25 meters is pretty reasonable for a NYC apartment. I think it has more to do with the additional plumbing and ventilation setup that's missing. The old pre-war buildings are too expensive to renovate to add that kind of thing and a lot of the newer construction is aimed at maximizing profit by cutting every possible corner and those buildings were competing with the older buildings that didn't have them so they skipped it too. I also wouldn't be surprised if there's some NYC regulation or code that makes it extra complicated and expensive to add them.