221 East 50th Street

The building is an eight-story white-brick apartment house of the type built along the Turtle Bay side streets in the 1950s: a canopied entrance, a small lobby and an elevator. Front apartments face south over East 50th Street. Rear apartments look north over the garden and courtyard.

Most of the 47 apartments are studios and one-bedrooms. Listing records describe one-bedrooms with walk-in closets and studios running up to roughly 550 square feet on the rear. The exception is a duplex created by combining the D-line apartments on the sixth and seventh floors, which listing records describe as a three-bedroom, three-bath apartment. It is the largest apartment in the building and its highest recorded sale.

Staffing and services. A live-in superintendent, one elevator, a central laundry room, a bicycle room, rentable basement storage bins and a rear garden. There is no doorman or concierge.

Conversion and sponsor shares. The sponsor converted the building in 1983. ACRIS shows the sponsor entity still selling individual apartments decades later — in 2007, 2017 and June 2024. That means it held unsold shares at least until then. The managing agent can confirm how many it still holds; unsold-share apartments are often rented to subtenants and affect the owner-occupancy rate a lender will ask about.

Underlying mortgage. ACRIS shows the building mortgage consolidated in March 2023 at $1.2 million, small for a 47-unit building. Rate and maturity should come from the most recent audited financial statements.

Assessments. Listing records have shown a monthly assessment on some apartments for set periods. Ask the managing agent whether one is in effect and what it funds.

Tax benefits. DOF J-51 records show an abatement beginning in 1987 (fully used by 1998) and a second beginning in 1998 (fully used by the 2009 tax year). No J-51 benefit is active. Maintenance should be underwritten at full taxes.

These policies come from management-sourced records dated July 2026. Confirm them at offer stage.

• Financing: up to 80% of the purchase price. One listing record states 25% down; the management figure is more recent and more authoritative.
• Flip tax: $10 per share, paid by the seller.
• Subletting: allowed after two years of residence, for a maximum of two years. The shareholder must then live in the apartment for two more years before subletting again. Board approval is required each year, and the sublet fee equals two months' maintenance.
• Pied-à-terre: case by case. Secondary-residence use is otherwise not permitted.
• Co-purchasing and guarantors: allowed case by case. Guarantors submit their own application.
• Corporate and diplomatic purchases: not permitted.
• Post-closing liquidity: not required per management records. The board will still assess debt load and reserves in the package.
• Pets, in-unit washer/dryers, short-term rentals, smoking: not permitted. One listing record lists an in-unit washer/dryer; treat that as unapproved unless the board confirms otherwise.
• Board interview: conducted virtually, per management records. This may be a pandemic-era protocol; confirm.

Recent sales

Recent transfers 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. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2013): a median $569/sf (recorded) across 2 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 2.3% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01324-0009). 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.

The financing is generous for a small co-op. 80% financing with no stated post-closing liquidity requirement makes this one of the more accessible cooperative purchases in Turtle Bay. Get a lender's co-op approval confirmed early; the owner-occupancy question above can come up.

Check the sublet clock before you buy an investment you intend to rent. Two years of residence first, a two-year maximum, then two more years in residence. This is a building for living in.

No pets is a hard rule. Confirm before signing if it matters to you.

Price to the studio and one-bedroom stock. The duplex sale does not set the price of a typical unit. Renovated condition and south exposure should carry the pricing argument.

Figure the flip tax up front. $10 per share is modest and easy to state in the offering sheet.

Market the financing. 80% financing and a straightforward package widen the buyer pool against Turtle Bay co-ops that require 25% or more down.

• 230 East 50th Street — prewar cooperative directly across the street
• 225 East 47th Street (The Winthrop) — 1939 Turtle Bay cooperative three blocks south
• 212 East 48th Street — John H. Duncan's 1924 prewar cooperative two blocks south
• 235 East 49th Street — Turtle Bay cooperative converted from a former seminary building
• 245 East 50th Street — 1980 boutique condominium on the same block; the condo alternative
• 211 East 51st Street — a 1958 white-brick building a block north, converted to condominium in 2008