306 West 97th Street

Hugh Lamb's two buildings read as a matched pair across the blockfront — masonry elevations with the Renaissance Revival vocabulary standard to speculative flats construction at the turn of the twentieth century, modified over time. The LPC record classifies both as "Renaissance Revival with alterations," which is an accurate description of what a century of window replacement, storefront-free street wall and a rooftop addition produce.

The 2005 alteration is the most consequential architectural event in the building's modern life. A new eighth floor of non-combustible construction was added at 310-312 with a new elevator shaft, adding roughly four thousand square feet and producing the penthouse-level apartments at the top of that stack. Interior work through the conversion and the years since has been apartment-by-apartment: partition changes, kitchen and bath relocations, occasional combinations of adjoining apartments on the lower floors, and the removal of the original dumbwaiter shafts with structural sistering where the openings were closed.

Layouts are prewar flats layouts, which means room counts rather than open plans: entry halls, defined rooms, and a wide range of sizes across 61 apartments in two buildings. Apartments renovated during or after the conversion differ substantially from those that have not been touched since, and that spread is the single largest driver of value within the building.

The building runs as a self-contained prewar house rather than a full-service tower. The documented capital record since the conversion is steady and unglamorous: sprinkler and smoke-detection systems tied together across both buildings in 2005 and 2007, parapet raising and roof insulation in 2010, accessible ramps and steps at the entrances and cellar in 2011, a rear-yard rebuild with new paving and fencing the same year, a building-wide gas plumbing upgrade in 2015, and structural repair work at the dumbwaiter shafts and joists in 2016 and 2017. Exterior work is subject to Landmarks review because of the historic district designation, which lengthens timelines and raises unit costs on façade projects — worth pricing into any assumption about future assessments.

Ownership form: Condominium. Purchases close on the condominium timetable, and the offering plan on file provides that the Board has no right of first refusal on a sale or a lease — a meaningfully faster path to closing than the cooperative alternative on this stretch of the Upper West Side.

Pets: Dogs and cats permitted, capped at four in the aggregate, subject to the Board's written consent, which the plan makes revocable.

Subletting: Permitted, with a sublease application processed by the managing agent.

Pied-à-terre, LLC, trust and foreign purchasers: Not documented; confirm in the declaration, bylaws and house rules.

Flip tax: Not documented in the plan text reviewed. Confirm with the managing agent before pricing a sale.

Real estate taxes: The profile identifies no J-51 exemption on current condominium unit assessment rolls. Reconcile the separate abatement history on the pre-conversion lots with current unit bills before assuming either component has expired.

J-51 exemption and abatement schedules.

The offering plan discloses that Lot 26 — one of the two pre-conversion tax lots — was receiving a J-51 abatement of $2,883.32 per year on a certificate of eligibility issued in the amount of $34,600, with benefits granted at one-twelfth of approved cost per year. The city's J-51 records show that certificate carrying an initial year of 2003, and a second certificate on Lot 28 in the amount of $44,200 with an initial year of 2004 and an equivalent annual abatement of $3,683.

The sources describe different J-51 components, which may have separate schedules. The offering plan describes a twelve-year abatement run, which should be reconciled with the original certificates and payment history. The Department of Finance J-51 file carries a fourteen-year exemption term at a ninety percent abatement rate on the same certificates, which does not by itself establish the abatement expiration. The certificates attached to pre-conversion lots, and the profile identifies no J-51 exemption on current condominium unit assessment rolls. Reconcile both exemption and abatement components against the original certificates, successor lots and current unit tax bills before stating their expiration or current benefit.

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 (2025) cleared a median $1,200/sf (recorded) across 1 sale.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-01887-7501; 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.

Read the sponsor position before you read the floor plan. Twenty-two of sixty-one units remain in sponsor ownership. Ask the managing agent for the current count, for the sponsor's arrears status if any, and for how many of those units are occupied by tenants. It is a legitimate structure and a common one; it is also a fact worth knowing before contract.

No right of first refusal is a real advantage. Verify with the managing agent that no plan amendment reinstated one, then use the shorter timeline in your offer terms.

The historic district governs the façade. Riverside-West End Historic District Extension II designation means exterior alterations require LPC permission, with staff approval available for eligible work and ordinary maintenance potentially exempt. DOB-permitted interior work also needs LPC review; confirm the route for the actual scope. That is protection for the streetscape and cost for the building.

Use the current unit tax bill. Reconcile the separate J-51 exemption and abatement schedules against the original certificates and successor lots. Current bills are the starting point; assessments, rates and benefits may change.

Walk both buildings. The condominium is one legal entity, but 306-308 and 310-312 have separate street entrances, separate stair cores and a separate history of alteration. They do not feel identical.

Sell the tenure, not just the apartment. Prewar condominium apartments on the Upper West Side are a small category. Buyers who have been turned away by cooperative financing ceilings and board packages are your natural audience, and the absence of a board right of first refusal is part of the pitch.

Price against the sponsor's inventory, and know what it looks like. If the sponsor is releasing a renovated apartment in the same month you list, your pricing needs to account for it. If it isn't, say so.

Document your renovation. The spread between renovated and untouched apartments in this building is wide. Permits, plans and Landmarks approvals where relevant all shorten a buyer's diligence and support the number.

Set expectations on the historic district. Buyers planning window or terrace work should be told what Landmarks review involves before contract rather than after.

If you're considering 306 West 97th Street, also evaluate:

• 311 West 97th Street — George F. Pelham's 1900-01 flats building directly across the street; the cooperative alternative at the same vintage
• 305 West 98th Street — prewar rental-era house one block north; comparable scale and streetscape
• 771 West End Avenue — Schwartz & Gross, 1914-15, at the corner of West 97th; the avenue-facing prewar cooperative
• 755 West End Avenue — Rosario Candela's 1924-25 building on the opposite corner; the larger prewar cooperative
• 747 West End Avenue — Rouse & Goldstone, 1911-12; another West End Avenue prewar cooperative in the same historic district
• 258 Riverside Drive — the Peter Stuyvesant, 1908-09; the Riverside Drive cooperative alternative one block north
• 270 Riverside Drive — the Glen Cairn, on the adjacent block; a separate building and a separate board
• 817 West End Avenue — Bennington Corners, also on Block 1888; the nearest avenue comparable to the north
• 306 West 100th Street — comparable mid-block prewar house further up the corridor