126 Riverside Drive

The lot measures about 51 by 106 feet, about 4,950 square feet, with about 25,300 square feet of floor area, all residential, per PLUTO. The lot is zoned R10A. The front has a high granite water table, a granite entrance surround with a metal-and-glass door, sidelights and transom, and a fire escape down the center bays. Historical records describe the north bay as six stories and the south bay as seven.

The building has a small number of apartments per floor, lettered A through D in the offering plan, and at least one penthouse, designated PHR in a 2006 DOB filing. Shareholders have combined apartments over time. DOB filings in 2001 and again in 2013 cover combining 1A and 1B, the later one with a relocated cellar stair. A 2001 filing covered work to connect apartment 5A under the DOB procedure for combining apartments. That is why the audited statements count 26 apartments while PLUTO still shows 27 and DOB filings 28. The plan provided for a superintendent's apartment to be built in the basement.

Debt. The underlying mortgage is small and pays itself off. National Cooperative Bank lent $500,000 in 2020 at 4.27%, amortizing over fifteen years to March 1, 2035. The balance was about $457,000 at the end of 2021 and falls by roughly $26,000 to $31,000 a year. There is no balloon payment at maturity. A $250,000 line of credit, at prime with a 4.25% floor, had nothing drawn at year-end 2021.

Reserves and operations. The reserve fund held about $527,000 at December 31, 2021, in money-market and mutual funds. Real estate taxes were about 44% of expenses. Maintenance was about $2.41 per share per month, and the 2022 budget held it unchanged. Each year the board levies an operating assessment roughly equal to the cooperative tax abatement credited to eligible shareholders. The corporation also received license fees in 2020–22 from a neighboring owner, whose protective equipment for its own façade work stood on the corporation's property. That was about $96,000 in 2021, and it was not recurring income. The statements note that no reserve study has been done.

Capital work. The audited statements show exterior restoration and an elevator modernization paid for in 2021. The Local Law 11 record shows the façade rated safe in the 2021 cycle, after safe-with-repair ratings in 2006 and 2016. DOB filings show façade, parapet and lintel repair in 2000 and 2019, a gas boiler replacement in 2008, and scaffold and sidewalk-shed permits for repair work in 2020. The building heats with gas.

Taxes. DOF's historical J-51 file shows an abatement beginning in 1970 on about $176,500 of work, a group of smaller abatements beginning in 1983, and a final one beginning in 1993 that was fully used by the 2004 tax year. Nothing is active now.

Flip tax. 3% of the gross sales price, paid by the seller to the corporation, per the 2021 audited financial statements. Transfer fees brought in about $25,000 that year.

Everything else must come from the managing agent. The financing ceiling, post-closing liquidity, sublet rules, pet policy, pied-à-terre use, and purchases through a trust or LLC are not stated in the documents reviewed. The 1982 house rules in the plan are a standard form and should not be relied on for current policy.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01246-0058) 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.

The balance sheet is a selling point. Confirm it is still current. The documents on file run through 2021. Ask for the latest audited statements, the current reserve balance, and whether any part of the line of credit has been drawn since.

Count the flip tax in your exit. The 3% is paid by the seller, so it does not change what you pay today. It comes off your proceeds when you sell.

Look at the apartment, not the address. With a 1966 interior rebuild, layouts and ceiling heights differ from the prewar park-front buildings nearby. Compare the room count and exposures of the specific apartment you are considering.

Get the board requirements in writing. Ask the managing agent for the financing ceiling, the post-closing liquidity requirement, the interview process and the sublet policy before you sign a contract.

Lead with the debt. A small, self-amortizing mortgage that ends in 2035 with no refinancing risk is rare among small cooperatives. Put the statement in the offering package.

Account for the flip tax in your net. 3% of the gross price comes off the proceeds before brokerage and transfer taxes.

If you're considering 126 Riverside Drive, also evaluate:

• 131 Riverside Drive — The Dorchester, Neville & Bagge's 1909 cooperative at West 85th Street
• 110 Riverside Drive — the 1929 cooperative running from West 83rd to West 84th Street
• 137 Riverside Drive — The Clarendon, Charles E. Birge's 1906 cooperative at West 86th Street
• 140 Riverside Drive — The Normandy, Emery Roth's 1939 cooperative at West 86th Street
• 100 Riverside Drive — Boak & Paris's 1938 cooperative at West 82nd Street
• 505 West End Avenue — Gaetano Ajello's cooperative at West 84th Street, one avenue east
• 316 West 84th Street — a postwar cooperative on the next block
• 310 West 85th Street — The Mimosa, an early-1920s Ajello cooperative on the next block