257 West 117th Street (The Fitzgerald)

The street elevation is the original masonry; per listing records, the brick façade and stone cornices from the school years were kept through the conversion. The 2006 architect's description records a redesign of the rear (south) façade on the first and second floors, which removed skylights planned for the cellar-level rooms below and enlarged those units. A new modified-bitumen roof, roof drains and top-floor skylights were part of the work, and private terraces were built over the two east-end seventh-floor units.

The plan offered apartments from 739 to 2,458 square feet. Department of Finance areas run higher on some lots because they measure differently, so use plan or survey figures when comparing. The first-floor duplexes and the sixth- and seventh-floor residences account for nearly all of the homes over 1,800 square feet. The second through fifth floors hold the one- and two-bedroom inventory at eight units per floor.

The Fitzgerald is run as a mid-service building. Per the 2021 board materials on file, the lobby is attended on split concierge shifts from morning to late evening on weekdays and in the evenings on weekends, with a full-time resident manager and a porter. The condominium built a common roof deck with a grill area in 2012–13. By the 2021 annual meeting it had bike storage and allocated storage spaces in progress, with storage assigned by lottery at a monthly fee paid into reserves.

The capital history on file is active and well documented:

• Local Law 11 façade work (2017): financed with a $450,000 bank loan and a five-year special assessment starting July 2017, per the audited statements. The 2021 board materials report the loan paid off.
• Interior and systems (2019–21): hallway renovation, elevator and boiler projects, new hot-water heaters and window repairs, with a building-wide window replacement being scheduled floor by floor in late 2021.
• Planned work: elevator updates and roofing over roughly the following four years, and common-charge increases of 2 to 3 percent a year to balance rising costs.

The audited statements show a modest dedicated reserve alongside larger operating cash. The board described its 2021 position as four to five months of operating coverage. An adjacent development paid the condominium access fees from 2019 into 2021. Before contract, ask for the current audit, the reserve balance, the status of the window and elevator work, and whether any assessment is in force.

Ownership form: condominium, with deeded units and no co-op board interview.

Leasing: whole-unit leases through a lease application; the by-laws prohibit selling or leasing part of a unit. Confirm minimum lease terms and fees.

Pets: dogs, cats, caged birds and fish with the board's or managing agent's written consent, revocable for nuisance; two pets at most without further consent.

Smoking: prohibited throughout, including inside apartments.

Renovation: noisy work weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; an alteration agreement and deposit are required; the rules require rugs or equivalent over 80 percent of floor area outside kitchens, baths and closets.

Working capital: two months of common charges from the buyer at closing.

Real estate taxes: fully unabated from FY2025/26. Underwrite the current bill on the specific unit and run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator.

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 $848/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. 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 3.4% 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 1-01923-7501; 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.

The J-51 is finished. It phased out over FY2021/22–FY2024/25 and is zero from FY2025/26. Any listing that mentions an abatement is out of date.

It is a conversion, and the conversion work dates from 2006–09. The structure is old; ask which systems were replaced in that work and which were retained, and ask where the window, elevator and roof programs stand and how they are being funded.

Budget for the working capital contribution. Two months of common charges at closing, on top of standard closing costs.

Check the lower levels of the duplexes in person. The rear-façade redesign changed the cellar-level rooms on the south side. Light and ceiling height vary by unit.

The no-smoking rule covers apartments. It is a house rule with fines, not only a common-area policy.

Lead with the current tax bill. Buyers will see the J-51 expiry. Presenting the unabated monthly up front, with a carrying-cost analysis, heads off a late renegotiation.

Document the capital work. The paid-off façade loan and the hallway and window replacement work support value; have the managing agent's current status letter ready to confirm completion and condition.

Correct the apartment count in your marketing. The fifth floor has eight apartments, not four. Accurate materials help in a building where buyers compare layouts closely.

If you're considering The Fitzgerald, also evaluate:

• 352 West 117th Street (The Endymion) — a 1989–91 gut rehabilitation of a turn-of-the-century tenement two avenues west, whose 34-year J-51 exemption has also just ended
• 100 West 119th Street (The Normandie) — a 1910 building converted to condominium in 2005; the closest peer by conversion era
• 3 West 122nd Street (Mount Morris Court) — a circa-1900 condominium inside the Mount Morris Park Historic District; the landmarked prewar alternative
• 301 West 118th Street (SoHa 118) — a 2008 full-service new-construction condominium on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, one block north
• 309 West 118th Street — Brownstone Lane, a 2003 new-construction condominium one block north
• 2101 Eighth Avenue (Parc Standard) — a 28-unit 2008 condominium on Frederick Douglass Boulevard; a smaller new-build peer from the same cycle
• 380 Lenox Avenue (The Lenox) — a 2006 new-construction condominium from the same development cycle
• 23 West 116th Street (The Adeline) — an 83-residence 2010s condominium; the newer amenitized alternative
• 127 West 112th Street (Parc North) — a small 2016–19 condominium with no abatement at all; a useful carrying-cost contrast