Buyers who sign a contract at the Flatiron Building this fall pay a deposit and then wait. Closing depends on the building being delivered, and the owners expect all residences and amenities to be finished in early 2027. That makes every price now attached to 175 Fifth Avenue an asking price on a signed contract. None of them is a recorded sale. The same is true six blocks north at 95 Madison Avenue, where another landmarked office tower is becoming condominiums on almost the same schedule.
The two buildings sell the same product: a historic office building converted into luxury homes. One asks roughly 2.4 times as much per square foot as the other. Neither figure appears in the closed-sale data buyers use to judge the neighborhood. For anyone comparing new development in Flatiron and NoMad, the useful work is to separate what each number measures from what it doesn't.
New development in New York runs on a different clock from resale. Condo and co-op unit sales are governed by an offering plan, which the New York Attorney General encourages buyers to read before they sign a purchase agreement. Brick Underground explains that new-development buyers typically put down 10 percent at contract, sometimes as much as 20 percent, and that the time to closing depends on when the development is ready. Lenders also require at least a temporary certificate of occupancy before they will finance, so the building's sign-off controls when deeds can transfer.
Both conversions are still ahead of that point. The Flatiron Building's owners told the BBC that new residents should begin moving in during the coming months, with all units and amenities finished in early 2027. At 95 Madison, the developers' June sales announcement projected move-ins starting in the first quarter of 2027. A Mansion Global preview said spring 2027.
So the Manhattan closed-price average that circulated this month describes buildings that delivered earlier. In Q3 2026, Manhattan new development closed at an average of about $2,070 per square foot, roughly flat from a year earlier, according to Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing data reported by The Real Deal. Nothing from either Flatiron-area conversion is in that figure.
Here is how the two buildings compare on the facts reported so far.
| Flatiron Building, 175 Fifth Avenue | Emmet Building, 95 Madison Avenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Built | 1902, originally for the Fuller Company | 1911–1912, for Thomas Addis Emmet |
| Original use | Offices for more than 120 years | Offices and wholesale showrooms, with Emmet's own penthouse |
| Residences | 36 per the sales team; 38 in the offering plan | 65 per The Real Deal; 63 in the June announcement |
| Asking range | About $11 million to $58.5 million | Just over $1 million to more than $25 million |
| Contracts | 17 since sales began about a year ago | 28 in Q3 2026 alone |
| Average asking price per sq ft | About $4,800 | About $2,036 |
| Expected move-ins | Early 2027 | Q1 to spring 2027 |
The Flatiron details come from the BBC, The Real Deal's offering-plan coverage and its September 21 luxury contract report. The Emmet details come from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which designated the building an individual landmark in 2018, and from The Real Deal's Q3 new-development report. Unit counts differ between sources for both buildings, and the sources do not explain why.
Both buildings went through the same kind of work. The Emmet's landmarks-approved conversion included new windows, skylights and rooftop additions, as 6sqft reported. At the Flatiron, 6sqft described more than 1,000 replacement windows, thousands of hand-restored terra-cotta pieces and cornice repair. Each building has a long amenity list. The Flatiron has a 60-foot lap pool, sauna and cold plunge. The Emmet announcement lists more than 6,700 square feet of amenities, including saunas, a golf simulator and a children's playroom.
Landmark status, restoration and amenities appear on both sides of the table, so none of them explains the gap. The Emmet's average ask of $2,036 per square foot sits just below the Manhattan new-development closed average for the same quarter. The Flatiron Building's roughly $4,800 is more than double it. The difference comes from the building itself.
The average of about $4,800 per square foot covers a wide range within a single address. Dividing the reported asking prices by the reported square footage of three contracted units gives the following:
At the same address, the top floor asks about twice as much per foot as a seventh-floor combination. What buyers are paying for is position inside a single, unrepeatable shape. The BBC noted that in the north-side model unit on the 12th floor, the narrowest point of the triangular room is about six feet across. 6sqft described a 77-foot great room in a roughly 7,400-square-foot five-bedroom. On a conventional floor plate, those dimensions would count as compromises. Here, they're the asset.
The Emmet signed 28 contracts in the three months after its June 25 launch. The Flatiron signed 17 in about a year. The borough-wide numbers help explain the difference. In Q3 2026, Manhattan new-development contracts fell 30 percent from a year earlier to 240, and Robin Schneiderman of Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing blamed thin supply, telling The Real Deal:
"It was a head-scratcher."
In the same article, he said projects with more entry-level pricing did especially well because that segment "is starving for inventory." Only 360 new units came to market across 10 Manhattan buildings during the quarter. The Emmet opens at just over $1 million for a one-bedroom, which puts it squarely in the segment Schneiderman described as short of supply. Its velocity comes from being a landmarked conversion at a price a much larger group of buyers can reach. The Flatiron starts at about $11 million, a far smaller pool. In that bracket, 17 contracts in a year for one building is meaningful volume.
This is the part that matters for anyone comparing Flatiron and NoMad over the next year. Once both buildings receive occupancy sign-off, dozens of contracts signed between 2025 and 2026 will close within a short window. Seventeen or more Flatiron Building closings averaging near $4,800 per square foot on ask, plus up to 65 Emmet closings near $2,036, are likely to move closed-sale medians and price-per-square-foot figures for these blocks in ways that reflect a single delivery date more than any change in demand.
These figures also describe asks on contracted units. The Real Deal's Flatiron figure is an average of asking prices, and no recorded closing price for any unit in either building was found. Final prices could come in differently. Comparing a prewar loft resale against "what the Flatiron Building gets" means comparing a recorded sale with an ask, and the comparison will look different once the deeds record.
Does the Flatiron Building's pricing set a new benchmark for Flatiron apartments? The reported figures don't support that reading. A comparable landmarked office conversion six blocks north asked about $2,036 per square foot in Q3 2026, close to the Manhattan new-development closed average of about $2,070 for the same quarter. The Flatiron Building's premium is tied to that one building.
Why are prices for these buildings reported as asks? Contracts are signed off the offering plan before the building is complete. Closing requires the building to be ready, and lenders need at least a temporary certificate of occupancy. Until then, the public figures are the prices listed at contract signing.
When will these sales show up as recorded closings? Based on current projections, starting in early 2027 for the Flatiron Building and in the first quarter to spring of 2027 for 95 Madison. Those dates are anticipated, not confirmed.
If you're weighing a contract at either conversion, or trying to price a Flatiron loft against numbers that won't record until 2027, Tony Sargent can help you separate the asks from the comparable sales before you commit a deposit. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
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