The Cortland

The exterior is the building's signature. Stern's office worked the LaSalle limestone base and the handmade-brick shaft into a composition that holds its own against both the cast-iron and warehouse stock to the east and the glass towers along Eleventh Avenue. The brickwork — five colors, hand-laid, riveted accents — is specific masonry detailing to describe without claiming its near-disappearance from contemporary construction.

The 144 residences span studios through five-bedroom homes across 26 stories. Olson Kundig's interiors favor warm, durable materials and generous proportions; select homes carry marble fireplaces and private terraces, and corner layouts capture Hudson River views to the west and city light to the south and north. Ceiling heights, floor-to-ceiling glazing where it suits the plan, and modern mechanical systems are all new-construction standard here. Pricing at launch ran from the high $2 millions for the smaller homes into the eight figures for the largest layouts and terraced upper-floor residences.

For a building of its size, the amenity program is unusually complete: a 75-foot lap pool, an 11,200-square-foot health club and spa, a regulation squash court, a golf-simulator lounge, a two-story children's playroom, a maker space, a screening room, a pet spa, and a landscaped rooftop terrace with river views — close to 20,000 square feet of shared space. The building runs a full-service operation with a 24-hour attended lobby and concierge.

There is no admissions board or interview — as a condominium, The Cortland runs purchases through its application and right-of-first-refusal process. Pied-à-terre use is permitted and leasing is permitted with conditions; confirm financing, trust, LLC, co-purchase and investment-ownership rules in the current declaration, bylaws and house rules. The building maintains a pet program with a dedicated pet spa among the amenities; specific weight and breed parameters are set by the condominium's house rules.

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 $2,612/sf (floor-adjusted) across 8 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 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00694-7502; 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.

The case for The Cortland is architecture plus flexibility. You are buying a masonry building designed by one of the country's most recognized residential architects, with interiors by Olson Kundig, in a condominium structure with no co-op board admission, permitted pied-à-terre use and leasing permitted with conditions; confirm financing and entity-ownership rules in the declaration and bylaws. That combination — pre-war presence with new construction and condominium ownership — is the heart of the value here.

Underwrite the carrying cost realistically. New West Chelsea condominiums carry common charges scaled to the amenity package, and you will want to confirm the building's current real-estate-tax posture and any abatement timeline against your own numbers before you commit. The amenity suite is genuinely deep, which is part of what you are paying to maintain. We help buyers read the offering plan, benchmark the price per square foot against the West Chelsea new-development set, and structure the deal.

The marketing core is the building itself: a Robert A.M. Stern exterior in handmade brick, Olson Kundig interiors, and a 20,000-square-foot amenity program — durable differentiators that separate a resale here from the glass inventory along the avenue. Lead with the architecture and the river position.

Compare West Chelsea's newest condominiums, High Line buildings and relevant converted lofts with adjustments for age, ownership and apartment features; rental asking rents do not establish sale prices. A resale runs through the condominium's application and right-of-first-refusal process rather than a co-op board; confirm its timing with building management. Check current competing inventory and dated resales alongside sponsor transactions, accounting for any concessions; a short resale history does not establish a seller advantage.

If you're weighing The Cortland, these nearby Chelsea and downtown buildings round out the comparison set:

• 340 West 19th Street — West Chelsea building near the High Line
• 224 West 18th Street — Chelsea loft-district address
• 212 West 18th Street — full-service Chelsea building
• 250 West 15th Street — Chelsea building south of the gallery district
• 365 West 20th Street — Chelsea building in the historic-district fabric