270 Riverside Drive (Glen Cairn)
270 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10025
Upper West Side
BBL 1018887504 · BIN 1057086
- Year built
- 1910
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 57
- Floors
- 12
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Pets permitted per brokerage records; confirm weight and breed rules in the house rules
Every recorded sale at this building, 2006–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,174
- Listing discount
- 0.4%
- Recorded sales
- 50
- On record
- 2006–2025
Rouse & Goldstone built the Glen Cairn in 1910 and 1911 for the Highwood Realty & Construction Company, at the corner of Riverside Drive and West 99th Street, facing the park. It is a twelve-story Renaissance Revival apartment house with a stone base, a marble-columned entrance portico, Flemish-bond brick above, terra-cotta panels at the tenth floor and paneled piers rising through the eleventh and twelfth. The same office put up 260 Riverside Drive one block south and 276 Riverside Drive one block north in the same window. This stretch of the Drive is essentially their work.
The building spent its first century as a rental. It converted to condominium ownership on an offering plan dated July 10, 2015, sponsored by 270 Holding LLC, with the first closing on July 27, 2016. What kind of conversion it was is the fact that shapes everything a buyer needs to understand here, and the offering plan on file states it plainly: this was a non-eviction conversion of an occupied, substantially rent-regulated building. Schedule A carries a rent-regulation status column for every unit — rent stabilized, rent controlled, fair market, vacant, superintendent's — and the sponsor offered tenants in occupancy a ninety-day exclusive to buy their own apartments at prices five percent below the non-tenant schedule. The total plan was $160.1 million at tenant prices and $168.6 million at non-tenant prices.
The practical consequences run in three directions. First, the building was never emptied and rebuilt; the sponsor renovated vacant apartments and, per the plan, performed no work in occupied ones. DOB filings between 2012 and 2016 show exactly that pattern — a long series of apartment-by-apartment gut renovations of individual units in advance of the plan. So condition inside the building is genuinely unit-by-unit, and a renovated sponsor apartment and a never-touched tenant apartment are two different products at the same address. Second, sellout has been slow by design rather than by distress: the sponsor held 35 units at the end of 2019 and 33 as of April 1, 2021, and rented them, with aggregate monthly rents on the unsold units at roughly $57,800 against roughly $56,100 of common charges — a portfolio that carried itself. Third, the sponsor still controlled the condominium board as of the most recent amendment on file. Any buyer should confirm the current sponsor holding and the current board composition with the managing agent, because those figures are five years old.
The building's other defining event is capital. In 2016 the sponsor contracted for a full façade and roof restoration at approximately $6.3 million including change orders, and assigned the contract to the condominium at the first closing — meaning the unit owners, not the sponsor, carried the project. The audited financials show it roughly 92 percent complete at the end of 2019, funded by drawing the reserve fund from $718,654 down to zero across 2018 and 2019, a $600,000 sponsor advance in June 2019, and finally a $2,250,000 capital assessment approved by the board in December 2019 and billed to unit owners in March 2020, payable in a lump sum or over twelve months at six percent interest. Local Law 11 Cycle 8 work was reported complete by the 2021 amendment, and the reserve fund had been rebuilt to $809,044 as of February 28, 2021. That is a building that did its façade properly and paid for it, which is a good thing to have behind you rather than in front of you — but the auditors also noted that the governing documents do not require reserve accumulation and that no study of future major repairs has been performed. Ask for the current reserve balance and the ninth-cycle façade status.
Finally, the landmark timeline. LPC designated the Riverside–West End Historic District Extension II on June 23, 2015 — after the offering plan was dated and thirteen months before the first closing. The Glen Cairn is a contributing building in it. Exterior work at this building now requires an LPC permit, which is a durable protection for the streetscape and a durable constraint on the condominium.
Architecture and unit composition
The site is a corner lot of roughly 12,955 square feet with about 105 feet on Riverside Drive and a long return on West 99th Street, carrying 113,485 gross square feet at a built FAR of 8.76 — well above the 6.02 residential FAR the R8 district would allow today, which is what a 1910 building on Riverside Drive typically looks like against modern zoning.
