- Year built
- 1960
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 54
- Floors
- 19
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Rooftop terrace, garden, central air conditioning; no fitness center, garage, or bike room per listing records
- Pets
- Not firmly documented in public records — verify with the managing agent
- Financing
- 50 percent minimum down per listing records
Sutton Place proper — the two blocks of the avenue between East 57th and East 59th Streets — is one of Manhattan's smallest prestige addresses, and 16 Sutton Place is its principal post-war cooperative. The building went up in 1960 on the west side of the avenue, directly opposite the landmarked townhouse row that defines the street's east flank, which buys its east-facing apartments something structural: a protected low-rise outlook over the gardens and rooflines of some of the most storied small houses in the city, with light and river air beyond. In a corridor where the marquee inventory is pre-war and fiercely board-gated, 16 Sutton Place is the address's accessible entry.
The building's paper trail is unusually good, because the original offering plan is on file in The Roebling Research Library. It settles facts the aggregator records get wrong: the building was completed and opened to tenants in July 1960 (not 1967, as brokerage records circulate); it stands 19 stories plus penthouse with 54 apartments, a superintendent's unit, and a separate servant's room; and the cooperative plan was first offered April 1, 1965 — early for the corridor — by The 20 Sutton Place Company, with Douglas L. Elliman & Co. as selling and managing agent. The same plan documents a detail that explains the building's quality of construction: John M. Kokkins, a registered architect and builder, held 35 percent of the sponsoring partnership. The architect of record had his own money in the building.
The operating culture has preserved its 1960 service format to a degree few post-war houses can claim. The offering plan budgeted for a staff of twelve including elevator operators on both cars and a manually attended passenger elevator around the clock — and the building still runs an elevator-operator service today per listing records, alongside a full-time doorman, a garden, and a rooftop terrace. For buyers, that translates to an old-style attended building at a 54-unit scale, on a street where through traffic is minimal and the neighbors are townhouses.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a fireproof red-brick slab with a limestone ground floor, sidewalk landscaping, and a discreet service entrance around the corner on East 58th Street — post-war construction executed conservatively for its street. The 54 apartments distribute across roughly five lines per floor, from one- and two-bedroom units through four-bedroom and combined configurations of 1,500 to 2,100+ square feet, topped by penthouse units. East-facing lines overlook the Sutton Place townhouse row toward the East River; western exposures face the midtown skyline. Combinations exist throughout the stack, and renovation grade — as in most buildings of this vintage — drives wide pricing dispersion between estate-condition and renovated units.
Building operations
This is a small full-service cooperative run on a traditional model: full-time doorman, attended passenger elevator, superintendent, garden, and rooftop terrace, managed by the institutional descendant of the firm the 1965 plan itself named as managing agent. There is no fitness center, garage, or bike room; buyers should weigh the attended-elevator service culture against amenity breadth. Cooking gas was bundled into maintenance at the offering, a carrying-cost detail worth confirming when comparing monthlies. The offering plan and audited financial statements are on file in The Roebling Research Library and available to clients during diligence.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Recent sales
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 3, 2025 | 19B | $1,135,000 |
| Jun 16, 2025 | 11A | $1,600,000 |
| Jun 3, 2025 | 14C | $1,050,000 |
| Mar 6, 2025 | 12C | $1,290,000 |
| Dec 20, 2024 | 3B | $1,225,000 |
| Jan 10, 2024 | 13-C | $1,165,000 |
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 1-01369-0026) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
The street is the asset. Sutton Place proper is two blocks long, lined with townhouses and a handful of co-ops, with cul-de-sac quiet and the river esplanade at its parks. Spend time on the block at different hours; the buyer who values this corridor tends to know it immediately.
Plan for 50 percent down. The documented financing convention is conservative even by co-op standards. Model your liquidity-after-closing accordingly — run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering, because boards at this tier weigh post-closing reserves heavily.
The primary documents beat the listing copy. Public records circulate a wrong construction date and fuzzy unit counts for this building. We work from the offering plan on file; your attorney should work from the current financials, house rules, and proprietary lease, which will also settle the thinly documented pet, sublet, and pied-à-terre policies.
Underwrite the service model. An elevator operator and a doorman across 54 units is a high staff-to-shareholder ratio, and payroll is the dominant line in any co-op budget of this format. Review the financial statements with that in mind — it is a feature, but it is also the maintenance.
Transit is a walk. The 4/5/6/N/R/W at Lexington–59th and the E/M at Lexington–53rd are each roughly half a mile. The corridor trades connectivity for quiet; price your commute honestly.
What to know if you’re selling
Sell the format, not just the unit. Attended elevator, townhouse outlook, garden, roof terrace, two-block prestige street — this combination is nearly impossible to replicate at the building's price tier. The marketing should name it precisely rather than defaulting to neighborhood generalities.
Price to the corridor's value position. The buyer cross-shopping Sutton pre-war co-ops will read this building as the rational entry; the buyer cross-shopping generic Midtown East post-war stock will read it as a prestige upgrade at modest premium. Both narratives work — anchor to recent in-building trades, which we maintain unit by unit.
Disclose the fee stack early. The 2 percent seller-paid flip tax and per-share closing fee are material at this price point; build them into your net-proceeds math from day one with the Seller Closing Cost Calculator.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 16 Sutton Place, also evaluate:
- 1 Sutton Place South — Cross & Cross's 1927 river-front anchor; the corridor's pre-war pedigree benchmark
- 2 Sutton Place South — pre-war full-service co-op at the 57th Street gateway
- 40 Sutton Place — the neighboring post-war co-op north along the avenue; the closest like-for-like comparison
- 25 Sutton Place South — post-war full-service co-op with river orientation south of 57th
- 45 Sutton Place South — larger post-war co-op with garage and amenity depth; the convenience alternative
- 60 Sutton Place South — the corridor's big 1952 co-op on the river; more amenities, less intimacy
- 425 East 58th Street (The Sovereign) — the corridor's tower alternative with views and scale
- River House (435 East 52nd Street) — the East River corridor's trophy co-op; the aspirational step-up
The Roebling Team at 16 Sutton Place
The Roebling Team at Compass works Sutton Place and the broader Midtown East river corridor as a core practice area, and this building's original offering plan sits in The Roebling Research Library. We publish this building profile because Sutton Place buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — primary-document history, policy framework, and corridor-level comparables — not generic neighborhood commentary.
If you're considering a transaction at 16 Sutton Place, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.