- Year built
- 2015
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 44
- Floors
- 19
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Pets permitted under condominium rules
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium declaration
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2012–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,976
- Listing discount
- 3.7%
- Recorded sales
- 70
- On record
- 2012–2026
551 West 21st Street is Norman Foster's New York debut in residential form. The Pritzker laureate's firm, Foster + Partners, had shaped towers, airports, and museums worldwide; 551 West 21st, completed in 2015, was its first ground-up residential building in the United States. Developed by Scott Resnick's SR Capital with GTIS Partners, the building sits at the Hudson edge of West Chelsea, where the gallery district meets the river — and where Foster's architectural language could be deployed at the scale of a boutique trophy condominium.
The building's identity is restraint executed at high cost. Rather than the all-glass curtain wall of its neighbors, Foster built a white precast-concrete structural grid inset with bronze-toned metal window surrounds, framing large panoramic windows and culminating in a triple-height glazed element at the corner. The arrival sequence is the signature: a private gated drive court off West 21st Street, ivy-clad and walled, brings residents into a roughly 34-foot double-height lobby — a porte-cochère experience rare in Manhattan and effectively impossible to build on most of the island's tight lots.
Density is the third differentiator. With only 44 residences across nineteen stories, the building is configured for large, family-scaled homes — most three- and four-bedroom layouts, many with private or direct elevator access, full-floor and combined residences, and abundant western light off the Hudson. For a buyer who wants architect-pedigree, scale, and a private-arrival building on the river-facing edge of Chelsea, 551 West 21st is one of a very small set of options.
Architecture and unit composition
The 44 residences run large — predominantly three- and four-bedroom homes, with units reaching roughly 6,400 square feet and full-floor and combined residences available. Most apartments have private or direct elevator access with few shared corridors, and a separate service route handles deliveries and moves. Ceiling heights run near eleven feet in typical residences and roughly twelve feet in the three penthouses. Western exposures deliver panoramic Hudson River and Midtown views, particularly from the upper floors.
The architecture is deliberately material rather than transparent. The white precast-concrete grid with bronze-toned metal window surrounds reads as structure made visible — a Foster signature — and the triple-height glazed corner provides the building's vertical accent. The drive court and porte-cochère, with their ivy green wall, set the building apart at street level; the double-height lobby, with a prismatic glass wall and fluted private elevators, carries the architectural intent indoors.
Building operations
551 West 21st operates as a full-service trophy condominium with one of the deeper staffing and amenity programs in West Chelsea. Services include a 24-hour doorman, concierge, porter, and full valet. The amenity suite runs to roughly 6,000 square feet and includes a fitness center with a yoga room, a spa with steam room, sauna, and treatment room, a residents' lounge with a fireplace and catering kitchen, a children's playroom, and bicycle storage. The building has an on-site parking garage served by valet. There is no building-wide swimming pool; the only pool is a private outdoor pool atop the top penthouse.
As a condominium, the building carries the ownership flexibility of the form: pets are permitted, pied-à-terre ownership is allowed, and subletting is permitted under the declaration. Financing is condo-standard. Buyers should review the offering plan, current house rules, recent financial statements, board minutes, and the reserve study during diligence — the deep amenity and valet program carries a corresponding common-charge load that should be modeled at the residence level.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $138,085/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $262
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The facade passed its last inspection with no required repairs — nothing to budget for here, and no facade assessment on the horizon for roughly five years.
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.
See the full facade history →Recent sales
551 West 21st trades at the ultra-luxury, trophy tier of West Chelsea. Foster's architecture, the large family-scaled floor plans, the private drive-court arrival, and the Hudson light position the building at the top of the corridor's pricing, and its 44-unit density means comparable sales are heterogeneous — exposure, floor altitude, layout, and outdoor space all move value substantially. The building's penthouse has drawn sustained press attention: David Weinreb, the co-founder and former chief executive of the Howard Hughes Corporation, acquired the top residence as raw space and built it out at length, with the home subsequently marketed at the very top of the market. Pricing should be read at the residence level, anchored to the building's own transaction history. 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. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 11, 2026 | 4B | 2 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,228 sf | $1,825,000 | $1,486/sf | -8.5% |
| Sep 26, 2025 | 4A | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,113 sf | $3,850,000 | $1,822/sf | -7.2% |
| Jul 18, 2025 | 3D | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,237 sf | $1,995,000 | $1,613/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 7, 2025 | 9B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 3,860 sf | $8,000,000 | $2,073/sf | -20.0% |
| Oct 1, 2024 | 3A | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,133 sf | $3,150,000 | $1,477/sf | -1.6% |
| Sep 20, 2024 | 14A | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 4,271 sf | $14,500,000 | $3,395/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 24, 2024 | 6A | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,469 sf | $4,950,000 | $2,005/sf | -17.4% |
| Jun 5, 2024 | 15B | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 3,860 sf | $9,700,000 | $2,513/sf | -29.5% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,976/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 3.7% 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.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2012 | — | $761,344 |
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 1-00693-7502) 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
You are buying scale and arrival. The large family-scaled floor plans, private or direct elevator access, and the gated drive-court entrance are the building's defining qualities — and they are rare in Manhattan. The architecture is material and structural, not an all-glass curtain wall; view it in person.
Model the carry. The 24-hour staffing, valet, and roughly 6,000-square-foot amenity program carry a meaningful common-charge load. Model the full monthly carry — common charges, taxes, utilities, insurance — at the specific residence.
Condo flexibility is real. 30–45 day closings; pied-à-terre and investment use permitted under the declaration; subletting allowed; financing condo-standard.
Comps are heterogeneous; go unit-level. With 44 residences spanning a wide range of layouts and exposures, the right comp set is the building's own history plus a curated group of West Chelsea trophy peers.
Mansion tax cliffs are major at this tier. Multiple cliff thresholds routinely apply. Run pricing through the Mansion Tax Calculator.
What to know if you’re selling
Marketing requires reach. The buyer pool for a Foster-designed trophy condominium is broad and, at the top of the building, international. Access to a wide broker network matters at these price points.
Pricing requires residence-level context. Comparable sales at 551 West 21st are meaningful but heterogeneous — view, floor, exposure, and configuration all drive variation. Anchor to the building's own history.
Closing timelines are condo-fast. 30–45 days from contract to closing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 551 West 21st, also evaluate:
- 100 Eleventh Avenue — Jean Nouvel 2010; nearby starchitect condo on the Hudson edge
- 200 Eleventh Avenue — Selldorf 2010; Sky Garage boutique condo nearby
- 520 West 28th Street — Zaha Hadid 2017; nearby starchitect trophy condo on the High Line
- One High Line (500 West 18th) — Bjarke Ingels Group; nearby new-development trophy condo
- 508 West 24th Street — Tamarkin 2014; masonry boutique condo on the High Line
- The Cortland (76 Eleventh Avenue) — Robert A.M. Stern 2022; nearby Hudson-edge condo
The Roebling Team at 551 West 21st Street
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in architecturally significant Manhattan condominiums and the trophy corridors of the West Side — including West Chelsea and the Hudson edge of the gallery district. We publish this profile because buyers and sellers at a building this specific deserve building-level intelligence: the architecture, the unit-level pricing picture, the carrying-cost realities, and the transactional mechanics — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 551 West 21st, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point. We'll bring the full context this page provides plus the specifics your situation requires — financial structuring, comparable analysis at the residence level, due diligence priorities, and the pacing strategy that fits your timeline.
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Chelsea — read The Roebling Team Guide to Chelsea.
Get the full picture on this building.
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