240 West 98th Street (The Sabrina)

City parcel records (PLUTO) give the lot 175 feet of frontage on West 98th Street and a depth of roughly 202 feet running south to West 97th; it wraps the Broadway corner lot that still holds the 1897 tavern building. Department of Buildings sidewalk-shed filings from the 2004 façade campaign list the lengths protected for that work — forty feet on West 97th Street, a hundred feet on Broadway, eighty feet on West 98th — which describe that job's scope, not the building's full perimeter.

Apartments run through both wings on a lettered system — the A through H lines in the north wing, K through N in the south — with penthouses above. The original room counts survive, which on the upper floors means four-, five- and seven-room layouts with the prewar circulation intact: entry foyers, separated public and private wings, and in a number of apartments the original staff rooms. Combinations have happened since conversion but they are horizontal and vertical joins of whole apartments rather than subdivisions: DOB records document 6B with 6C, 13B with 13C, 3B with 3C, 12D with 13D, PHC with PHD, 14B with PH C/D, and 3BC with 4C, several of them with convenience stairs added between floors. The tax map reflects some of these — a 2012 subdivision application combined tax lots 1220 and 1234.

The deep courts are the design's main gift and its main caveat. They put windows into apartments that would otherwise be interior, but a court exposure is a court exposure: less light, more sound transfer, and a view of the building's own brick. Line-by-line evaluation matters more here than in a simpler building, and the difference between a Broadway-facing, street-facing and court-facing apartment on the same floor is substantial.

The statements on file describe a union staff under the 32BJ apartment-building agreement and roughly $1.64 million in payroll within $2.9 million of operating costs. They report about $2.82 million in common charges against $2.91 million in total revenue, with consecutive increases of 2.01 percent and 1.00 percent. The reporting years for these figures are not identified here; treat them as historical and obtain dated current statements, charges and staffing costs before assessing operating strength.

The documents describe a 2019–20 capital program. In June 2019 the condominium levied a capital assessment of approximately $1,250,000 to fund a capital program and replenish the reserve, payable in a lump sum at a 6 percent discount or over twelve months from August 2019 through July 2020. The statements report the listed work as completed at their reporting date; verify present condition and subsequent work. They record capital spending of roughly $1.08 million in 2019 and $545,000 in 2020, covering:

• Local Law 11 façade and parapet restoration — completed
• Elevator upgrades — completed
• Boiler conversion to gas — completed
• Security camera installation — completed
• Sidewalk and vault replacement — completed
• Basement improvements — completed
• Roof restoration, plumbing upgrades, energy consulting, pumps, canopy and doors

The statements on file scheduled a roughly $35,000 second-floor connecting-roof restoration funded from reserves and reported reserves of about $1.17 million, versus $1.50 million in the preceding year, and members’ equity above $10.2 million. These reporting dates are not identified here. Reconcile the reserve decline to the dated cash-flow and capital schedules rather than treating it as proof that operations had no deficit. The documents reported no association debt and unpledged sponsor units at their respective dates; obtain current debt, lien, reserve and project records, since condominium status does not rule out association borrowing.

Two smaller operating items are worth noting. The condominium leases a portion of the common area under a twenty-year agreement entered in January 2012, producing about $3,900 a month. And the ground-floor retail — a supermarket on the Broadway frontage — is a commercial condominium interest held by the sponsor and not offered for sale, so retail income does not accrue to the residential owners.

Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases clear through a right of first refusal rather than a cooperative board approval.

Transfer fee: 5 percent of the gross profit on the resale of a unit, per the condominium's audited financial statements. This is the single most important policy line on the page for a seller. A profit-based transfer fee behaves nothing like the more common 1-to-2-percent-of-price flip tax: it is zero on a flat sale and can be large on a long-held appreciated apartment. Model it against your actual basis before pricing.

Working capital contribution: One month's common charges at closing.

Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: Permitted under the standard condominium framework. Minimum lease terms should be confirmed with the managing agent.

Pets: Not documented in the amendments on file. Confirm the house rules with the managing agent.

Real estate taxes: No 421-a, no J-51, and no building-wide exemption on any residential unit lot in any assessment roll from FY2011 forward. Abatements apply at the bill level, so check the specific unit's tax bill before underwriting.

Sponsor units and tenancies: The historical statements describe a large sponsor-owned, tenant-occupied block; confirm its current size and ownership. If a unit under consideration is a sponsor unit, establish in writing whether it is being sold vacant and whether any tenancy is regulated. A unit sold subject to a tenancy is a different asset from a vacant one.

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 (2026 to date) cleared a median $997/sf (floor-adjusted) across 4 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 3.3% 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 1-01869-7503; 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.

Risë Stevens, the Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano, moved into apartment 11-A in the north wing at 240 West 98th Street in 1939 following her marriage to the actor and later agent Walter Szurovy; the marriage and the address were reported in the press at the time. Stevens had already sung at the Vienna State Opera and debuted at the Metropolitan, and went on to a long career on stage, on record and in film.

The building also housed a number of figures from the film and theatre business in its first decade, including an executive of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and performers from the Ziegfeld Follies, several of whom appear in contemporaneous newspaper accounts. No current residents are documented in the press.

The transfer fee is 5 percent of profit, not of price. It is the most unusual policy term in the building and the one most often missed. Understand it before you buy, because it will govern what you net when you sell.

Update the sponsor position. The historical roughly two-fifths common-interest holding requires a current ownership and occupancy schedule before assessing supply, financing eligibility or voting.

Exposure decides value. Broadway, side street, and interior court are three different apartments at the same address and the same price per foot is not appropriate to all three.

Confirm the capital work. The profile ties façade, elevator, boiler, sidewalk vault and basement work to the 2019 assessment; confirm completion and current condition with recent engineering reports and board materials.

The roll shows no exemption. Check the specific unit's tax bill to confirm no abatement applies.

Search all four addresses. 240 West 98th Street, 241 West 97th Street, 2589–2599 Broadway, and 2589 Broadway for older ACRIS recordings. They are one tax lot.

Lead with the layouts. Present the documented 1923 four-, five- and seven-room layouts and the specific apartment’s current plan. Compare circulation, dimensions and alterations with actual converted and postwar alternatives without claiming no comparable layout exists.

Run the transfer fee before you set the price. Five percent of gross profit on a long-held apartment is a large number. Build it into the net-proceeds analysis at the outset rather than discovering it at contract.

Document the capital program. Provide the 2019–20 spending and completion records alongside current engineering reports, reserve balances and any later assessments; the historical program does not establish present condition or funding.

Know your in-building competition. Confirm current sponsor listings and asking prices before treating historical disclosed inventory as today’s competition.

If you're considering The Sabrina, also evaluate:

• The Terra Cotta (780 West End Avenue) — the other prewar condominium on the same tax block, a block west; the closest direct comparison in the neighborhood
• 300 West 109th Street (The Manhasset) — the other large landmarked Broadway prewar apartment house converted to condominium; the nearest true peer by scale and type
• 255 West 98th Street — prewar alternative on the same block
• 305 West 98th Street — prewar alternative between West End and Riverside
• 311 West 97th Street — prewar alternative on the south side of the same block line
• 275 West 96th Street (The Columbia) — full-service Broadway-corridor condominium two blocks south; the postwar amenity alternative
• 250 West 96th Street (96+Broadway) — new-construction condominium on Broadway; the modern alternative with a different tax and amenity profile
• 245 West 99th Street (Ariel West) — contemporary Broadway condominium tower a block north
• 310 West 99th Street — prewar alternative just north
• 320 Riverside Drive — the Riverside Drive prewar alternative at a higher tier