1280 Fifth Avenue (One Museum Mile)
1280 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029
Upper Carnegie Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1016157501 · BIN 1089046
- Year built
- 2008
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 112
- Floors
- 19
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Attended lobby with package room, 24-hour fitness center, swimming pool, children's playroom, landscaped rooftop terrace with grill, resident manager, on-site parking. Amenity use is governed by the house rules and, for the pool, by separate swimming pool rules
Every recorded sale at this building, 2012–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,301
- Listing discount
- 1.3%
- Recorded sales
- 165
- On record
- 2012–2026
One Museum Mile is the northernmost condominium on Central Park's Fifth Avenue frontage, and the only one built on that frontage in the last half-century. It sits at 109th Street, one block below the park's northeast corner, where Carnegie Hill runs out and Harlem begins. The address is genuinely Fifth Avenue and genuinely park-facing; the pricing is not Carnegie Hill pricing. That gap is the whole proposition, and buyers either understand it immediately or not at all.
The building is a Robert A.M. Stern Architects design, with SLCE Architects as architect of record, developed by Parkview Fifth Avenue Associates. Stern's move was to curve the Fifth Avenue elevation around the park corner and to set the residential tower on a lower museum volume — the base was purpose-built for the Museum for African Art, now The Africa Center. That is the structural fact that distinguishes this building from every other condominium in upper Manhattan: it is not a residential building with retail underneath. It is a two-section condominium, a Residential Section and a Museum Section, each with its own board, sharing a single structure and a single set of building systems.
The naming history tells you something about how the market received it. Sales launched in 2010 as 1280 Fifth and moved slowly. In 2012 the city extended the Museum Mile designation north from 105th to 110th Street, bringing the museum at the base inside it, and the building was rebranded One Museum Mile. The rebrand worked, and the building has traded steadily since.
The most consequential number for a buyer today is not in any listing: the 421-a is gone. The residential unit lots carried a partial real-estate-tax exemption from the 2013/14 tax year through 2022/23. On the 2023/24 roll and every roll since, they carry none. For most of this building's life, an owner's tax bill was a fraction of the unabated figure. It is now the full figure. Anyone underwriting off a pre-2023 tax number, or off a resale comparable that closed while the abatement was still running, will be off by a large margin.
Architecture and unit composition
Stern's Fifth Avenue elevation curves to follow the park corner, which is the building's one genuinely urbanistic gesture and the reason the park-facing residences get a wider outlook than a flat frontage would give. The materials are conventional for the firm and for the period — masonry with large window openings — and the residential tower reads as a distinct volume sitting on the lower museum block below.
The residences occupy 19 floors above the museum. City records support a count of 111 to 113 residential units; PLUTO carries 112 residential and 135 total, the difference being the museum, commercial and parking units. The 116 figure that circulates in listing records is not supported by any DOB or DOF record and should be treated as marketing arithmetic.
Exposure is the dominant variable in the stack, and it is unusually binary here. West-facing residences look directly over Central Park at its widest and least built-up end, with the North Woods, the Harlem Meer and the Conservatory Garden immediately below. East- and north-facing residences look over Harlem and East Harlem. The premium between them is large, and it widens with floor. Terraces appear on a number of lines and are governed as limited common elements, with plantings and any decoration subject to the residential board's written approval.
Building operations
One Museum Mile runs as a full-service condominium with a resident manager, an attended lobby, a package room, on-site parking, a 24-hour fitness center, a swimming pool, a children's playroom and a landscaped rooftop terrace with a grill. The house rules on file are specific and actively enforced, which is itself a useful signal about how the building is run.
The two-section structure is the first diligence item. The Residential Section and the Museum Section share a building. The house rules require residential owners not to interfere with the rights or convenience of the occupants of the Museum Section, which tells you the two sections are close enough for that to matter. Ask for the declaration and by-laws, the cost-allocation methodology between the sections, and the current condition of the museum unit — an institutional tenant in the base is a different kind of neighbor from a retail one, with a different capital profile and a different failure mode.
