The Central, 250 West 88th Street
250 West 88th Street, at Broadway, Upper West Side
Upper West Side
BBL 1012357501 · BIN 1033227
- Year built
- 1920
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 60
- Floors
- 7
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- Full-time doorman, elevator, resident superintendent, laundry room, bicycle storage and storage facilities
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,282
- Listing discount
- 0.7%
- Recorded sales
- 64
- On record
- 2003–2026
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The Central occupies the Broadway corner of West 88th Street, with red-brick walls, a limestone base and a rooftop addition punctuated by large skylights. Its 60 residences are held as condominiums. The apartment stock combines compact studios and one-bedroom homes with larger upper-level residences.
The building converted to condominium ownership in the mid-1990s. A full-time doorman and resident superintendent support a service model that also includes shared laundry and storage. The Broadway frontage contains the property's commercial component, while the residential address and entrance are on West 88th Street.
The rooftop addition creates a distinct group of homes within the older apartment house. Skylights and broad windows bring light into upper-level living areas from different angles, and some penthouse plans include two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Regular-floor homes retain the more conventional proportions of the main building.
Architecture and unit composition
The façade has a two-story limestone base, red brick above and pale stone at its corners. Window surrounds and the alternating materials provide the principal ornament. The rooftop addition rises above the older masonry envelope, with barrel-vaulted skylights visible in its profile.
The smaller apartments include studios in the low-400-square-foot range and one-bedroom homes of varying proportions. Some regular-floor plans have separate kitchens, while renovated homes may connect the kitchen more directly to the living area. Closet placement and entrance circulation account for part of the difference between otherwise similarly sized apartments.
The upper inventory includes larger homes and penthouses with extensive glazing. A corner penthouse sold in 2025 with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large skylight over its principal living space. Other upper homes have different room counts and window arrangements, so the rooftop level should not be treated as one repeated plan.
In-unit laundry is installed in some apartments, alongside the common laundry room. An existing washer and dryer in one residence isn't a building-wide installation right; alterations remain subject to the condominium's requirements.
Building operations
A staffed entrance and resident superintendent serve the residential portion. Bicycle storage and private storage facilities provide additional space outside the homes. Elevator service connects the residential floors, and a shared laundry room supports apartments without their own equipment.
The property has one commercial condominium unit alongside its residential tax lots. Its legal separation matters where commercial operations require access to shared parts of the building. The courtyard roof, for example, became the subject of a dispute over proposed kitchen ventilation for a commercial tenant.
In October 2025, a court granted the condominium board a preliminary injunction preventing the commercial owner from installing the disputed vent through common elements while the action continued. The decision treated the courtyard roof as a general common element for that preliminary determination. It was not a final judgment on the entire case.
Policy framework
Pets: Not permitted under the stated building policy — confirm with the managing agent.
Smoking: The building has a no-smoking policy — confirm its scope with the managing agent.
Recent sales
Recent closings 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2026 | 508 | 1 BA · 425 sf | $545,000 | $1,282/sf | -5.2% |
| Sep 23, 2025 | 304 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 673 sf | $862,500 | $1,282/sf | -4.1% |
| Apr 28, 2025 | 404 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 794 sf | $899,000 | $1,132/sf | +0.0% |
| Mar 17, 2025 | PH803 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,205 sf | $1,800,000 | $1,494/sf | +0.0% |
| Oct 6, 2022 | 204 | 772 sf | $1,950,000 | $2,526/sf | off-mkt |
| Nov 11, 2021 | 509 | 1 BR · 1 BA · 700 sf | $975,000 | $1,393/sf | +0.0% |
| Oct 7, 2021 | 206 | 2 BR · 1 BA · 813 sf | $950,000 | $1,169/sf | +5.7% |
| May 14, 2021 | 307 | 850 sf | $580,000 | $682/sf | off-mkt |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,282/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 0.7% 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 1-01235-7501) 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.
At the recent median sale of $899K (4 sales since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $33,182 to close, or 3.7% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $0
- Mortgage recording tax: $12,979
- Title insurance: $4,045
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $16,158
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
Courtyard-facing homes have a specific commercial-use question. The proposed ventilation installation described in the 2025 case would pass through the courtyard roof. A purchase facing that area should confirm the current court and construction status directly, including the final route of any approved exhaust equipment; the preliminary ruling doesn't tell you what was ultimately installed or authorized afterward.
Comparable buildings
- 595 West End Avenue — A prewar condominium with a similar residence count, distributed through a taller building.
- The Admaston — Another nearby prewar condominium, useful for comparing older apartment-house architecture under the same tenure.
- 215 West 88th Street — A larger prewar condominium on the same street, with a taller residential form.
- Haroldon Court — A larger prewar condominium for comparing apartment scale and services around Broadway.
- The Netherlands — A prewar condominium closer to Riverside Drive, with a comparable overall residential inventory.
- 317 West 89th Street — A smaller prewar condominium for buyers prioritizing fewer apartments within an older building.
More Upper West Side buildings
- 250 West 90th Street (The New West) — 1985 condominium by Philip Birnbaum & Associates
- 250 West 94th Street (The Stanton) — 1924 co-op by Sugarman & Berger
- 250 West 96th Street (96+Broadway) — new-construction condominium by Thomas Juul-Hansen
- 251 West 89th Street (The Admaston) — 1911 condominium by George and Edward Blum
- 252 West 85th Street — 1914 co-op by Schwartz & Gross
- 253 West 73rd Street (The Level Club) — 1925 condominium
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West Side.
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.
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