Columbus Common (110 West 90th Street)

Six stories of masonry arranged around and above the garden, with a garden level below the entrance floor, private terraces and balconies on several lines, and private gardens and patios appurtenant to some ground-level apartments — the house rules devote a whole section to plantings, drainage tiles and seep holes on terraces, balconies, yards and patios, which is a fair indication of how much private outdoor space the building carries. The fifty-nine apartments run from studios through two-bedrooms, and DOB records an apartment combination filed in 2001, so a handful of the larger homes are combinations rather than original units.

No architect is documented. The building predates DOB's electronic job records, which for this address begin in 2001; there is no new-building filing to read a name off; and because the lot is outside every historic district, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has never surveyed or catalogued it. We have found no reliable attribution and will not invent one.

Attendance is continuous: a concierge desk staffed around the clock under a service contract, with a live-in superintendent and porter staff on the building's own payroll. Package handling, visitor announcement, laundry and dry-cleaning drop-off and open-house supervision all run through the desk, and the house rules on file set out each of those procedures in unusual detail. A sidewalk lift at the entrance provides step-free access.

The amenity set is small and well-defined: two exercise rooms with fitness equipment for owners and residents, two storage rooms in which every unit has an assigned bin at no additional charge, a free registered bicycle room, and the landscaped garden — reservable through the superintendent for private gatherings, with weekday events ending at 10:00 p.m. and weekend events at 11:30 p.m., no barbecues, no smoking and no pets in the garden at any time.

Capital work in the statements on file runs to elevator modernisation, masonry and landscaping, a heat and exhaust fan replacement project, water-tank and boiler work. Two structural points are worth stating for a buyer's benefit. First, no reserve study exists: the auditors note that the condominium has not commissioned one and that the board has not developed a plan to fund future major repairs, which is precisely why the assessments recur. Second, the building carries no Local Law 11 obligation. DOB's façade-inspection record contains no cycle filings for it, because at six stories it sits below the programme's threshold. In a corridor where prewar neighbours cycle through sheds, scaffolds and seven-figure façade contracts every five years, that is a real and permanent saving in the common charge.

The financial statements we hold cover the fiscal year ended May 31, 2020. They are the most recent on file, and they are old. Ask for the two most recent years and the current budget.

Condominium mechanics. A purchaser buys real property and a percentage interest in the common elements. There is no board interview and no board approval; the Board of Managers exercises a right of first refusal, and in practice waives it. Closing runs on condominium timelines rather than co-op ones.

Pets. Permitted for unit owners with the written permission of the Board of Managers, which the rules make revocable. The material restriction is that since the June 25, 2013 revision the board does not grant permission to non-owner residents or to new tenants. If you intend to lease your apartment, that materially narrows the tenant pool, and it is the single most consequential house rule in the building.

Leasing. Permitted, and the rules explicitly contemplate investor-owned tenant-occupied units — including a provision charging the cost of enforcement against tenants back to the unit owner. Confirm any minimum lease term and any leasing fee with the managing agent.

Smoking. Prohibited throughout the common elements and within fifty feet of the building, e-cigarettes and vape pens included, with a graduated fine schedule and an indemnity running from the offending owner to the condominium. Owners are also barred from allowing smoke or smoke odours to emanate from a unit into the hallways or neighbouring apartments.

Alterations. Governed by the condominium's standard alteration agreement, which must be approved before work begins. The rules state plainly that virtually all alteration projects require plans and an engineering review and that review can take several months. Appliances requiring water or utility connections must be installed by an approved licensed installer, and retail-supplied installers are generally not approved. Budget the lead time.

Moving. Weekday moves only, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., no weekends or holidays, three days' notice, a $1,000 refundable deposit and a certificate of insurance from the mover — or, for a self-move, evidence of personal liability cover.

Fines and enforcement. The by-laws authorise the board to levy fines as common charges, and the published schedule escalates from a courtesy notice through $100, $200 and $500 with daily accruals for uncured violations. Agency fines incurred because of a unit owner's conduct are billed back.