The house rules carry a graduated fine schedule. A first violation draws a warning, a second and subsequent violations $250, a third $500, and a fourth costs six months of amenity access. Drug-related violations draw an immediate fine with no warning. Pool and terrace violations can be charged at up to $500 per day and are treated as additional common charges.
Leasing runs through the managing agent, without exception. Every lease of a residential unit must be effected through the condominium's managing agent, and leasing outside that process — the house rules name short-term platforms specifically — is prohibited. Investor buyers should understand this before assuming ordinary condominium leasing freedom.
Quiet and construction hours are fixed. No amplified sound between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Renovation and repair work is confined to weekdays, excluding holidays, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. At least 75% of the floor area of each unit, excluding kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, closets and foyers, must be covered in rugs or equivalent sound-attenuating material.
Smoking is prohibited throughout the common areas — lobby, stairwells, corridors, elevators, package and mail room, roof deck, basement and amenity spaces — and within 20 feet of any building entrance or window, terraces included. Smoke may not migrate from a unit into corridors or neighboring units.
Amenity access is a lever. Loss of fitness center and terrace privileges is an enforcement remedy, and the pool is subject to a separate set of rules that can be amended by the residential board.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium, in two sections. LLC, trust and foreign purchase operate under the standard condominium framework; the board's remedy on a sale is a right of first refusal rather than cooperative-style approval. Confirm the current waiver process and turnaround time with the managing agent.
Pets: Permitted for owners and for tenants, subject to the same conditions. Two per unit is the ceiling without board consent. Dogs must be leashed at six feet or less, must use the 109th Street side entrance when wet or muddy, and are excluded from common spaces other than registered service dogs. Owners may be required to sign a pet agreement and indemnity.
Leasing: Permitted, through the managing agent only. Short-term platform rental is prohibited.
Taxes: No 421-a exemption remains on the residential unit lots. Underwrite the full unabated bill, and be skeptical of any carrying-cost figure drawn from a sale that closed before mid-2023.
Alterations: Board approval required for any heating, ventilation or air conditioning device, for terrace plantings and decoration, and for any exterior-visible change. Work hours are fixed by the house rules.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2015–20 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
421-a Tax Abatement
- Benefit ended
- 2023
- Fully taxed since
- 2023
- Program
- 421-a (10-year)
The 421-a benefit has run its term. Taxes on these units have stepped up toward the full assessed amount, so the low carrying cost this building once carried is no longer available. Price from the current tax bill, and treat any comparable sale made while the abatement was still running as a different asset.
Source: NYC Dept. of Finance property-tax exemption records (421-a), refreshed 2026-09-06 · The Roebling Research Library. Confirm the exact step-up schedule on the building’s DOF tax bill. The benefit last appears on the 2022 assessment roll, which is what dates the end of the term.
Recent sales
One Museum Mile prices as upper-Fifth Avenue new development — well below the Carnegie Hill and Museum Mile prewar cooperatives twenty to forty blocks south, at a premium to the Harlem and East Harlem condominium stock immediately around it, and with the park frontage doing most of the work.
Three things move price inside the building. Exposure is first and is close to binary: direct park-facing residences on the Fifth Avenue elevation are a different product from the Harlem-facing inventory and should never be priced off the same comparables. Floor is second, with park views improving materially above the surrounding roofline. Outdoor space is third — the terraced lines command a real premium.
