The Lyons (135 West 79th Street)
135–139 West 79th Street, New York, NY 10024
BBL 1012100017 · BIN 1031758
- Year built
- 1914
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 53
- Landmark
- No
- Financing
- Up to 75% of the purchase price (minimum 25% down)
- Flip tax
- $10 per share, paid by the seller (per audited financial statements on file)
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Lyons 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.
The Lyons gives you prewar West 79th Street at a price one-bedroom and two-bedroom buyers can reach. It sits on one of the most uniform prewar blocks on the Upper West Side, between Columbus and Amsterdam, a short walk west of the American Museum of Natural History. At twelve stories it matches the cornice line of its blockfront neighbors, including The Clifton House at 127 West 79th and Manchester House at 145 West 79th.
Robert T. Lyons designed the building in 1914 for the Akron Building Company. Lyons was one of the most prolific apartment-house architects of the early-twentieth-century West Side. His other work includes The St. Urban at 285 Central Park West, 310 West 72nd Street and 304 West 75th Street. This is one of his more restrained commissions: a neo-Renaissance brick-and-stone front, a tripartite façade, and a scale that suits a side street.
Structurally, it is a small, conservatively financed cooperative. The underlying mortgage is modest relative to the building, and most of the apartments are one- and two-bedrooms. The policies are more permissive than the West Side co-op norm: 75% financing, pied-à-terre use allowed, and subletting allowed with board approval.
Architecture and unit composition
The façade is brick over a stone base, with the neo-Renaissance detailing Lyons used across his West Side work. Per its designation records, the building sits inside the Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District. Any exterior change needs a Landmarks Preservation Commission permit, including windows, masonry, rooftop additions and signage.
Per the offering plan, the building had 53 apartments at conversion. Four of them are penthouse apartments at the top of the building. Management-sourced records describe a regular typical-floor stack: two-bedroom A and B lines and one-bedroom C and D lines. Combinations have altered some layouts over the years. The plan itself notes that individual apartments may differ from the typical floor plans, so check the specific apartment's layout rather than the line.
Building operations
The co-op is staffed by union building employees, with a live-in superintendent. It has a central laundry room and resident storage. There is no doorman listed in the records reviewed; confirm current staffing and lobby coverage with the managing agent.
Finances, per audited financial statements on file (years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023):
- Underlying mortgage: $3.5 million, interest-only at 4.01%, maturing May 1, 2028. This is the single most important forward item for a buyer. The co-op will have to refinance in about 19 months, and the new rate will probably be well above 4.01%. The mortgage is interest-only, so no principal has been paid down. A refinance at today's rates would raise debt service, and that flows through to maintenance. The co-op also has an undrawn $500,000 line of credit.
- Reserves: A reserve fund of about $420,000 at year-end 2024, plus operating cash. The co-op has not commissioned a reserve study (a study of the remaining useful life and replacement cost of the building's systems).
- Operations: Operations were roughly break-even to slightly positive in 2024. The 2025 budget forecast a 3% maintenance increase.
- Assessment: In 2024 the board passed an operating assessment of about $105,000 to offset co-op tax abatement credits for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 tax years. The abatement credits go to eligible shareholders. The assessment recovers them at the building level, so it is not a capital assessment. A smaller assessment of the same kind appears in the 2025 forecast.
- Holder of unsold shares: An investor entity held five apartments, about 10% of the co-op's shares, as of year-end 2024, with no arrears. That level of single-owner concentration is modest, but some lenders ask about it on their questionnaires.
Tax benefits: The co-op receives the standard co-op/condo tax abatement, which is passed through to eligible shareholders. The city's records show no J-51 or other building-level abatement on the lot. Individual shareholder exemptions, such as the senior citizen exemption, do not affect the building as a whole.
Policy framework
- Flip tax: $10 per share, paid by the seller (audited financial statements on file; consistent with management-sourced records). Your flip tax depends on your share count, not your sale price. Get your apartment's share allocation from the managing agent.
