170 East 88th Street
170 East 88th Street, New York, NY 10128
Carnegie Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1015160042 · BIN 1048059
- Year built
- 1980
- Type
- Cooperative
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Recent range
- $480K – $995K
- Listing discount
- 4.2%
- Recorded transfers
- 41
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 170 East 88th Street 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.
170 East 88th Street is an unusual building, and a genuinely charming one. Built in 1980 on a Carnegie Hill block between Lexington and Third, it was conceived not as a conventional apartment house but as a low-rise cooperative wrapped around a landscaped garden, with many of its 39 homes laid out as loft duplexes — double-height living spaces with exposed brick, big windows, wood-burning fireplaces, and private balconies looking onto the courtyard. The result reads more like a tucked-away mews than a standard Upper East Side co-op.
That distinctiveness is the building's value. Within a neighborhood of pre-war and white-brick towers, 170 East 88th offers loft-style volume, fireplaces, and outdoor space at a co-op price — four blocks from Central Park and the Museum Mile, with the 4/5/6 at 86th Street and the Second Avenue subway both close. Buyers who want character and light rather than a doorman lobby gravitate here.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a product of its moment: a 1980 low-rise designed around a shared garden rather than maximizing height, an approach that gave the architects room to create the duplex volumes the building is known for. At five stories it keeps a townhouse-district scale on a block of larger neighbors.
The 39 residences run from one- to two-bedroom homes, with the signature loft duplexes the most sought-after layouts: soaring ceilings, exposed brick, abundant glass, wood-burning fireplaces, and balconies overlooking the landscaped garden. These are not standard-issue boxes — the cross-section and the light are the reason people buy here, and renovated duplexes command the building's top pricing.
Building operations
170 East 88th is a non-doorman cooperative staffed by a live-in resident manager, with a central laundry room and package room and the landscaped garden at its center. The absence of a doorman keeps carrying costs in check; the garden and the duplex layouts are the amenities that matter.
The board's terms are accommodating for the Upper East Side: financing is permitted up to 75% of the purchase price, the flip tax is 1.5%, and the building is pet-friendly. Subletting is considered on a case-by-case basis rather than freely permitted — a posture aimed at keeping the building owner-occupied while leaving room for shareholders' changing circumstances.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $941/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $2
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2025–30. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 14, 2026 | 6D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $480,000 | -23.8% | |
| Mar 25, 2025 | 4H | 2 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,050 sf | $995,000 | $948/sf | -0.5% |
| Jul 11, 2022 | PHA | 1 BR · 2 BA · 900 sf | $1,225,000 | $1,361/sf | -5.4% |
| Jun 21, 2022 | 6G | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,400 sf | $1,550,000 | $1,107/sf | +0.0% |
| Mar 8, 2022 | 4D | 1 BR | $899,000 | off-mkt | |
| Sep 22, 2020 | 6A | 1 BR · 1 BA | $850,000 | -5.5% | |
| Feb 18, 2020 | 1H | 1 BR · 2 BA · 960 sf | $741,200 | $772/sf | -12.7% |
| Oct 18, 2018 | 8D | 1 BR | $690,000 | -13.6% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2025): a median $988/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 4.3% 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.
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 1-01516-0042) 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
Know which product you are buying. The loft duplexes — with their double-height living rooms, fireplaces, and garden balconies — are the building's draw and trade at a premium; the simplex units are a more conventional, more affordable entry. Either way this is a co-op purchase: expect a board package and interview, and note the case-by-case sublet policy if your horizon is uncertain.
The terms favor buyers (75% financing, a modest 1.5% flip tax, pets welcome). The lifestyle is the rest of the case: a quiet block four blocks from Central Park and the Museum Mile, the express 4/5/6 and the Q at 86th Street within a couple of blocks, and Carnegie Hill's cafés, markets, and restaurants all around. For character at a non-doorman price, the building is hard to match.
What to know if you’re selling
The loft duplexes sell themselves — lead with the volume, the wood-burning fireplace, the exposed brick, and the garden balcony, because nothing else in the immediate market offers that combination at this price. Renovations that preserve and showcase the double-height space pay off; ones that fight it do not.
Price to the building's own duplex-versus-simplex history rather than to the broader Carnegie Hill co-op average, since the two product types trade differently. With few annual sales, accurate day-one positioning is essential. We bring the building's transaction history and the live comparable set to every listing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 170 East 88th Street, these nearby Upper East Side cooperatives form the natural comparison set:
- 180 East 88th Street — Carnegie Hill building on the same block
- 230 East 88th Street — Yorkville-edge co-op nearby
- 19 East 88th Street — pre-war Carnegie Hill cooperative
- 60 East 88th Street — pre-war co-op near Central Park
- 439 East 88th Street — Yorkville cooperative to the east
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East 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.
Considering a move at 170 East 88th Street?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.