308 East 79th Street

The building rises 16 floors per city records (architectural records count 17, likely including the penthouse level) over a two-story light-colored base, with dark-brown brick above and terra-cotta decorative panels concentrated at the third floor and the crown. The plan is deep and double-winged, which produces the boutique-landing layout — a few apartments per elevator bank per floor rather than a long double-loaded corridor.

Inside, the mix runs from studios and one-bedrooms through combined two- and three-bedroom units, with penthouse apartments on the top floor holding private terrace rights (terrace plantings and structures require board consent per the house rules). Apartments carry the standard 1920s program — defined foyers, real dining alcoves or rooms, generous closets — and a small professional-suite component occupies part of the base, a remnant of the building's doctor-office era that city records still show as roughly 2,400 square feet of office space. Renovation quality varies line by line, and pricing follows condition and light.

Full-service in the literal sense: the lobby is staffed around the clock, with a doorman and desk attendant by day and a night porter stationed overnight, a superintendent, and porter staff. The house rules on file are unusually detailed — package-room protocols, service-entrance and certificate-of-insurance requirements, designated vendors for window and through-wall air-conditioner work, an 80/20 carpet rule, quarterly building-wide extermination — which documents strict procedures; check how they are applied and the building's current condition during diligence. The amenity floor includes a renovated fitness center, a landscaped garden with a fountain (residents only), central laundry, bike room, and storage bins. The building is entirely smoke-free, including apartments — a policy point some buyers will count as a feature and sellers should disclose early.

Recent sales

Recent transfers 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. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2024): a median $782/sf (floor-adjusted) across 4 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 2.3% 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 1-01453-0043). 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.

You are buying staffed pre-war scale at a discount to the avenues. The same service stack — 24/7 lobby staffing, gym, garden, storage — costs meaningfully more per foot west of Lexington. If your priorities are service and bones rather than a Gold Coast address, this is the efficient trade.

Read the sublet rule before you model flexibility. Two years out of every five, two terms maximum, never four consecutive years, one-year minimum, annual board approval, plus a fee. It accommodates a work posting; it does not accommodate investor use. Short-term rentals are prohibited outright.

The pet policy is specific. Two animals maximum, dogs under 25 pounds at maturity, breed restrictions, and written board approval with a registration form. Buyers with larger dogs should not assume an exception.

The building is smoke-free everywhere, including your apartment. Confirm you can live with the policy — it is house rules, not suggestion.

Underwrite the board package to the standard framework. 25 percent minimum down per listing records, with co-purchase considered and pied-à-terre use documented as permitted. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering, and verify the 1.5 percent flip tax and current financing posture with the managing agent at offer stage.

Transit is a strength. The Q at Second Avenue/83rd and 86th Streets and the 6 at 77th/Lexington bracket the block, with the M79 crosstown at the corner — connectivity that this corridor lacked before 2017 and that pricing east of Second has not fully absorbed.

Lead with the lobby and the staff. The bronze-lantern entrance, the marble ante-room, the mahogany elevator cabs, and the 24/7 staffing are the building's differentiators against the smaller pre-war and post-war stock a buyer at this price point is otherwise seeing. Photograph the sequence; name the staffing levels.

State the policy stack plainly. Smoke-free building, 25-pound dog limit, structured sublet rule — these filter the buyer pool, and surfacing them early saves deals that would otherwise die in attorney review.

Price to condition within the line. With roughly 195 units, same-line comparables exist for nearly every apartment — use them. Estate-condition units clear here when priced to the renovation math; run the Renovation Cost Calculator against your asking strategy.

If you're considering 308 East 79th Street, also evaluate:

• 180 East 79th Street — Schwartz & Gross pre-war co-op at the Lexington end of the street; the prestige step-up on the same block line
• 170 East 78th Street — pre-war co-op one block south; the boutique-scale alternative
• 130 East 75th Street — Schwartz & Gross pre-war co-op; the west-of-Third comparison
• 180 East 88th Street — new-development condo alternative in Yorkville at a higher price point
• 200 East End Avenue — post-war full-service co-op on the park; comparable service at the corridor's quiet eastern edge
• 340 East 72nd Street — large pre-war co-op east of Second; the closest like-for-like in scale and tier
• 225 East 79th Street — the building's immediate co-op neighbor toward Third Avenue