- Year built
- 1920
- Type
- Condop
- Units
- 2
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- Designated
- Amenities
- part-time doorman, fitness room, and an accessory recreation space across the sub-cellar and cellar
Every recorded sale at this building, 2014–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,066
- Listing discount
- -0.9%
- Recorded sales
- 11
- On record
- 2014–2025
87 Leonard Street is a seven-residence conversion of a landmarked Tribeca store-and-loft building, and it is the kind of project the public record describes badly. PLUTO gets the construction date wrong and the unit count wrong. The building is often described loosely as a loft conversion in the Loft Law sense, and it is not one. What actually happened is narrower and more interesting: a commercial building inside a designated historic district was converted to residential use across seven years and two ownerships, gaining a floor and thirteen feet of height in the process.
The first attempt failed. An alteration application to convert the commercial building to residential use was filed in 2007 and disapproved at plan examination. The successful application was filed in July 2011, fully permitted in February 2012, and did not sign off until 14 February 2018 — a six-and-a-half-year construction period, during which the building changed hands, with the sponsor of record acquiring it in June 2014. The condominium declaration was recorded on 15 November 2015 and the tax lot subdivision creating unit lots 1301 through 1307 completed in December 2015, so units were sold before the conversion formally signed off. That sequence is normal in Tribeca and it is also the origin of most of the diligence questions a buyer should be asking here.
The building's commercial occupancy ran right up to the 2018 sign-off. DOB records the existing occupancy as commercial with no residential dwelling units at both the 2011 and 2018 filings, and the Loft Board flag on both applications is negative. There is no Interim Multiple Dwelling registration, no Loft Law tenancy, and no Joint Living-Work Quarters for Artists certification in the record. There were no residential tenants to protect. A buyer here is not inheriting loft-tenancy overhang; they are inheriting a landmarked envelope and a recently completed conversion.
The seven-residence scale is the other structural fact. Seven owners carry a landmarked six-story building with a sub-cellar, a cellar recreation space and a rooftop addition. There is no dilution of capital cost, and there is no meaningful internal comparable set for pricing.
Architecture and unit composition
The surviving fabric is the argument for the building. Cast-iron Corinthian columns were retained and restored, ceiling heights in the principal residences run to roughly 17 feet, and the window openings are oversized double-sash of a scale that postwar construction does not produce. The conversion added a floor and raised the height from 72 to 85 feet, increasing zoning floor area from 24,830 to 29,817 square feet — an addition that in a designated historic district required LPC review, and that produced the two penthouse residences.
The residential plan runs to seven units: two at ground level (1A and 1B), full-floor plates at levels 2, 3 and 4, and two penthouses. Press accounts describe the full-floor residences at roughly 4,652 square feet with four bedrooms, with Calacatta marble bathrooms and a professional-grade kitchen specification. Those figures come from listing-side descriptions rather than from a plan on file and should be verified against the actual unit floor plan and the declaration's stated common interest.
One filing requires attention. A further alteration application was filed in April 2018 and permitted in January 2019 proposing to reduce the building from seven dwelling units to six — a combination. The application is recorded as permitted rather than signed off, so whether the combination was completed is not established in the public record. A buyer should establish the current unit count and the current common-interest schedule directly, because a completed combination changes both.
Building operations and capital position
The capital record is a landmark-district record. Façade waterproofing and repointing with a light-duty sidewalk shed appear in 2013; a heavy-duty shed and pipe scaffolding in 2014, 2016 and 2017; sidewalk vault repair applications in 2012 and 2016. In 2018 an alteration was filed and signed off to renovate the sub-cellar and cellar accessory recreation space specifically to resolve an ECB violation — a resolved compliance matter, but one worth confirming is in fact closed on the current record.
The live obligation to understand is the interaction of two cycles. The building sits in the Tribeca East Historic District, so any exterior work requires an LPC permit in addition to a DOB permit, which lengthens and prices up façade work relative to an undesignated building. It also carries the standard periodic façade inspection requirement. In a seven-owner condominium, one remediation cycle under LPC review is a concentrated cost. Ask for the most recent façade inspection filing, the reserve balance, and whether any assessment is contemplated.
What the common charges cover, the reserve position, and any current or recent assessment are not documented in any source available for this profile. That is a gap, and it is the first thing to close.
Tax position: no abatement, and nothing to burn off
There is no 421-a and no J-51 at 87 Leonard Street. The Department of Finance assessment roll shows an exempt total of zero across the residential unit lots at the building in the most recent roll year published in the city's open data — the first year of residential occupancy. Neighbouring lots on the same block do carry exemptions, which confirms the reading is not an artefact of the dataset.
