they gave the roof away to close the 158 West 23 Street penthouse

very, very, very weak
The Manhattan loft conversion at 158 West 23 Street started marketing in mid-2007, offering floor-through lofts of "1,865 sq ft" that were offered as open spaces with full kitchens and (usually) (only) 1.5 baths. I.e., not exactly white boxes, but with sparse plumbing and no walls. Sales have been … tough, with only the odd floors having sold. #3 and #5 sold in 2007 at $1.59mm and $1.65mm. The penthouse (#7) closed this past May.

Despite having much better light than the lower floors (including several large skylights) and including the full roof as "1,500 sq ft" of private space, the penthouse fetched in May 2009 the exact same price as the 5th floor in August 2007: $1.65mm. Of course the developer had more grand aspirations than that, having started the penthouse at $2.95mm before dropping in 2 big drops and one little one down to the final $1.99mm in December. The developer held there (formally, at least) before negotiating to the $1.65mm deal in April and closing in May.

One could certainly view the micro-market of 23 Street between 6th and 7th Avenues as having declined a bit since 2007, but I’d like to think that the 7th floor sold at 2007 prices, with a free roof.