The building's fourth variable is the one no other Fifth Avenue building shares in quite the same way: the tax reset. With the exemption expired, the effective monthly cost of ownership here stepped up materially between 2022 and 2024. That has already been absorbed into pricing, and it means resale comparables straddling that period are not directly comparable to each other. Indexed to 2025, the last complete year, upper Fifth Avenue and northern Manhattan condominium pricing was steady, with abated buildings holding value more firmly than unabated ones — a pattern that now works against this building rather than for it, and that is reflected in where it trades.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 30, 2026 | 10B | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,480 sf | $1,810,000 | $1,223/sf | -9.3% |
| Apr 6, 2026 | 11A | 3 BR · 3.5 BA · 1,863 sf | $2,500,000 | $1,342/sf | +0.0% |
| Mar 3, 2026 | PS10Sponsor Sale | 220 sf | $225,000 | $1,023/sf | off-mkt |
| Dec 10, 2025 | 9K | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,470 sf | $1,600,000 | $1,088/sf | -5.6% |
| Nov 21, 2025 | 7Sponsor Sale | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,699 sf | $1,825,000 | $1,074/sf | -18.9% |
| Aug 18, 2025 | 16E | 1 BR · 1 BA · 843 sf | $738,000 | $875/sf | +1.8% |
| Jun 23, 2025 | PHB | 3 BR · 3 BA · 1,756 sf | $2,235,000 | $1,273/sf | -2.8% |
| Oct 16, 2024 | 20B | 3 BR · 3 BA · 1,756 sf | $2,150,000 | $1,224/sf | +2.4% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,301/sf across 2 sales. Median listing discount 1.3% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01615-7501) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
Underwrite the unabated tax bill. The 421-a ran from the 2013/14 tax year through 2022/23 and is gone. Pull the current DOF bill on the specific unit and ignore any historical figure.
Read the declaration for the two-section structure. The Museum Section is a co-owner of the building, not a tenant. Understand the cost-allocation methodology, the shared systems, and the governance rights of each section before you buy.
Take the leasing restriction seriously if you are an investor. Every lease goes through the managing agent, and short-term rental is prohibited outright.
Buy the park exposure if the budget reaches. The Fifth Avenue elevation at this end of the park is the reason to be in this building. Harlem-facing inventory is a different value proposition and should be priced as one.
Ask about the museum unit's condition and occupancy. An institutional occupant at the base is an asset when it is funded and active, and a question mark when it is not. It is a fair and standard thing to ask.
Read the fine schedule and the house rules before you renovate. Work hours, floor-covering requirements and terrace rules are specific and enforced.
What to know if you’re selling
Get ahead of the tax question. Every buyer's attorney will find that the abatement expired. Present the current, unabated monthly figure yourself, with the comparison to what the buyer would pay in a Carnegie Hill co-op at the same monthly cost.
Lead with the park. Direct frontage on Central Park at its widest point, from a 2012-vintage full-service condominium, is not available anywhere else at this price on Fifth Avenue.
Price by exposure, not by building average. Park-facing and Harlem-facing inventory should carry separate comparable sets.
Explain the address rather than apologize for it. The Fifth Avenue and Museum Mile position is real and documented — the city extended the designation to include this block. That is a fact, not a claim.
Have the two-section documents ready. Buyers' counsel will ask about the museum condominium. A seller with the declaration, the allocation methodology and the current financials in hand keeps the deal moving.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering One Museum Mile, also evaluate:
- 1270 Fifth Avenue — the immediate Fifth Avenue neighbor to the south
- 1165 Fifth Avenue — prewar Carnegie Hill cooperative on the same corridor, the co-op comparison a buyer should run
- 1158 Fifth Avenue — Carnegie Hill Fifth Avenue cooperative peer
- 1150 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue cooperative a few blocks south
- 1485 Fifth Avenue (5th on the Park) — the newer Harlem condominium on Fifth Avenue north of the park; the direct new-development comparison
- 111 Central Park North — park-fronting Harlem condominium on the north side of the park
- 145 Central Park North — Harlem park-front condominium alternative
- Circa Central Park (285 West 110th Street) — the park-front condominium at the northwest corner, the closest peer on amenity and vintage
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Fifth Avenue — read The Roebling Team Guide to Fifth Avenue.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent.
Considering a move at One Museum Mile. The building was marketed as 1280 Fifth when sales launched in 2010 and renamed in 2012, after the city extended the Museum Mile designation north to 110th Street to take in the museum at its base?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at One Museum Mile. The building was marketed as 1280 Fifth when sales launched in 2010 and renamed in 2012, after the city extended the Museum Mile designation north to 110th Street to take in the museum at its base would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.