These terms come from the house rules on file as amended effective August 6, 2021. House rules change; confirm the current version with the managing agent before you sign.

No 421-a exemption appears on any of this condominium's fifty-nine unit lots on any tax roll the Department of Finance publishes — that is, on every roll from fiscal 2011 through the most recent fiscal year available. The exemptions that do appear on individual lots are personal to their owners rather than programmatic: basic and combat veteran exemptions, senior citizen homeowner exemptions, STAR, a disabled homeowner exemption, a clergy exemption, and — on single lots — a faculty and student housing exemption and a foreign consulate exemption. DOF's historical J-51 series, which runs from 1968 to 2018, records nothing at all for this lot.

For a 1990 building the arithmetic is straightforward. Had a 421-a ever been granted here, a standard ten-year benefit dated from completion would have expired around 2001 — before the earliest tax roll DOF publishes — and there is no trace of one in anything since. Taxes at Columbus Common are assessed and billed in full, and have been for the whole of the period any buyer can see. The practical point is a happy one: there is nothing to burn off, no step-up schedule to model, and the tax line in the current bill is the tax line you inherit. Owners who occupy the apartment as a primary residence remain eligible for the co-op/condo property tax abatement.

Recent sales

Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,275/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 3.1% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01220-7504) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

Ask for the current financial statements and budget, not the ones in circulation. The most recent statements on file with us cover the year to May 31, 2020. Reserves, assessments and the common-charge history have all moved since. Ask specifically whether the 10%-of-common-charges assessment is still running and what it is funding now.

Understand that assessments are the funding mechanism here. There is no mortgage and no reserve study. Capital work is paid for by assessing owners for it. That is a defensible model in a debt-free building, but it means the number to underwrite is common charges plus whatever assessment is live, not common charges alone.

The pet rule is the trap. Owners may keep a pet with written board permission. Tenants, since 2013, may not. If your plan is to lease the apartment at some point, price that restriction now.

No Local Law 11 is a real advantage — confirm it. At six stories the building sits below the façade-inspection threshold and DOB's record carries no cycle filings for it. Verify the current position with the managing agent, then compare the common charge here against a taller prewar neighbour on a like-for-like basis.

Budget the alteration timeline. The house rules warn that virtually every project requires plans and engineering review and that approval can take several months. If you are buying to renovate, that is your critical path.

Run the cliff thresholds. Larger apartments approach the mansion-tax steps — run any number through the Mansion Tax Calculator.

Lead with the garden and the outdoor space. A landscaped common garden with a children's play area, plus private terraces and patios on many lines, is not something a buyer finds in a comparably priced Upper West Side building. Photograph it properly and market on it.

Put the structural advantages in the first paragraph. No underlying mortgage, no Local Law 11 cycle, an assigned storage bin included with every apartment, and a 24/7 attended desk in a fifty-nine-unit building. Each of those survives an attorney's diligence, which is more than most marketing claims manage.

Get ahead of the assessments. Buyers' counsel will find the assessment history. Presenting it alongside the capital work it funded — the elevator modernisation, the masonry, the mechanical replacements — turns it from a red flag into evidence of stewardship.

Price at the apartment level. Floor, exposure and outdoor space drive value here far more than square footage does. Comparables on the specific line are what anchor a number.

If you're considering Columbus Common, also evaluate:

• 35 West 92nd Street — 1930 courtyard cooperative two blocks north; the prewar co-op alternative at a similar price point
• 35 West 90th Street — the closest like-for-like building on the same street, east of Columbus
• 203 West 90th Street — West 90th Street comparable toward Broadway
• 215 West 90th Street — same-street building at a different price point
• 250 West 90th Street — full-service building toward West End Avenue
• 255 West 90th Street — West End Avenue–adjacent comparable
• 45 West 89th Street — prewar side-street cooperative one block south, near the park
• 250 West 89th Street — Upper West Side building of comparable scale
• 100 West 94th Street — side-street comparable four blocks north
• 110 West 94th Street — comparable building on the same north–south axis