309 West 86th Street

The building is a thirteen-story masonry pre-war in the Schwartz & Gross idiom — a substantial base, a regular grid of windows, and a roofline detailed in the firm's restrained classical manner rather than the ornamented towers of the 1920s. The double-wide block lets the front rooms take in real light and air, and the rear exposures look out over the protected interior of the block.

Inside, the 26 residences run large by Upper West Side standards, with the high ceilings, hardwood floors, and proper room separations characteristic of the era — formal entry foyers, gracious living and dining rooms, and bedroom wings held apart from the entertaining space. With only about two homes per landing, most apartments enjoy multiple exposures and a sense of a private floor. Layouts range from well-scaled two- and three-bedroom homes up to the larger full- and near-full-floor configurations that pre-war buyers prize.

309 West 86th Street runs as a self-contained, well-kept pre-war cooperative. A full-time live-in superintendent maintains the building, with a first-floor laundry room, shared storage on each floor plus additional basement storage, a bike room, and video security. There is no doorman ; compare current maintenance, reserves and assessments with similar corridor apartments and inspect actual noise conditions. The building is pet-friendly, a meaningful detail on a block this close to Riverside Park.

As with most pre-war cooperatives on the Upper West Side, purchases are subject to board review and a financing posture typical of the corridor, with subletting permitted under board policy rather than as a matter of right. These are owner-occupant terms, consistent with the building's long-standing residential character.

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 (2021): a median $1,292/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 3.1% 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 1-01248-0025). 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

This is a board-approval cooperative, so plan for a complete purchase application and an interview. The reward is a genuinely scarce product: a large pre-war apartment on a double-wide Riverside-adjacent block, in a building small enough to feel personal. Prioritize exposure and floor — the front rooms on the wide block and the higher floors carry the light that defines value here — and weigh the condition of each apartment, since pre-war homes range from estate-condition originals to gut renovations. Buyers who want a quiet, owner-occupied building near the park, rather than a full-service tower with a staffed lobby, are the natural fit. We help buyers read the building's financials, benchmark the asking price against the corridor's recent trades, and prepare a board package that presents cleanly.

The selling case writes itself around scarcity and provenance: a 1914 Schwartz & Gross cooperative, two homes per floor, on one of the West Side's best blocks a short walk from Riverside Park. Buyers in this segment are paying for space, light, and the address, so presentation and exposure matter enormously. Estate-condition apartments should be marketed honestly to renovation-minded buyers; renovated homes should lead with their layout and light. Pricing belongs against the pre-war cooperative trades on the surrounding West End and Riverside blocks rather than the larger doorman buildings on the avenues. We position each listing to the specific buyer the building attracts and manage the board-package timeline so a deal closes without friction.

If you're weighing 309 West 86th Street, also look at these nearby pre-war cooperatives:

• 302 West 86th Street — pre-war cooperative on the same block
• 305 West 86th Street — neighboring West 86th Street cooperative
• 310 West 86th Street — pre-war cooperative across the street
• 320 West 86th Street — larger pre-war on the same block
• 300 West End Avenue — corner pre-war cooperative steps away
• 310 West End Avenue — West End Avenue pre-war cooperative