1628 Second Avenue

The building is a six-story brick apartment house of 1915 on a 25-by-78-foot lot, with roughly 8,300 square feet of built area over a 1,578-square-foot retail base per city records. The 14 residences are compact — studios and one-bedrooms averaging well under 600 square feet — laid out two to three per floor, with the scale, ceiling heights, and window rhythm of the pre-war tenement-flat era rather than loft or tower stock. Original-condition and renovated units coexist; given the unit sizes, renovation budgets are small in absolute terms and tend to return well at resale. The original architect is not firmly documented in public records.

This is a self-service condominium run lean: no doorman, no staffed lobby, keyed entry with a voice intercom per listing records, an elevator under service contract, and a central laundry room (laundry income appears in the financial statements on file). Operations have historically run through a small managing agent for a modest flat fee, with cleaning and superintendent services contracted rather than staffed, per the financial statements on file. The boiler was replaced in the 2009 fiscal year, funded by a common-charge increase of roughly 15 percent effective November 2009 per the amendments on file. Buyers should expect small-building economics — low absolute common charges, thin reserves, and special assessments as the realistic funding path for major work. The offering plan amendments and audited financial statements are on file in The Roebling Research Library.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01547-7501) 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.

The condo structure is the product. At this price point, most of what you can buy in Yorkville is co-op — with board interviews, financing minimums, and sublet restrictions. 1628 Second Avenue's condominium mechanics make it workable for first-time buyers, parents buying for children, pied-à-terre use, and investors. Confirm current building rental policy with the managing agent before underwriting an investment case.

Understand the common-interest map. The ground-floor commercial unit carries 17.2 percent of the common interest per the amendments on file, and several residential units were sponsor-held, rent-stabilized occupancies as of the amendments on file. Your attorney should establish the current sponsor/investor/owner-occupant mix and the commercial unit's status — both shape building governance and lender review in a 14-unit condominium.

Small-building economics cut both ways. Common charges are low in absolute terms, but a 14-unit budget has no slack: the documented funding pattern for capital work here is common-charge increases and assessments. Review the financial statements on file with your attorney and run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator with an assessment cushion.

Lender diligence is the practical hurdle. There is no board interview, but small condominiums with high commercial common interest can draw extra scrutiny under agency condo-lending rules. Get the building's questionnaire reviewed by your lender early — before contract, not after.

The corridor is repriced by the Q. The 86th Street station — with its secondary entrance at East 83rd Street — puts this block effectively between two subway entrances, with the 4/5/6 at 86th and Lexington a few minutes west. For resale, that transit position is the block's most durable asset.

Sell the structure, not just the unit. Your buyer pool is anyone shut out of, or unwilling to deal with, co-op mechanics at the entry tier: investors, parents, pied-à-terre buyers, first-timers with gift funds. Marketing that leads with condominium mechanics and the Q-station position outperforms generic studio/one-bedroom copy.

Have the documents ready. In a 14-unit building, deals die in diligence, not in showings. We provide the offering plan amendments and financial statements from The Roebling Research Library to serious buyers' counsel early, and pre-answer the lender questionnaire issues — commercial common interest, owner-occupancy mix, reserves — before they become renegotiation leverage.

Price to condition and to the co-op discount. Comparable co-op studios and one-bedrooms nearby trade lower with heavier restrictions; your premium over them is the condo structure, and it is finite. Renovated units clear fastest; estate-condition units should be priced to the renovation math — run the Renovation Cost Calculator against your asking strategy.

If you're considering 1628 Second Avenue, also evaluate:

• 300 East 85th Street — post-war Yorkville condo tower; the full-service condo alternative at a higher monthly carry
• 237 East 88th Street — boutique Yorkville condo; similar entry-tier condo proposition
• 520 East 81st Street — condo alternative toward East End Avenue
• 50 East End Avenue — condo comparison point at the corridor's eastern edge
• 180 East 88th Street — the new-development condo step-up two avenues west
• 40 East End Avenue — boutique new-development condo; the top of the neighborhood's boutique-condo range
• 200 East End Avenue — the value-tier full-service co-op alternative, for buyers comparing structures

The Roebling Team at Compass works Yorkville and the broader Upper East Side as a core practice area, including the entry-tier condo stock that most building coverage ignores. We publish this building profile because small-condominium buyers and sellers need building-specific intelligence — conversion documentation, common-interest structure, and lender-diligence realities — not generic neighborhood commentary.

If you're considering a transaction at 1628 Second Avenue, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.