What would you do?

Hmmmm, finally an interesting real estate story on Streeteasy. Hmmmm, dead bodies, drugs, stolen artwork, gold? Maybe by the next day you take a sledgehammer to it..... you'll be on the frontpage of all of New York's papers. And the story was broken here on Streeteasy.

Someones secret playroom?

Does this same space exist on lower floors? 150 sqft seems a bit big for a shaft...

If you're convinced it's on that floor only, you could make a nice neat cut into the wall.

But this is NYC, and the odds that it's just unclaimed space, are not good.

If this is a "new" building, is the general contractor still around? Maybe they would know something...

I've got the same thing in my apartment. I've got a loft with 16ft ceilings throughout and a staircase going up to a sleeping loft. To the rear and below the sleeping loft are the kitchen and bathroom. The area above the Kitchen and Bath belongs to me, but is drywalled off and empty. Basically, my loft could be much bigger if it extended over the Kitchen and Bath. I know for sure it is "dead space" because when I had the place painted, before I moved in, I paid the painter to cut a few holes in the drywall to see what was behind it. (I got a bit ripped of for this - I paid $1,000 to have 4 holes cut out, then filled in and sanded!) When I can afford to do a complete renevation of the kitchen and bath, I plan to open up the space above them and use it... There are a few pipes running along the wall that can be boxed in.

Why was it closed off? In my case the building was converted from a printing press into co-ops. The area they closed off does not have any windows - that does not sound like a great enough reason - at the very least I will gain a 140 sqft walk in closet when it gets opened up... So, I assume the original architect in the 1970's did not think about how much money that amount of space is worth in Manhattan! I can understand why the batroom and kitchen are closed off with lower ceilings - it makes them "cosier" - but the space above should have been used - at least for storage or to make the loft larger...

One thing to be careful of, and a reason I don't just put a whole in the wall... There is no floor built on top of the ceiling of the Kitchen and bath - It is just 2X4's and drywall.... so everything needs to be torn out and redone or completely reinforced before it will support a floor and any real weight....

BTW - Before I had the holes cut in to see behind the wall, I asked the building supervisor if it was OK - I live in a 337 unit cond-op. The super said it was fine to "reclaim" that part of my apartment so long as no major changes had been made (to pipes, vents, etc) that might be behind the drywall - Everyone in my apartment line has the same dead space - but not everyone can use it - it depends on where the original pipes fall.... I assume since the super says it is OK, that it is - I don't plan on making sure with the Board - why ask for trouble....

The building is brand new from the ground up construction walk-up with 8 total units/condos. Beneath our kitchen is livable space in the 3rd floor unit, so I don't think it extends (or used to extend) elsewhere - but it seems like anything is possible here.

Still have no idea why they would have closed this off but my guess after reading your post GayReporter, is that our kitchen ceiling will be 2x4s and drywall as well & we should start planning for some serious reinforcement construction. I think because it's a condo situation and we're all just moving in - maybe we should start the investigation before there is an organized group to tell us no...

Whatever you need to do structurally will be well worth it for that amount of space gained.

The fact that it's new makes it all even weirder. Call the architect and ask him/her directly.

Let us know once you know ;-)

I have heard, when looking, that developments are zoned for a certain amount of square footage, so there often are places/situations where space could be used, though it's not in order to use the "allowable space as per the offering plan" somewhere else. I suspect the space you discovered would fall into this category. If true, the building would not allow you to change/use this space (unless they are not strict with the rules) - broker who was showing me a condo with such a space said one could find a contractor who would just do the necessary work and not tell the building, etc., etc. Anyone else know is all this is typical/accurate?

That definitely makes sense. It also seems more likely given that it's the top floor, which is where they usually run into restrictions. However, it definitely more common for an architect to configure the space so that the disallowed footage ends up in an "open to below", where you can have a double-height room for example. That's a lot more useful than a walled-off space.

Another idea would be to see if you could get a copy of the plans. They would certainly indicate the use of the space, and if it is restricted because of allowable footage on that floor, it would be obvious, because the zoning analysis would indicate footage per floor.

If you aren't able to get the plans from someone involved with the building, you can always go to the Dept of Buildings and get a copy.

ask your re attorney