- Financing: Up to 75% of the purchase price.
- Pied-à-terre: Permitted.
- Subletting: Permitted with board approval. Short-term and home-sharing rentals are not allowed. The sublet term limits and fees should be confirmed with the managing agent.
- Pets: Permitted per brokerage records.
- Purchases through trusts and LLCs: Not documented in the records reviewed. Get the board's position from the managing agent before you structure a purchase.
Recent sales
The Lyons trades as a smaller prewar West Side co-op, so the right frame is price per room, not per square foot. It sees a steady handful of share transfers each year, and ACRIS records sales going to separate, unrelated buyers. The one- and two-bedroom lines make up most of the building, so they set its typical price level. The penthouse apartments and combined units sit well above it. Renovation condition and exposure drive the spread within a line. Because the unit mix is narrow, a single penthouse or combination sale can distort a simple building average. Read comparable sales apartment by apartment, against other prewar side-street co-ops in the West 70s and 80s rather than avenue or Central Park West stock. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent transfers at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| May 4, 2026 | 9A/10 | $3,200,000 |
| Jan 15, 2026 | 2B | $1,360,000 |
| Jul 31, 2025 | 11C | $1,230,000 |
| May 6, 2025 | 11D | $875,000 |
| Dec 20, 2024 | 5C | $830,000 |
| Sep 5, 2024 | 8D | $770,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01210-0017) 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.
At the recent median sale of $1.23M (5 transfers since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $25,463 to close, or 2.1% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $12,300
- No mortgage recording tax or title insurance on a co-op purchase
- Attorneys, lender, building fees and filings: $13,163
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
Underwrite the 2028 refinancing. The interest-only mortgage matures May 1, 2028. Ask the managing agent whether the board has started refinancing talks, and what maintenance increase the board is modeling. A buyer who plans for a higher rate will not be surprised by it.
The board package is standard co-op. Expect a full financial package, reference letters and an interview. Under Local Law 58 of 2026, the co-op must acknowledge your application within 15 days and give you a decision within 45 days of completion.
Ask about reserves. With no reserve study on file, get a list of completed and planned capital work from the managing agent: façade work under Local Law 11, the roof, elevators and the boiler.
Mansion tax likely applies. At the building's typical price level, sales at or above $1 million carry the 1% mansion tax. Run the figures through the Mansion Tax Calculator.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the policy stack. For an Upper West Side prewar co-op, 75% financing and allowed pied-à-terre use are rare. They widen your buyer pool, so put them at the top of the listing.
Know your share count. The $10-per-share flip tax is small and predictable. Quote it accurately from the start.
Prepare the refinancing answer. Buyers' attorneys will see the 2028 maturity in the financial statements. Get the board's current position from the managing agent before you go to market.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Lyons, also evaluate:
- 127 West 79th Street (The Clifton House) — prewar co-op on the same blockfront
- 145 West 79th Street (Manchester House) — prewar co-op on the same blockfront
- 150 West 79th Street (The Dorset) — 1911 twelve-story co-op across the street
- 171 West 79th Street — prewar co-op near Amsterdam Avenue
- 252 West 85th Street — another 1914 West Side prewar co-op
- 304 West 75th Street — Robert T. Lyons, 1930, in the historic district
- 310 West 72nd Street — Robert T. Lyons, 1924, converted to co-op
- 130 West 79th Street (The Austin) — the condominium alternative across the street
More Upper West Side buildings
- 130 West 86th Street — 1926 co-op
- 134 West 82nd Street — 1900 co-op
- 135 West 70th Street (The Pythian) — 1927 condominium
- 136 West 75th Street (The Brick House) — 1921 co-op
- 139 West 82nd Street — 1929 co-op by Gronenberg & Leuchtag
- 140 West 69th Street (Lincoln Spencer) — 1904 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West Side.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
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. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
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