- Year built
- 1925
- Type
- Cooperative
Every recorded sale at this building, 2001–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 2BR median
- $970K
- Recent range
- $642K – $2.7M
- Listing discount
- 3.5%
- Recorded transfers
- 57
145 West 86th Street carries one of the great Upper West Side names in its lineage: it was designed by Emery Roth, the architect whose towers — the San Remo, the Beresford, the Eldorado — define the skyline of Central Park West. Here, on a prime corner block at Columbus Avenue, Roth applied the same Italian-Renaissance sensibility at a more intimate, residential scale: a fifteen-story palazzo with a beige-brick body, a two-story limestone base, and a canopied entrance. The result is a building that reads as a serious pre-war address two blocks from Central Park.
Built in 1925 and run as a full-service doorman cooperative, the building offers the combination West Side buyers prize — a marquee architect, a central 86th Street location with the cross-town bus and B/C subway at hand, and a common roof deck that looks straight across the park to the Reservoir. With four apartments per floor across sixty-two homes, it is intimate enough to feel like a neighborhood building and large enough to carry full-time staffing comfortably.
Architecture and unit composition
The façade is Roth in his classical register: a beige-brick mass set on a two-story limestone base, organized with the proportion and restraint that mark his apartment work, and finished with a canopied 86th Street entrance. It is dignified rather than flashy — the Italian-Renaissance palazzo idiom applied to a residential block, and it has aged with the durability that defines the best pre-war stock.
Inside, the building is laid out at four apartments per floor, which keeps the per-landing density low and the apartments well-proportioned. The sixty-two homes carry the pre-war virtues — generous room sizes, real foyers, good light — and the building has invested in its bones, with a modern water-filtration system and a boiler converted to gas. The crown amenity is the common roof deck, with stunning open views of Central Park and the Reservoir — a genuinely rare feature this close to the park.
Building operations
145 West 86th Street is run as a full-service cooperative with a 24-hour doorman, a live-in superintendent, and a porter. On-site amenities include a central laundry room, the Central Park-facing common roof deck, and bike and private storage available for a fee. The building permits one dog (with a weight limit of roughly 50 pounds). On the financial side, the co-op allows financing up to 70% of the purchase price and charges a 1.5% flip tax split between buyer and seller at closing — a moderate, evenly shared transfer cost. Recent capital investment in the building's mechanical systems — the new water filtration and gas-converted boiler — reflects a board that maintains the asset rather than deferring on it.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Facade safety — Local Law 11
Safe to live in today — but the last inspection flagged repairs that are due on a deadline, so facade work and its cost are coming. Whether that’s a real concern depends on the scope, the timing, and how the building plans to pay for it — reserves or an assessment — which is exactly what we’d dig into for you.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 9, 2026 | 11C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 750 sf | $750,000 | $1,000/sf | off-mkt |
| Aug 28, 2025 | 8A | 3 BR · 2.5 BA | $1,815,000 | -9.3% | |
| Jul 15, 2025 | PHA | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,583,900 | -2.5% | |
| May 5, 2025 | 12B | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,820 sf | $2,175,000 | $1,195/sf | -0.9% |
| Nov 21, 2024 | 3B | 3 BR · 3 BA | $2,722,500 | -1.0% | |
| Oct 11, 2024 | 9C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 700 sf | $642,000 | $917/sf | -1.1% |
| Jun 10, 2024 | 3C | 2 BR · 1 BA | $970,000 | -7.6% | |
| Nov 28, 2023 | 15C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 750 sf | $820,000 | $1,093/sf | -3.5% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $973/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.5% 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.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 2024 | 4C | $675,000 |
| Sep 13, 2022 | 9D | $1,625,000 |
| Feb 17, 2022 | 12D | $1,680,000 |
| Dec 10, 2019 | 9A | $2,600,000 |
| Jul 16, 2019 | 1A | $1,725,000 |
| Jan 17, 2019 | 3B | $2,195,000 |
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 1-01217-0014) 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
What to know if you’re buying
You are buying an Emery Roth building. The architect's name and the Italian-Renaissance pedigree are part of the value, and they distinguish the building from the plainer co-op stock nearby. Underwrite the apartment as a Roth pre-war, not just a West 86th Street address.
The terms are moderate and shared. Financing to 70% and a 1.5% flip tax split between buyer and seller are middle-of-the-road for a full-service pre-war — easier than the strictest boards, and the shared flip tax softens the seller's exit cost. Confirm the one-dog, ~50-pound pet allowance fits your household.
The roof deck and location are the lifestyle case. Central Park is two blocks east; the common roof deck looks over it to the Reservoir; and the 86th Street cross-town bus and B/C subway are at the corner. For a park-adjacent, transit-rich West Side life, the building delivers.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with Emery Roth and the roof-deck views. A Roth pre-war with an open Central Park outlook from its common deck is a story that markets itself — position the building on its architect and its park proximity first.
The shared flip tax and 70% financing widen the pool. A moderate, evenly split transfer cost and reasonable financing terms reach more buyers than a strict board; state them clearly to prospective purchasers.
Benchmark to full-service pre-wars on the park blocks. Comparable analysis belongs against other doorman pre-wars in the West 80s near Central Park, not against generic Upper West Side inventory — the architect, the staffing, and the views set the building's tier.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 145 West 86th Street, also evaluate these nearby pre-war Upper West Side cooperatives:
- 145 West 79th Street — pre-war Upper West Side cooperative nearby
- 200 West 88th Street — full-service pre-war near Central Park
- 139 West 82nd Street — Upper West Side cooperative to the south
- 755 West End Avenue — Rosario Candela pre-war cooperative nearby
- 50 West 96th Street — Upper West Side cooperative to the north
The Roebling Team at 145 West 86th Street
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in the Upper West Side, the Central Park-block pre-wars, and the broader full-service co-op market. We publish this profile because buyers and sellers evaluating an Emery Roth building deserve building-specific intelligence — the architecture, the financial terms, the board posture, and where the pricing sits against the corridor.
If you're weighing a purchase or sale at 145 West 86th Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
Get the full picture on this building.
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