31-85 Crescent Street (The Crescent House)

The building covers a 29,382-square-foot irregular lot with 92,250 square feet built across six stories ; dividing that gross building area by apartment count gives roughly 795 square feet, but includes shared space and does not establish apartment interiors. Inspect actual plans and measurements for the studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom inventory. The plan is a broad brick block set around an interior courtyard, with a rear yard given over to service and parking. There is no commercial space and no professional tenancy in the tax record: this is 116 apartments and nothing else, which simplifies both the financials and the tax analysis.

Cooperative ownership does not itself determine whether reliable square footage exists. Price per room and price per share can supplement total-price and layout comparisons here: room counts are fixed in the offering plan and the proprietary lease schedule, and share allocations are on the stock certificate. With roughly 30,700 shares across 116 apartments — an average near 265 — share allocations provide one comparison at this address, alongside actual layout, size and condition. Against a co-op elsewhere in Astoria, compare rooms, maintenance, underlying debt and recent sales; share counts are set building by building and do not carry across.

Within the building the variables are floor, courtyard versus street exposure, whether the apartment has been renovated under a board-approved alteration agreement, and whether a garage space comes with it. Parking is by waiting list, resident-only, one vehicle per licensed resident driver, and expressly non-transferable — a space returns to the corporation when the resident leaves. It does not convey with a sale, and any listing that implies otherwise should be checked.

The cooperative runs a union payroll with a live-in superintendent and porter staff, an on-site laundry room off the lobby, a package room and the courtyard. The boiler was converted from No. 6 fuel oil to natural gas under a 2014 Department of Buildings permit, which removed the building from the city's heavy-oil phase-out obligations well ahead of the deadline. At 92,250 square feet the building is inside the city's building-emissions and energy-benchmarking regimes; ask the managing agent to state the Local Law 97 position in writing.

The historical financial statements describe the cash and capital-funding position at the years reviewed. At the most recent year-end on file the corporation held cash in the high four hundred thousands against 116 apartments, and the statements disclose in the standard language that the governing documents do not require reserve accumulation, that no reserve study had been performed and no funding plan for future major repairs existed at that statement date. Identify the statement year and confirm whether either has since been completed. In practice the board funds capital work by assessment and by borrowing: an annual assessment approximating the value of the New York City cooperative and condominium tax abatement, used to hold the maintenance increase down; the exterior-work assessment of $6.05 per share running from September 2020; and the enlarged 2021 mortgage. The corporation also holds one apartment as a corporate investment, purchased in 2010 and rented, which contributes rental income alongside garage and laundry revenue.

Real estate taxes are the largest single administrative line. The cooperative and condominium abatement flows to owner-occupants, and the building also levies an assessment; reconcile maintenance, the abatement credit and the assessment for the specific apartment rather than netting them, and confirm abatement eligibility.

Purchaser and subtenant approval: Admissions Committee interview and board approval required for every purchaser and every subtenant.

Financing: 80 percent maximum, per the purchase application on file. A signed lender recognition agreement is required in triplicate at closing.

Primary residence: The purchase application asks whether the buyer intends to occupy the apartment as a primary residence. A pied-à-terre policy is not documented in the materials on file; confirm with the managing agent.

Subletting: Two consecutive years maximum, in one-year terms, after one year of ownership, with a subtenant interview and board consent at the board's sole discretion. Unauthorized subletting carries escalating monthly fines and referral for lease termination.

Pets: Written board consent, case by case; one dog and one cat per apartment; dogs 25 pounds or less at adult weight.

Alterations: Board approval required before any work, including painting and floor refinishing. Licensed contractors and certificates of insurance naming the corporation. Work weekdays only, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a $250-per-day fine for unapproved work and $500 per day if damage results.

House rules of note: Eighty percent of each room's floor area must be carpeted; no washers or dryers in apartments; no satellite dishes; smoking prohibited in all common areas including the rear garden; moves by appointment only with a $500 refundable deposit and a published fine schedule.

Board terms not documented: Flip tax, minimum post-closing liquidity and debt-to-income requirements are not stated in the materials on file. Do not assume the market defaults; ask the managing agent.

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 (2025): a median $1,234/sf (floor-adjusted) across 5 sales. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 0.0% from the last ask.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 4-00579-0018). 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.

Resolve the sponsor and investor unit count before you make an offer. Approximately 18 percent of the apartments were sponsor-held at the most recent statements on file. Get the current figure in writing and confirm which lenders have closed loans in the building this year.

Ask what the 2021 refinance funded. The underlying mortgage grew from $1.75 million to $2.5 million, with a $1 million line alongside it, immediately after an exterior-work assessment. That is a coherent story, but it should be told by the board rather than inferred.

Reconcile maintenance, the annual abatement assessment and any abatement credit for the specific apartment rather than netting them against the headline figure, and confirm abatement eligibility on that apartment.

Understand what you cannot do. No washer or dryer. Subletting capped at two consecutive years, after one year of ownership; confirm whether a waiting period or lifetime limit also applies. One dog, twenty-five pounds. Board approval to refinish a floor. These are ordinary postwar co-op terms, but they are firmer here than in the condominium stock this building competes with on price.

Sellers: lead with share count and renovation. The share allocation is the cleanest comparison a buyer can make, and it is the fastest way to explain why your apartment is worth more than the one that closed last quarter.

If you're considering The Crescent House, also evaluate:

• 25-40 Shore Boulevard (Shore Towers) — the 409-unit Astoria waterfront condominium at Astoria Park; the neighborhood's high-volume, full-amenity alternative in the other tenure
• Kennedy House (110-11 Queens Boulevard) — the 405-unit Forest Hills cooperative with rooftop pool and attended garage; the closest Queens peer on scale and co-op governance
• Lane Towers (107-40 Queens Boulevard) — Forest Hills doorman cooperative over the subway; transit rather than courtyard as the proposition
• 11-02 49th Avenue (L Haus) — Long Island City condominium of similar unit scale; the condo-tenure comparison one neighborhood south
• 27-28 Thomson Avenue (Arris Lofts) — Long Island City loft conversion; large apartments at a different price tier
• 22-18 Jackson Avenue (Galerie) — 182-unit Long Island City condominium; the full-amenity new-development alternative
• 5 Court Square West — boutique Long Island City condominium; the small-building contrast