240 East 79th Street

The front has the vertical emphasis of its year. Piers of brick rise between window bays, geometric patterning and terra-cotta accents cluster at the base and the top, and the entrance is framed in green marble under a canopy. Patched brick shows where the masonry has been repaired over the years. Published architectural commentary credits the design to Godwin, Thompson & Patterson.

A typical floor has four lines, A through D. There are ground-floor apartments at the bottom and penthouse apartments at the top. Owners have combined adjacent units, including 14A and 14B, and DOB filings record a steady run of kitchen, bath and layout renovations inside individual apartments. Layout and exposure vary by line. The north-facing apartments look across East 79th Street, a wide crosstown street. Read room counts and dimensions from the floor plan of the specific apartment, not from a building-wide description.

The building runs with a full-time doorman and a live-in superintendent per listing records. DOB filings trace the capital history. Exterior restoration of the parapet, masonry, skylight and roof drains was filed in 2009. The oil burner was replaced in 2006, and in 2016 a new gas service and a stainless-steel chimney liner were installed, consistent with a conversion to gas firing. Amendments on file record building-wide window replacement in 1989, funded by special assessment.

Façade — the item to diligence. DOB's façade-inspection record shows a Cycle 7 report filed safe in March 2013 and a Cycle 10 report filed in May 2025 as safe with a repair and maintenance program (SWARMP). No report is recorded for Cycles 8 or 9. DOB lists late-filing and failure-to-file civil penalties against the property, which stopped accruing in June 2025 when the Cycle 10 report was accepted. Ask the managing agent whether those penalties have been paid or settled, what the SWARMP items are, and whether they are funded.

Underlying mortgage. ACRIS records a refinancing with a cooperative lender in May 2025: a consolidated first mortgage of $2.75 million, including $750,000 of new money, and a $500,000 second instrument of the type used for a credit line. That replaced a $2.0 million consolidated mortgage placed in 2015. Across roughly 63 apartments, that is about $44,000 of underlying debt per apartment, which is low. Ask what the new money funded, as well as the maturity, the rate and the drawn balance on the line.

Tax benefits. The Department of Finance records three J-51 abatement grants on this lot, each for a modest alteration. The first began in 1967, the second in 1994 and fully used by tax year 2004, and the third in 2008 on about $114,000 of certified cost. DOF's historical J-51 file shows the 2008 abatement nearly exhausted by tax year 2018. Its current abatement file still carries the case with a benefit period ending September 30, 2028. Either way the benefit is at most about $9,500 a year against a gross tax bill of roughly $800,000. There is no J-51 exemption on the roll and no 421-a. The remaining relief is the standard co-op abatement and individual shareholder exemptions. Underwrite a full tax line.

Board process. A full purchase application and board interview are standard for a prewar Upper East Side co-op; confirm the package with the managing agent.

Financing. Up to 75 percent per listing records, a 25 percent minimum down.

Pied-à-terre, co-purchasing, guarantors and pets. Permitted or considered per listing records. Get each in writing.

Flip tax. The corporation has charged apartment transfer fees since at least the early 1990s, per financial statements included in the plan amendments on file. The current rate and payer are not documented in our file.

Not documented: post-closing liquidity, sublet terms and treatment of trusts and LLCs. These must come from the managing agent.

Recent sales

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01433-0031) 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.

Start with the façade. The recorded gap between the 2013 and 2025 façade filings is the first question for the managing agent. Ask for the SWARMP items, their cost and how they are funded.

Ask what the 2025 refinancing paid for. $750,000 of new money is recorded. Find out whether it is spent, earmarked, or sitting in reserves.

Estate apartments are the opportunity. Many sellers are estates, and a dated apartment on a high floor is the best value in a building like this.

Get ahead of the façade question. Have the Cycle 10 filing and the board's plan for the repair items ready for the buyer's attorney.

Lead with the fundamentals. Four apartments to a floor, prewar Art Deco detail, a full-time doorman and low underlying debt are the building's selling points.

If you're considering 240 East 79th Street, also evaluate:

• 229 East 79th Street — 1930 prewar co-op directly across East 79th Street
• 205 East 78th Street — late-1920s co-op one block south, on a larger scale
• 170 East 79th Street — 1927 co-op a block west, far smaller
• 173 East 79th Street — 1928 prewar co-op nearby
• 205 East 69th Street — 1929 prewar co-op of similar size in Lenox Hill
• 315 East 68th Street — 1931 prewar co-op further east
• 215 East 79th Street — postwar co-op across the street, for a vintage comparison