The Riverside Drive elevation is the designed face: a stone stoop with cheek walls, an entrance portico with marble columns and pilasters supporting an entablature and balcony, a molded entrance surround with an elaborate keystone, and a historic metal-and-glass door and transom. Above, Flemish-bond brick with rusticated corners, a cornice line at the third story, terra-cotta panels at the tenth, and paneled piers with geometric brickwork and carved spandrels through the top two floors. LPC's survey records two significant losses: the original cornice, removed except for its molding, and the balconies.
Inside, the plans are prewar and generous, running from roughly 720 square feet at the smallest to about 2,845 at the largest per the plan's Schedule A, with ceilings around ten feet. Two combinations have occurred since conversion — 1B with 1F, and 4E — a fair signal about the flexibility of the plates. The park-facing line carries the value; the West 99th Street line does not, and the difference is large.
Building operations
The condominium employs eight building staff under a collective bargaining agreement with Local 32BJ — a superintendent, five doormen and two porters, per the payroll schedule in the budget on file. Coverage is attended, with a live-in superintendent. The amenity program is modest and prewar in character: a resident lounge and storage, 26 bins in the basement. No gym, no bicycle room, no garage.
The 2021 budget on file ran roughly $1.53 million of income against $1.53 million of expense, with payroll and related costs at about 55 percent of the total — high, but entirely ordinary for a staffed prewar building of this size. Common charges rose sharply in the conversion's first two years and were then held flat into 2021. Get the current budget: those figures are five years old and 32BJ payroll has moved since.
The capital record is the strong part of this building's file — a $6.3 million façade and roof restoration assumed by the condominium at the first closing, a reserve drawn to zero to fund it, a $600,000 sponsor advance, a $2.25 million assessment in 2020, and Local Law 11 Cycle 8 signed off. Ask what has been spent since 2021, what the ninth-cycle inspection produced, and whether any assessment is currently live.
Policy framework
Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through the board's right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval.
Pets: Permitted per brokerage records. Confirm weight and breed limits in the house rules.
Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: All permitted under the standard condominium framework. Minimum lease terms should be confirmed with the managing agent.
Working capital contribution: Two months' common charges at closing, per the offering plan on file.
Minimum down payment: 20 percent per listing records.
In-unit washer/dryer: Present in residences per listing records; confirm for the specific unit.
Flip tax: Not documented in the records located for this page. Confirm any resale capital contribution with the managing agent.
Real estate taxes: No exemption of any kind appears on the unit lots in the FY2027 assessment roll. There is no J-51 here — a point worth making explicitly, because J-51 has been common in Upper West Side conversions of this vintage and its absence changes the underwriting. Underwrite full unabated taxes on the specific unit.
Landmark constraint: Exterior work requires LPC review. Window replacement, areaway and entrance work, and any façade change all fall within the Certificate of Appropriateness framework. This is a cost and a schedule item for the condominium, not for individual owners doing interior work.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →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).
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
The Glen Cairn prices as prewar Riverside Drive condominium inventory, a genuinely small category — most of the Drive is cooperative. That scarcity is the building's clearest pricing advantage, and it is why the building supports pricing above the cooperative comparables on either side of it despite carrying no abatement.
Per-square-foot is the right unit of analysis, run against exposure first. Park-facing residences on the Riverside Drive line and side-street residences on West 99th are different products, and the spread between them is wide enough that a building average will mislead. Floor level matters second, condition third — and condition varies more here than in most buildings, because the conversion renovated vacant apartments and left occupied ones alone. A sponsor-renovated apartment and an original tenant apartment can sit on the same line.
