The Orienta (302 West 79th Street)
302 West 79th Street, New York, NY 10024
Upper West Side
BBL 1011860084 · BIN 1031128
- Year built
- 1904
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 45
- Landmark
- No
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Orienta 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.
The Orienta is one of the early apartment houses on the West End Avenue–Riverside Drive stretch of West 79th Street. It went up in 1904–05, several years before Schwartz & Gross built The Hereford and The Kelmscott a few doors west. The LPC report for the district extension names it alongside the Chatsworth and the Hotel Churchill as an example of the Beaux-Arts and Renaissance Revival apartment buildings that came first. Its two tall round oriels are the feature that sets it apart on the block.
The building sits one block from Riverside Park, on the wide stretch of 79th Street that runs down to the Boat Basin rotunda. It is a mid-size co-op: eight stories and 45 apartments, with a live-in superintendent rather than a doorman.
The main structural fact is how the plan has changed. Schneider & Herter built four large apartments of five to seven rooms per floor. Those were later divided into smaller lines, and owners have been putting some back together since. For a buyer, that means a building with real variety at the same address — studios and three-room one-bedrooms alongside six-room combined apartments — and pricing that depends heavily on which of the two you are looking at.
Architecture and unit composition
Schneider & Herter were German-born architects whose partnership lasted nearly twenty years. Their buildings appear in several Manhattan historic districts, and their other work includes the Park East Synagogue on East 67th Street, per LPC. The Orienta is their only building in the West End–Collegiate Extension. Its brick-and-stone façade is symmetrical, with a rusticated base, railings at the third story and the original cornice. The LPC survey notes that some historic six-over-one wood windows survive; the ground-floor grilles and entrance lights are later additions.
Inside, the current plan runs to six lines on a typical floor. Listing records show the range: studios and small one-bedrooms of about 550 to 700 square feet, two-bedrooms around 950 square feet, and combined three-bedrooms of about 1,400 square feet or more. The combinations recorded in ACRIS — 3D/3E, 5C/5F and 7D/7E — come from joining adjacent line apartments. There is at least one lower-level apartment. The bay oriels give some apartments views up and down 79th Street.
Building operations and capital posture
Underlying mortgage. The cooperative refinanced with National Cooperative Bank in May 2021: a $2.2 million first mortgage and a separate $500,000 mortgage, per ACRIS. That paid off a 2007 loan. Rate and maturity are not in the recorded index. Ask the managing agent for both, whether the $500,000 piece is a line of credit, and how much of it has been drawn.
Sponsor shares. The sponsor kept unsold apartments after conversion and sold them one at a time. Its most recent recorded sales were in 2022 and 2023, per ACRIS. How many apartments it still holds is not in the public record; the managing agent can confirm.
Taxes. Two small J-51 abatements from 1998 and 2000, tied to about $60,000 of improvements, ran out in tax year 2010. Maintenance carries the building's full real estate tax.
Capital work. No financial statements or board communications were located for this page. Ask for the two most recent audited statements, the reserve balance, any assessment history and the Local Law 11 façade cycle status. An eight-story masonry front with carved stone and oriels is not a cheap façade to maintain.
Policy framework
Board approval. Standard co-op approval applies: a purchase application and an interview with the Orienta Owners board.
Pets. Cats and dogs are permitted, per listing records.
Everything else. The financing ceiling, sublet rules, flip tax, pied-à-terre policy and any limits on trusts, LLCs, guarantors or gifting are not documented in the records located for this page. They must come from the managing agent and the current house rules.
Alterations. Combining apartments needs board and DOB approval. Anything visible from the street, including windows and the oriels, also needs LPC approval.
Recent sales
The Orienta trades in two tiers. Line apartments — studios, one-bedrooms and smaller two-bedrooms — make up most of the building and trade at prewar co-op levels for the West End–Riverside blocks. Combined three-bedrooms are scarce and trade at roughly three times those prices. The building's two resales recorded in July 2026 were both combined apartments, so a recent median overstates what a typical line apartment brings. Price per room, matched by tier, is the right comparison. Index market statements to 2025, the last complete year.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent transfers at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 12, 2026 | 3DE | $1,935,000 |
| Aug 10, 2026 | 5CF | $1,849,000 |
| Aug 19, 2024 | 5B | $1,150,000 |
| Aug 29, 2023 | 6E | $925,000 |
| Aug 7, 2023 | 2C | $610,000 |
| Nov 21, 2022 | 5CF | $1,795,000 |
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01186-0084) 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.
Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
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What to know if you’re buying
Decide which tier you are in. A line one-bedroom and a combined three-bedroom compete with different buildings. Choose comparables accordingly.
Ask about the second mortgage. The 2021 refinancing included a separate $500,000 loan. Find out what it is for and whether it has been drawn.
Ask what the sponsor still holds. A residual sponsor position affects the board's finances and, at the margin, lender review.
Plan combinations early. If you are buying two adjacent apartments to combine, get the board's alteration policy and the LPC implications before contract.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the building. A 1904–05 Schneider & Herter front with round oriels, a block from Riverside Park, in a historic district.
Match the comparables. Price a line apartment against line apartments. The combined-unit sales are the wrong benchmark.
Have the financing answers ready. Buyers' attorneys will ask about the 2021 refinancing and the sponsor position. Get current answers from the managing agent before listing.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Orienta, also evaluate:
- 310 West 79th Street — The Hereford, the 1910 Schwartz & Gross co-op a few doors west on the same blockfront
- 316 West 79th Street — The Kelmscott, The Hereford's twin, also a co-op
- 393 West End Avenue — the 1927 corner building next door, with first condominium closings in 2022; the condominium alternative on the same corner
- 321 West 78th Street — a 1925 co-op on the same block, one street south
- 329 West 77th Street — a 1930 Gronenberg & Leuchtag co-op in the same historic district extension
- 54 Riverside Drive — a 1926 co-op on Riverside Drive nearby, facing the park
More Upper West Side buildings
- 300 West 109th Street (The Manhasset) — 1899 co-op by Janes & Leo
- 300 West 83rd Street — 1923 co-op by Gaetano Ajello
- 302 West 86th Street — 1917 co-op
- 303 West 80th Street — 1900 condominium by Ralph S. Townsend
- Lincoln Guild (303 West 66th Street) — 1961 co-op
- 304 West 75th Street — 1930 co-op by Robert T. Lyons
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, 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.
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