- Year built
- 1900
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 21
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Generally pet-friendly (cats and dogs); confirm specifics at offer stage
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium bylaws
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2009–2024
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,215
- Listing discount
- 10.2%
- Recorded sales
- 12
- On record
- 2009–2024
216 East 52nd Street — marketed as The Pantheon — is a boutique 21-unit condominium occupying a turn-of-the-century, six-story masonry building on the mid-block stretch of East 52nd Street between Second and Third Avenues. It sits in the heart of Turtle Bay, the low-key Midtown East pocket where quiet residential side streets meet the offices, restaurants, and transit of the East Fifties. The building was converted to residential condominium ownership in the mid-to-late 2000s, giving it a distinctive combination: pre-war bones and scale on the outside, individually deeded condominium apartments inside.
For buyers, the appeal is the rarest thing in Midtown East — a small, human-scaled, deeded-ownership building in a neighborhood dominated by large postwar and glass-tower inventory. The Pantheon's 21 residences range from studios to two-bedroom duplexes, some with private outdoor space, and the building trades at price points well below the trophy-tower tier while still offering condominium flexibility. That makes it a genuine entry point into Midtown East ownership rather than a rental fallback.
Building operations
The Pantheon operates as a small full-condominium building with an elevator, an attended or virtual lobby, a resident superintendent, a fitness room, common laundry, resident storage, and a private courtyard/garden — an amenity set calibrated to a 21-unit boutique building rather than a large-tower package. Prospective buyers should confirm the current lobby-coverage model (attended versus virtual doorman) and staffing directly during due diligence, as small buildings adjust these arrangements over time.
Because the residences are deeded condominium units, ownership carries the flexibility that the form implies: there is no board interview in the cooperative sense, purchasers may finance through their own lender, and pied-à-terre use, investment ownership, and subletting are permitted under the condominium bylaws. The building is generally pet-friendly for cats and dogs. As with any condominium, confirm any transfer fee, the current sublet policy, and building financials at offer stage against the offering plan and current house rules.
Recent sales
The Pantheon is best read on a per-square-foot basis, as all Manhattan condominiums are. Recorded resales have generally run in the roughly $1,200–$1,350 per-square-foot range, translating to studios in the high-$600,000s and two-bedroom duplex configurations around $1.5 million. Because the building is small — 21 units — resale inventory is thin, and any single closing carries more weight in the comparable set than it would in a large building. That makes per-unit underwriting, line-by-line, the right approach: floor, exposure, outdoor space, and layout drive value more than a building-wide average.
Recent closings 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2024 | 2F | 1 BA · 550 sf | $668,000 | $1,215/sf | -3.9% |
| Dec 28, 2023 | 5A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,114 sf | $1,500,000 | $1,346/sf | -20.6% |
| Dec 4, 2015 | 1 | 2 BR · 1,880 sf | $2,500,000 | $1,330/sf | -10.7% |
| Oct 23, 2014 | 1B | 2 BR · 1,557 sf | $2,275,000 | $1,461/sf | off-mkt |
| Aug 9, 2013 | 1B | 2 BR · 1,557 sf | $1,500,000 | $963/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 14, 2011 | PHA | 2 BR · 1,114 sf | $1,934,675 | $1,737/sf | -4.5% |
| May 13, 2011 | 3D | 403 sf | $580,000 | $1,439/sf | -12.8% |
| May 13, 2011 | 3E | 1 BR · 611 sf | $890,000 | $1,457/sf | -9.6% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2024) cleared a median $1,215/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 10.2% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 2009 | — | $13,767,532 |
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 1-01325-7504) 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
Buying here is a straightforward condominium path — your own financing, no cooperative board approval in the substantive sense, and use flexibility (pied-à-terre, investment, subletting) that the form supports. The reasons to buy are specific: a genuinely boutique, deeded-ownership building in a neighborhood where most inventory is large-scale; pre-war character and varied layouts; and a price tier that opens Midtown East condominium ownership without a trophy-tower budget. Underwrite the specific apartment carefully — converted pre-war lines vary — and confirm common charges, taxes, building financials, and current staffing during due diligence.
What to know if you’re selling
The story here is scarcity and character: a small, deeded condominium with pre-war bones in the heart of Turtle Bay. Pricing should be apartment-specific rather than building-averaged — a duplex with a terrace and roof access underwrites very differently from a studio, and recent comparables on the relevant line and floor should anchor the number. Positioning should lead with the building's boutique scale, its condominium flexibility (a differentiator against the neighborhood's rental and co-op stock), and the specific outdoor space or layout advantages of the unit.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 216 East 52nd Street, also look at these Midtown East / Turtle Bay boutique buildings:
- 226 East 52nd Street — same block, comparable small-building Midtown East ownership profile
- 345 East 52nd Street — nearby Turtle Bay building serving an overlapping buyer pool
- 100 East 53rd Street — architecturally distinguished Midtown East condominium a few blocks north
The Roebling Team at The Pantheon
The Roebling Team at Compass works the Midtown East market — including the boutique, deeded-ownership inventory that rewards building-specific knowledge — as a core part of our practice. We publish this profile because buyers and sellers at a 21-unit building deserve intelligence calibrated to the building, not a neighborhood generality. If you're weighing a purchase or sale at 216 East 52nd Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Midtown East — read The Roebling Team Guide to Midtown East.
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