257 West 86th Street
257 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024
Upper West Side
BBL 1012340007 · BIN 1033196
- Year built
- 1907
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 1BR median
- $445K
- Recent range
- $361K – $3.9M
- Listing discount
- 8.3%
- Recorded transfers
- 34
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 257 West 86th Street would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
257 West 86th Street is one of the Upper West Side's distinctive early studio buildings — a 1907 design by Pollard & Steinam, the firm best known for the studio-building type that gave the neighborhood some of its most architecturally ambitious apartment houses. What sets a building like this apart is the base: a dramatic three-story limestone elevation with robust columns, rusticated quoins, decorative balconies, and a colonnaded, lantern-flanked entrance — a far more sculptural street presence than the standard brick apartment house of the era. It rises only seven stories and holds just 32 residences, which makes it genuinely boutique.
The building was later converted to a residential cooperative, and today it trades as a full-service pre-war co-op between Broadway and West End Avenue, a block from Riverside Park and within easy reach of Central Park. For buyers, the draw is the combination: real architectural character, an intimate ownership, modern building amenities, and one of the more flexible board postures on the Upper West Side.
Architecture and unit composition
The original studio-building program shaped the interiors as much as the façade. Buildings of this type were planned around larger, light-filled rooms and double-height or generously scaled volumes, and many homes here retain that openness along with classic pre-war detail. Over the decades a number of apartments have been combined and reconfigured — duplexes and classic-six layouts among them — so the unit mix runs from gracious one- and two-bedrooms up to substantial multi-floor homes. The seven-story scale and 32-unit count keep the building quiet and personal, and the upper floors and penthouse capture strong light over the low-rise side streets.
Building operations
257 West 86th is run as a full-service boutique cooperative. The building offers a fitness room and a common roof deck, with storage available; a full-time elevator and a resident manager handle day-to-day service. The board is comparatively flexible by Upper West Side standards: pets are permitted, pied-à-terre ownership is allowed, and the building permits financing of up to roughly 65% of the purchase price (a minimum down payment in the neighborhood of 35%). A transfer fee (flip tax) applies on sale. As at any cooperative, purchasers clear a board package and interview, and the building's location inside the West End–Collegiate Historic District Extension means exterior changes are subject to Landmarks review. We help buyers confirm the precise financing cap, flip-tax basis, and sublet terms against the cooperative's governing documents before they bid.
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2025–30. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
Recent transfers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 2026 | 3 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA | $3,625,000 | -8.2% | |
| Feb 9, 2026 | PHA | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,875 sf | $4,228,750 | $1,471/sf | -6.0% |
| Aug 21, 2025 | 5 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA | $3,850,000 | off-mkt | |
| Aug 13, 2025 | 10D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $361,000 | -8.6% | |
| Jun 18, 2025 | 9C | 1 BR · 1 BA | $445,000 | -4.3% | |
| Aug 19, 2024 | 8C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 625 sf | $454,000 | $726/sf | -8.3% |
| Dec 20, 2022 | 10C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 700 sf | $440,000 | $629/sf | -7.4% |
| Oct 25, 2021 | 8D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $459,000 | +14.8% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,471/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 5.5% 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.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2003 | 8D | $425,000 |
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 1-01234-0007) 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
What to know if you’re buying
This is one of the easier Upper West Side co-ops to underwrite for buyers who want flexibility: the pet, pied-à-terre, and financing posture are more accommodating than at many pre-war neighbors. Match your financing to the building's cap, budget for the transfer fee, and expect a board package and interview. The reward is an architecturally distinctive, full-service home with a gym and roof deck, a block from Riverside Park. We help buyers read the financials, understand the board's posture, and benchmark pricing against the right line-specific comparables.
What to know if you’re selling
The architecture and the flexibility are the marketing core. The sculptural limestone base, the studio-building provenance, the on-site gym and roof deck, and a board that permits pieds-à-terre and pets together describe a building that appeals to a wide buyer pool — primary buyers, second-home buyers, and downsizers alike. The key is pricing the specific apartment to its true peer set given the building's varied layouts, and presenting the pre-war volume and light correctly. We build that strategy around the building's amenity package and accommodating posture.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 257 West 86th Street, also evaluate these nearby Upper West Side cooperatives:
- 255 West 90th Street — pre-war Upper West Side cooperative nearby
- 145 West 86th Street — full-service pre-war co-op on the same street
- 200 West 88th Street — pre-war Upper West Side cooperative
- 215 West 84th Street — boutique pre-war co-op to the south
- 320 West 83rd Street — West End–corridor pre-war cooperative
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West Side.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
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.
Considering a move at 257 West 86th Street?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.