Lantern House: What the Offering Plan Says About 515 West 18th Street

Updated Oct 11, 2026 · 6 min read

Lantern House is a two-tower, 181-unit West Chelsea condo that straddles the High Line. Here's what its offering plan says about the finishes, the wellness floors, the staff, the first-year budget and the fine print that comes with living next to a city park.

In brief: Lantern House is a 181-apartment condo at 515 West 18th Street in West Chelsea, split between a shorter East Tower and a taller West Tower that abut the High Line. The offering plan describes Gaggenau kitchens with gas cooking, a second- and third-floor wellness level with a natatorium holding three pools, and a union-assumed staff of 13 led by a live-in resident manager. It also spells out what sharing a site with the High Line means for owners, including a City service-facility easement and a public garage.

What's Specific to It

• Two towers, one condo. The East Tower holds 55 apartments and the West Tower 126, with a shared ground-floor lobby, lounges and courtyard.
• Three pools, not one. The natatorium on the West Tower's wellness floors has a swimming pool, a cold plunge pool and a warm pool, plus sauna, steam and a treatment room.
• Gas is shared. Gas for apartments is master-metered, so cooking and fireplace gas is paid by all owners through common charges rather than billed to each unit.
• A paid concierge service on top of the staff. The budget sets aside about $165,000 for an outside company to run the amenities and provide luxury concierge services.
• The City has a stake in the building. The City holds a permanent easement for a High Line service facility inside the condo, and the condo stays responsible for that space's structure, facade and building systems.

The offering plan is the document the developer filed with the New York Attorney General before selling. For Lantern House, that plan lays out appliance models, the staffing assumptions, a first-year budget and a long list of disclosures about the High Line next door. (New to these documents? Start with what a condo offering plan is.)

At a Glance

• Address: 515 West 18th Street, West Chelsea, Manhattan
• Plan ID: CD180278, accepted January 2020
• Homes: 181 apartments (including the resident manager's unit), plus one retail unit and one garage unit
• Mix: one- to four-bedrooms, from about 760 to about 3,000 square feet, with penthouse floors in each tower
• Offering prices: the sponsor's first prices ran from about $1.4 million to about $17 million (offering prices, not sales)
• Sponsor: 18th Highline Associates, L.L.C., an affiliate of The Related Companies

Finishes

Kitchen

• A full Gaggenau package: 30-inch gas cooktop, convection oven, speed microwave, refrigerator-freezer and a fully integrated, panel-front dishwasher.
• Countertops of 1¼-inch polished stone, wood-veneer cabinets, and some glass-front upper cabinets in metal frames.

Good to know: the plan offers finish color choices for the floors, kitchen cabinets, countertops and bathroom vanities.

Bathrooms

• Primary baths and powder rooms have stone slab floors; secondary baths have stone tile.
• Waterworks Henry fittings throughout, Laufen sinks, wall-hung Toto toilets on Geberit carriers, and Infinity Drain shower drains.
• Custom Cantrio tubs, including six-foot freestanding tubs at the window in some layouts. Compare brands in our bathroom brands guide.

Floors, Windows and Laundry

• Floors: ¾-inch engineered white oak, 5 inches wide. Living areas in three- and four-bedrooms and penthouses get a chevron pattern; one- and two-bedrooms get straight planks.
• Windows: aluminum-and-glass window walls set in brick openings, with fixed panes and out-swinging awning windows.
• Laundry: every apartment has a vented LG washer and dryer. There are also two shared laundry rooms in the cellar.

Heating and Cooling

Apartments are heated and cooled by a four-pipe fan coil system. Electricity is submetered, and you pay for the power your fan coils use. Some homes have outdoor kitchens with a Fire Magic grill and Summit fridge, or a vented gas fireplace. See how this compares in NYC condo finishes since 2010.

Amenities

Per the plan, these spaces serve only the residential owners.