The practical effect is the same as at any unabated conversion: there is no step schedule to model, no expiry year, and no future jump in the carrying cost — but also no subsidised entry. The tax line is a full share of the monthly carry from day one. Pull the current tax bill for the specific unit and run it through the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator rather than working from any projection.
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 →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2020–25 to 2025–30. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
The sponsor sold out. The seven residences were conveyed to unrelated purchasers between February 2016 and May 2018, and the building has traded on the resale market since — a penthouse changed hands in April 2023 and a ground-level residence in November 2025. No sponsor inventory remains.
Pricing at the building is governed by three things: the full-floor plate, the ceiling height, and the penthouse premium. The two ground-level residences and the two penthouses sit at opposite ends of a narrow inventory, and with seven units there is no internal comparable set deep enough to anchor a price on its own. Positioning has to be argued against the wider Tribeca full-floor loft-conversion market — buildings of similar scale and similar landmark constraint — rather than against 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. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2025 | MAIS1B | 6 BR · 5.5 BA · 7,414 sf | $7,900,000 | $1,066/sf | -12.2% |
| Nov 18, 2025 | 1B | 7,414 sf | $7,900,000 | $1,066/sf | off-mkt |
| Apr 7, 2023 | PHA | 4 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,888 sf | $10,500,000 | $2,701/sf | -9.5% |
| May 31, 2018 | PHA | 3 BR · 4.5 BA · 3,888 sf | $8,250,000 | $2,122/sf | -24.7% |
| Nov 2, 2017 | PHB | 3 BR · 3,612 sf | $11,711,875 | $3,242/sf | +8.9% |
| Feb 25, 2016 | 3 | 4 BR · 4,652 sf | $8,880,300 | $1,909/sf | +0.9% |
| Feb 25, 2016 | 4 | 4 BR · 4,652 sf | $9,164,250 | $1,970/sf | +1.8% |
| Feb 17, 2016 | 2 | 4 BR · 4,652 sf | $8,678,475 | $1,866/sf | +0.9% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,066/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount -0.9% over ask.
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 1-00174-7504) 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
Establish the current unit count. A 2019-permitted application proposed reducing the building from seven residences to six. Whether that combination was completed is not in the public record, and it affects the common-interest schedule.
Get the policy stack in writing. No offering plan for this building is held in either library. Pet, pied-à-terre, sublet, financing, flip tax and right-of-first-refusal terms are unverified. Do not assume Tribeca condominium defaults.
Price in the landmark constraint. Exterior work here requires LPC approval. That is a real cost and timing factor on any façade cycle, and it falls on seven owners.
Confirm the ECB matter is closed. A cellar and sub-cellar alteration was filed in 2018 to resolve a violation. Verify the current violation record on the BIN.
Do not treat this as a Loft Law building. There is no IMD registration and no JLWQA certification. The diligence questions that apply to a protected loft building do not apply here.
Verify the plate against the declaration. Published square footages are listing-derived. Check them against the recorded floor plan and the stated percentage of common interest.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the fabric. Restored cast-iron columns and roughly 17-foot ceilings inside a designated historic district are not reproducible, and that is the whole argument.
Arrive with the building file. Because no plan circulates, the seller who supplies the declaration, by-laws, house rules, current budget and recent financials removes the largest obstacle in the transaction.
Be direct about the tax position. Unabated and stable is a defensible story; discovered late, it reads as a surprise.
Closing is condominium-paced. Right of first refusal rather than board approval; 30 to 45 days is typical.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 87 Leonard Street, also evaluate:
- 91 Leonard Street — immediate neighbour on the same block; new construction rather than conversion, and a far larger building
- 67 Franklin Street — also on block 174; boutique Tribeca conversion at similar scale
- 108 Leonard Street — landmarked Leonard Street conversion of a very different order of size
- 25 Leonard Street — small landmarked Tribeca loft condominium
- 24 Leonard Street — boutique Leonard Street conversion, comparable unit count
- 14 Leonard Street — Tribeca loft conversion in the same corridor
- 372 Broadway — nearby Broadway store-and-loft conversion inside the historic district
- 350 Broadway — Broadway loft conversion a short walk north
- 55 White Street — landmarked Tribeca conversion with comparable cast-iron fabric
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 87 Leonard Street?
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 87 Leonard Street 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.