Toll Brothers Pays $45M for Chelsea Diner Site Next to Its 105 Units
The deed is not yet in the records we can reach. The filings next door are, and they put the whole block in motion.
Toll Brothers has bought the site of the Star on 18 diner in Chelsea for a reported $45 million, adding it to the $53 million lot next door where a 105-unit building is already filed, according to Commercial Observer and Crain’s. The diner closed in March after nearly 25 years, per NY1.
Why it matters
The $45 million figure comes from those two outlets. We could not find a recorded deed for 126-128 Tenth Avenue or 456 West 18th Street. The city’s open ACRIS data runs through deeds recorded Sept. 30, so a purchase this week would not show yet. Treat the price as reported, not verified.
What the record does show is the site next door. A Feb. 18 deed, recorded Feb. 24, moved 118 Tenth Avenue for $53,000,000 to Harlow on 10th, LLC, which lists a Fort Washington address. The Toll link to that entity is the outlets’, not ours. DOB NOW then shows a New Building job at 118 Tenth Avenue first filed March 27, 37 days after the deed, for 105 units and 239,820 square feet. The Oct. 5 filings on that job are amendments, so “filed days ago” overstates it: the plan has been in the system for more than six months.
The move is the assemblage. On Oct. 2, demolition filings went in for 128 Tenth Avenue and for 456 West 18th Street, the diner’s address. If the reported $45 million holds, that is $98 million for two adjoining parcels. The question for rivals is whether Toll’s 105 units grow into the diner’s corner. Our New York coverage tracks it.
For Chelsea, the stake is a corner institution. Star on 18 served the block for nearly 25 years before it shut in March, and its address now carries a $200,000 demolition estimate.
The numbers
- Deed, 118 Tenth Ave: $53,000,000, dated Feb. 18, 2026, recorded Feb. 24 (ACRIS).
- New Building job M01373235: 105 units, 239,820 sq ft, first filed March 27, amendments Oct. 5 (DOB NOW).
- Demolition, 456 W. 18th St.: filed Oct. 2, 7,483 sq ft, $200,000 estimate (DOB NOW).
- Demolition, 128 Tenth Ave: filed Oct. 2, 4,150 sq ft, $5,000 estimate (DOB NOW).
- Reported price, diner site: $45 million (Commercial Observer, Crain’s). Combined with the $53 million deed, about $98 million.
DOB lists the owner on these jobs as “Not Applicable,” so the filings do not name who is behind the demolitions.
What’s next
Watch ACRIS for a deed and any acquisition mortgage on lots 60 and 63 once October recordings post. Also watch whether the 118 Tenth Avenue plans are amended to add the new parcels, and whether the demolition jobs move from plan-examiner review to permit.
On the record
What we checked ourselves, and where you can check it too.
- Public recordACRIS deed 2026022000784001, dated Feb. 18 and recorded Feb. 24, 2026, conveys 118 Tenth Avenue (block 715, lot 3) from B&R Tenth Avenue LLC and Barma LLC to Harlow on 10th, LLC, of 1140 Virginia Drive, Fort Washington, for $53,000,000.View the record on a836-acris.nyc.gov
- Public recordDOB NOW New Building job M01373235 for 118 Tenth Avenue was first filed March 27, 2026, 37 days after that deed, for 105 dwelling units and 239,820 sq ft. The Oct. 5 filings (M01373235-Z1 and -Z2) are post-approval amendments to that job, not a new application.View the record on data.cityofnewyork.us
- Public recordThree days before those amendments, on Oct. 2, 2026, full-demolition jobs were filed for both 128 Tenth Avenue (block 715, lot 63, 4,150 sq ft, $5,000 estimate) and 456 West 18th Street (lot 60, 7,483 sq ft, $200,000 estimate). The latter address is the diner's.View the record on data.cityofnewyork.us
On the record
- Primary recordNYC Department of Finance (ACRIS)Deed dated Feb. 18, 2026, 118 Tenth Avenue, consideration $53,000,000, to Harlow on 10th, LLC
- Also reported by
- Commercial ObserverReport of the $45M purchase (lead, not the record)
- Crain's New York BusinessReport of the Star on 18 diner site acquisition (lead, not the record)
- NY1Star on 18 to close after nearly 25 years
- NYC Open Data, DOB NOW job filingsJob M01373235, New Building, 105 units, 239,820 sq ft, block 715 lot 3
- NYC Open Data, DOB NOW job filingsJobs M01464705-I1 and M01464659-I1, full demolition, filed Oct. 2, 2026