Sales activity has two distinct populations: sponsor closings from 2016 onward, reflecting a slow, deliberate sellout of a building the sponsor was content to rent in the meantime, and secondary resales accumulating since. Comparables should be selected from the same population and indexed to the last complete year. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2025 | 2C | 4 BR · 3 BA · 2,400 sf | $2,600,000 | $1,083/sf | +4.2% |
| Dec 13, 2024 | 3D | 2,010 sf | $2,895,000 | $1,440/sf | off-mkt |
| Mar 1, 2024 | 5A | 4 BR · 4 BA · 2,845 sf | $5,275,000 | $1,854/sf | -4.0% |
| Feb 15, 2024 | 4B | 2,228 sf | $3,300,000 | $1,481/sf | off-mkt |
| Feb 5, 2024 | PH | 716 sf | $850,000 | $1,187/sf | off-mkt |
| Aug 8, 2023 | 10D | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,010 sf | $3,100,000 | $1,542/sf | -5.9% |
| Jul 28, 2023 | 11A | 4 BR · 4 BA · 2,845 sf | $5,650,000 | $1,986/sf | -10.3% |
| Aug 16, 2021 | 2A | 5 BR · 3 BA · 2,845 sf | $3,572,625 | $1,256/sf | -2.1% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,174/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 0.4% 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 1-01888-7504) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
Establish the current sponsor position. The most recent amendment on file shows the sponsor holding 33 units as rentals and controlling the board as of April 2021. That was five years ago. Ask the managing agent how many unsold units remain, how many are tenanted, and who controls the board today. It bears on liquidity, on governance, and on how decisions get made.
Ask whether the unit is or was rent-regulated. This was a non-eviction conversion, and some apartments have been occupied continuously by regulated tenants since before 2015. For an occupied unit bought as an investment, the regulatory status is the whole deal; for a vacant one, the building's mix is still worth knowing.
The façade is done — verify it stayed done. A $6.3 million restoration and a $2.25 million assessment closed out Cycle 8. Confirm the Cycle 9 filing status and whether anything new is scheduled.
Underwrite full taxes. No J-51, no abatement, no phase-in. This is the number.
Condition is unit-by-unit, not building-wide. Renovated sponsor apartments and untouched apartments coexist. Do not extrapolate from one showing.
Exposure is the largest price variable, and landmark rules apply to the exterior. Riverside Drive versus West 99th Street is not a minor distinction — walk both. Interior renovations are unaffected by designation, but the condominium's window and façade decisions go through LPC, which is slower and more expensive than a DOB-only building.
What to know if you’re selling
Prewar condominium on Riverside Drive is the argument. Almost everything around it is a cooperative. That is scarcity a buyer cannot substitute for, and it should lead.
Present the capital history as an asset. A completed $6.3 million façade restoration, a paid assessment and a rebuilt reserve is a stronger story than silence. Buyers price uncertainty.
Get ahead of the J-51 question. Buyers shopping Upper West Side conversions will ask. There is none and never was, and the taxes on the bill are the taxes.
Price to exposure, then floor, then condition, and correct the year built. City data says 1920; the LPC designation report and the 1910 New Building application say 1910–1911. Automated valuations built on the wrong vintage will misread the building.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering the Glen Cairn, also evaluate:
- 264 Riverside Drive (The Riverview) — immediately south across West 99th Street; the closest neighbor and a cooperative alternative
- 260 Riverside Drive — Rouse & Goldstone's 1909–1910 building one block south; the same architects, the same street, cooperative ownership
- 258 Riverside Drive (The Peter Stuyvesant) — prewar Riverside Drive cooperative at similar scale
- 280 Riverside Drive — prewar Riverside Drive building one block north
- 285 Riverside Drive — prewar Riverside Drive building facing the park on the west side of the Drive
- 780 West End Avenue (The Terra Cotta) — prewar West End Avenue alternative one block east, at lower price per foot
- 720 West End Avenue — large prewar West End Avenue building; the volume alternative in the same catchment
- 250 West 96th Street (96+Broadway) — new-construction condominium a few blocks south; the modern alternative for a buyer who wants condominium policy without prewar systems
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Riverside Drive — read The Roebling Team Guide to Riverside Drive.
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.
Considering a move at The Glen Cairn?
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Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Glen Cairn 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.