165 East 62nd Street

The tax lot measures 4,759 square feet in PLUTO, in the R8B contextual district that governs most of Lenox Hill's side streets. Recorded gross floor area works out to 3.54 times the lot area against a 4.00 residential FAR, a simple comparison that does not establish legal zoning floor area or permitted future work.

The composition is a townhouse pair read as one building. The lower floors retain the scale and rhythm of the original houses; the added floors are set back from the original cornice line, which is the move that lets a seven-story building sit on a street of four- and five-story houses without shouting. Above the base, glass area increases and the penthouses open to terraces.

Ten residences across seven floors: two duplex townhouse residences at the base, designated TH-E and TH-W, each with direct access and private outdoor space; half-floor residences east and west on the third, fourth and fifth floors; and two full-floor penthouses, PH-6 and PH-7. There is no commercial component and no retail unit — this is a purely residential condominium, which is uncommon in new Manhattan inventory at this size and simplifies the common-charge picture considerably.

The enlargement may create differences between lower and upper residences; verify ceiling heights, window proportions and layouts from current plans and inspection. That variation calls for apartment-level adjustments; a building average can provide context but should not replace comparison of actual plans, floors and condition.

165 East 62nd Street runs as a small full-service condominium: attended lobby, fitness center, children's playroom, bicycle storage and a common roof deck. Ten households is a thin base for staffed lobby coverage and a serviced roof, and the operating budget should be read with that in mind rather than the amenity list.

The building is also at the stage where a hybrid old-and-new structure begins to declare itself. The 2020 occupancy date does not establish the age of every component; use construction records to distinguish retained and replaced elements. Ask for the Local Law 11 façade filing status, any waterproofing history at the roof and terraces, the reserve position, and whether the sponsor retains any interest or obligations. The first temporary certificate of occupancy issued in November 2020 and was renewed in January 2021; confirm that a final certificate of occupancy has since been issued, because temporary certificates on an alteration of this type sometimes run for years.

The house at 165 East 62nd Street was for many years the home of the actress Brooke Shields, who bought it in 1982 and sold it in 1998. The connection was widely reported in the real-estate press when the property and its neighbor at 163 were assembled for development in 2015. She has no connection to the condominium that now occupies the site.

Ownership form: Condominium. There is no co-op board admission; transfers run through the condominium's application and right-of-first-refusal process, a difference from the cooperative inventory that dominates the street.

Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: Not documented; confirm in the declaration, bylaws and house rules. Minimum lease terms should be confirmed with the managing agent.

Pets and flip tax: Not documented in public records. Confirm both with the managing agent before pricing an offer or a sale.

Real estate taxes: No exemption or abatement of any kind. Model the actual current bill on the specific unit; there is no phase-out schedule to project.

Landmark constraint: None. Exterior alterations here do not require a Certificate of Appropriateness. Adjacent lots to the east are likewise outside the district, which is worth understanding before assuming any exposure is permanent.

Recent sales

Recent closings at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. 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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2022) cleared a median $1,819/sf (recorded) across 1 sale.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01397-7506; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. 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.

This is an enlargement, not new construction. The record is unambiguous: the new-building application for this site was disapproved, and an Alteration Type 1 raising two existing four-story houses to seven stories is what was permitted and built. Read the building's capital and structural picture accordingly, and do not underwrite it as a 2021 ground-up.

Verify the retained fabric. PLUTO reports 1910, but the assessor year and alteration classification do not identify the age of every retained element; review original and approved structural records.

Confirm the certificate of occupancy. The alteration was occupied under a temporary certificate from November 2020. Verify the current status before contract.

Underwrite full taxes and a small denominator. No abatement, ten households, a staffed lobby and a roof deck. That combination is the monthly number, and it is not offset by anything.

Nothing here is landmarked. LPC review did not apply to this building's enlargement and would not apply to similar work on the undesignated lots around it. What can be built next door depends on zoning and development rights; establish what is developable next door before valuing an exposure.

Inspect lower and upper floors together. Compare actual dimensions and condition, and use approved structural plans to establish what was retained and added; inspection alone does not date concealed fabric.

Explain the separate date fields. Present PLUTO’s 1910 year alongside the alteration, occupancy, declaration and 2021 closing records. Those later milestones do not replace proof of original construction or retained fabric.

Sell the condominium structure. On a street of prewar cooperatives, a right-of-first-refusal transfer with no co-op board admission is the building's most portable advantage; confirm leasing and ownership-entity rules before marketing them.

Compare the actual apartment types. Townhouse duplexes, half-floor residences and penthouses differ in layout and outdoor space; use matched sales and adjustments rather than assuming building averages necessarily misprice them.

Be direct about the tax posture. Present the current tax bill and a complete carrying-cost calculation early so buyers can evaluate the numbers; disclosure does not guarantee a better transaction outcome.

If you're considering 165 East 62nd Street, also evaluate:

• 249 East 62nd Street — The Treadwell; ground-up new condominium on the same street, the closest peer by vintage
• 200 East 62nd Street — a 2015 condominium conversion of a 1960s rental; the larger full-service alternative on the corridor
• 166 East 63rd Street — Beekman Townhouse; the mid-century condominium alternative one block north
• 127 East 64th Street — a five-story townhouse divided into four condominium residences; the closest structural analogue for townhouse-scale condominium ownership
• 130 East 63rd Street — larger postwar residential comparison; verify its ownership structure separately
• 201 East 62nd Street — 1962 cooperative from inception; the co-op alternative on the same street
• 175 East 62nd Street — The Victorian; a ground-lease cooperative on the same block, with entirely different economics
• 116 East 63rd Street — 1914 cooperative converted from rental in 1948; the prewar co-op comparison
• 125 East 63rd Street — Colonial Mews; the small prewar cooperative alternative nearby
• 139 East 63rd Street — Beekman Estate; the postwar cooperative alternative one block north