• Wellness floors (2nd and 3rd floors, West Tower): a natatorium with a swimming pool, cold plunge pool and warm pool; sauna; steam rooms; a treatment room; men's and women's locker rooms; and a fitness center with a yoga room.
• Children's room (3rd floor): an indoor playroom with an outdoor play area.
• Ground floor: a library lounge, private lounge, dining room with pantry, game and screening room, an interior arcade and an exterior courtyard.
• Terraces: shared amenity terraces on the East Tower roof and on the 3rd floor.
• Bikes: bike rooms in the cellar and on the ground floor.

Tip: the plan doesn't set amenity fees in the sections we read; ask for the current house rules before you sign. For context, see amenities by building size.

Staffing and Services

• The lobby is expected to be staffed by a doorman and/or concierge 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• The budget assumes 13 staff: 7 doormen/concierges, 4 porters, 1 handyman and 1 resident manager.
• The budget assumes all staff belong to Local 32BJ, though the plan makes no promise about which union.
• The resident manager lives rent-free in Unit 315.
• On top of the staff, about $165,000 a year goes to an outside company for amenity management and concierge services such as travel planning, reservations, dry cleaning, maid service and valet.

Payroll and benefits come to about $1.5 million, nearly a third of the first-year budget. Here's how that compares: what a doorman costs in an NYC condo.

What It Costs to Run

The sponsor's first-year budget (projected for calendar 2021) totals about $4.9 million. Residential owners cover about $4.7 million of it, and the retail and garage units pay the rest. In Schedule A, estimated common charges ran from about $940 to about $5,400 a month, with a typical apartment near $2,000. That is roughly $1.20 to $1.80 per square foot. Estimated real estate taxes were listed separately, from about $1,200 to about $6,700 a month.

Good to know: because apartment gas is master-metered, a neighbor who cooks a lot or runs a fireplace all winter is partly on your bill, and you're partly on theirs. Read more on why operating costs differ and common charge benchmarks.

Fine Print Worth Knowing

• Living on the High Line. Parts of the building abut the park. The plan flags possible noise, changing views and billboards nearby, and says the sponsor has no duty to address them.
• A City easement inside the building. The City holds a permanent easement for a High Line service facility within the condo. The condo stays responsible for that space's structure, facade and building systems.
• Noise rules for windows. The site carries a noise E-designation, so the facade is designed to keep apartments below 45 decibels with windows closed, and alternate ventilation is provided.
• Lot-line windows. About 15 apartments along the north side, listed by unit in the plan, have lot-line windows. They benefit from a light-and-air easement over the neighboring lot; read its terms for any such unit.
• A public garage. The garage unit is currently intended to be open to the public. The sponsor can later convert spaces to common elements and license them. See how NYC condo parking is sold, licensed or leased.
• Storage licenses. Cellar storage is licensed at about $1 per square foot per month, rising with inflation after year five. The plan warns the cellar may not stay dry.
• Flood zone and reserves. The site was in FEMA flood zone AE when the plan was filed. The sponsor isn't funding a reserve; buyers pay two months of common charges into working capital at closing.

The plan doesn't mention a property tax abatement in the sections we reviewed.

Who's Behind It

• Sponsor: 18th Highline Associates, L.L.C., care of The Related Companies
• Architect of record: SLCE Architects; WSP USA as mechanical engineer
• Construction manager: Related Construction LLC, a sponsor affiliate
• Managing agent: Related Management Company, at about $217,000 for the first year
• Selling agent: Related Sales LLC

Common Questions

Does Lantern House have a pool?

Yes. Per the offering plan, the wellness floors on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the West Tower include a natatorium with a swimming pool, a cold plunge pool and a warm pool, plus sauna, steam rooms and a fitness center.

What are the common charges at Lantern House?

The sponsor's first-year estimates ran from about $940 to about $5,400 a month depending on the unit, with taxes on top. Those were projections for 2021, so ask for the current budget.

Does every apartment have a washer and dryer?

Yes. The plan specifies an LG washer and vented dryer in every apartment, plus two shared laundry rooms in the cellar.

Where this comes from: the building's offering plan (CD180278) filed with the New York Attorney General, including its building description, specifications, Schedule A and the sponsor's first-year Schedule B budget. Prices are the sponsor's offering prices, not sales, and figures are rounded. Later amendments may have changed some terms. Updated October 2026.