribeca loft conversion with full-floor plates
- 335 Broadway — Broadway loft conversion in the same historic district
- 65 Worth Street — boutique Tribeca loft condominium with a comparable unit count
- 124 Hudson Street — small Tribeca conversion with a similar low-staff operating model
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 52 Lispenard Street Condominium?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 52 Lispenard Street Condominium would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.