311 East 38th Street (The Whitney)
311 East 38th Street, New York, NY 10016
BBL 1009447501 · BIN 1021933
- Year built
- 1986
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 118
- Floors
- 28
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Permitted — one dog up to 40 pounds per residence; cats permitted
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium declaration
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2002–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf (floor-adjusted)
- $1,145
- Listing discount
- 2.9%
- Recorded sales
- 153
- On record
- 2002–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Whitney 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 Whitney is a 28-story condominium tower completed in 1986 on a quiet, tree-lined stretch of East 38th Street between First and Second Avenues. Designed by Liebman & Liebman and developed by Arum Bhatia Development Corporation, it is a full-service building in the mid-market Murray Hill mold: a pale yellow brick tower with a double-height lobby, a landscaped courtyard garden with a fountain, and — its most recognizable feature — private balconies, many with curved ends, stepping up the façade.
The location is the appeal. The building sits mid-block in the residential heart of Murray Hill, near the Midtown East border, within a short walk of Grand Central, the United Nations, and the East River Ferry, with Trader Joe's, Target, and an AMC theater close at hand. Upper floors capture East River views to the east and open city exposures to the west; the highest apartments are prized for their sightlines to the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks. Despite the proximity of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel approach, the mid-block setting keeps the immediate street quiet.
For buyers, The Whitney offers the combination that makes 1980s full-service condominiums durable: real building services, private outdoor space on many lines, condominium flexibility, and mid-market Murray Hill pricing.
Architecture and unit composition
The 118 residences distribute across 28 stories in a pale yellow brick envelope. Balconies — a significant number with the building's signature curved ends — appear across many lines, and some wrap-around terraces exceed 100 square feet. Apartments run from studios through multi-bedroom layouts, weighted toward one- and two-bedroom homes; two-bedrooms frequently carry split-bedroom plans, and corner and top-floor one-bedroom lines are notably larger.
Interiors feature floor-to-ceiling windows and, on many lines, dual east/west exposures delivering East River and open-city views. As with any building nearing four decades in occupancy, renovation quality varies apartment to apartment and drives much of the pricing spread within the building.
Building operations
The Whitney is a full-service condominium: 24-hour doorman and concierge, a live-in resident manager, a fitness center with sauna and locker rooms, a landscaped courtyard garden with a fountain, laundry on every floor, a bicycle room, and resident storage. A full-service parking garage sits directly adjacent to the building. Common charges and property taxes reflect a full-service tower of this age; buyers should model the full monthly carry and review reserves and any capital history during due diligence, as is prudent for any building now several decades into occupancy.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $20,107/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $14
- Modeled exposure split equally across 118 units (the city tax-lot count). Not an assessed amount; co-op shareholders are typically charged by share allocation.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair, with repairs due by the deadline stated in the filing. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Management & transfer contacts
Recent sales
As a condominium, The Whitney prices on a price-per-square-foot basis and trades at mid-market Murray Hill condominium pricing. Within the building, floor, exposure, view, outdoor space, and renovation condition drive pricing more than any building average; upper-floor lines with East River views and larger corner one- and two-bedrooms command the premiums.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 16, 2026 | 18A | 1 BR · 1 BA · 725 sf | $742,500 | $1,024/sf | -4.2% |
| May 4, 2026 | 8D | 1 BA · 500 sf | $597,000 | $1,194/sf | -2.1% |
| Apr 27, 2026 | 18C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 500 sf | $630,000 | $1,260/sf | -2.2% |
| Oct 16, 2025 | 7B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 631 sf | $695,000 | $1,101/sf | -7.2% |
| May 5, 2025 | 3E | 1 BR · 1 BA · 450 sf | $615,000 | $1,367/sf | -1.6% |
| Feb 27, 2025 | 19A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,093 sf | $1,225,000 | $1,121/sf | -2.0% |
| Feb 20, 2025 | 18B | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 745 sf | $1,025,000 | $1,376/sf | -2.4% |
| Dec 30, 2024 | 17C | 1 BR · 1 BA · 500 sf | $725,000 | $1,450/sf | +0.0% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,145/sf (floor-adjusted) across 3 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 2.9% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00944-7501). 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.
Closed rents at The Whitney, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 5 | $3,300 |
| 1 bedroom | 5 | $3,800 |
10 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease June 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
At the recent median sale of $725K (8 sales since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $28,608 to close, or 3.9% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $0
- Mortgage recording tax: $10,467
- Title insurance: $3,262
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $14,879
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
Balconies and views drive value. The building's balconied lines and upper-floor East River exposures carry the premium. Confirm exactly what a given apartment sees and whether its outdoor space is usable.
Condition drives price. Renovation quality is a primary variable within the building. Inspect kitchens, baths, and mechanicals and price against comparable condition.
Condo flexibility is real. Pied-à-terre, subletting, foreign buyers, and LLC/trust ownership are permitted under the declaration; closings run on condo timelines.
Understand the pet policy. Dogs are permitted up to 40 pounds; confirm the current rules if you have a larger dog.
Mansion tax thresholds apply. At this building's pricing, the $1M and higher cliffs can be in play. Run pricing through the Mansion Tax Calculator.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the outdoor space and the view. For balconied and upper-floor lines, private outdoor space and East River sightlines are the headline. Photography should foreground them.
Presentation matters. Because condition drives the pricing spread, staging and preparation materially affect outcome.
Price per square foot against the right comps. Comparable analysis should weight floor, exposure, outdoor space, and condition.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 311 East 38th Street, also evaluate:
- 350 East 30th Street — nearby Kips Bay full-service condominium
- 240 East 35th Street (The Murray Hill) — nearby Murray Hill full-service cooperative
- Gramercy — the broader corridor's condominium and cooperative market
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.
Considering a move at The Whitney?
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