The Royal Summit
320 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024
Upper West Side
BBL 1012470043 · BIN 1033923
- Year built
- 1915
- Type
- Cooperative
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2006–2025
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- Recent range
- $129K – $2M
- Listing discount
- 3.7%
- Recorded transfers
- 26
The Royal Summit is one of a celebrated pair of 1915 prewar buildings designed by Mulliken & Moeller and set side by side on West 86th Street just off Riverside Park — 320 and its twin at 310. Together they form one of the most distinctive entrances on the Upper West Side: a magnificent, ornate terra-cotta lobby, glazed in deep brown, that buyers and brokers consistently rank among the most beautiful in the city. The building's name is no exaggeration; the public spaces were built to impress, and they still do.
Beyond the lobby, the appeal is location and scale. The building sits half a block from Riverside Park — with the park's tennis courts, the 79th Street Boat Basin, riverside restaurants, and the bike-and-running paths along the Hudson all within a short walk — on a quiet, leafy block in the heart of the West End / Riverside precinct. At twelve stories and just 30 residences, it is an intimate, full-service co-op of large prewar apartments rather than a high-turnover tower.
For buyers, the combination is rare: a small, beautifully appointed prewar co-op, fully staffed, steps from the park, with notably flexible ownership terms — converted to cooperative ownership in 1981 and well run ever since.
Architecture and unit composition
Mulliken & Moeller designed The Royal Summit in a confident prewar idiom, but the building's signature is its ornament — the lavish terra-cotta of the entrance and lobby, with its dark-brown glazing and richly modeled detail. It is the kind of craftsmanship that has become essentially impossible to reproduce, and it gives an otherwise restrained masonry building a genuine sense of arrival.
With only 30 apartments across twelve floors, the residences are large, running roughly one to four bedrooms, with the high ceilings, deep windows, and gracious proportions of 1915 construction. The low unit count means light and exposures are generous and privacy is real. Many homes have been thoughtfully renovated over the building's decades as a co-op while retaining their prewar bones.
Building operations
The Royal Summit is a full-service building: a 24-hour doorman, porters on staff, and a live-in resident manager keep it running to a high standard. Common amenities include a central laundry, a bike room, and private storage in the basement, and washer/dryers are permitted within apartments.
On policy, the co-op is accommodating for a prewar building. Financing is permitted up to 75 percent of the purchase price — generous for the type — and the building is pet-friendly. Pied-à-terre purchases are considered on a case-by-case basis, and subletting is allowed with board approval. These terms, paired with the building's small size and full staffing, make it an unusually livable and ownable prewar address.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2025 | 8C | 1 BR · 1 BA | $517,500 | -3.3% | |
| Jul 11, 2023 | 5B | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,350 sf | $1,995,000 | $1,478/sf | +0.0% |
| Feb 5, 2020 | 4B | 3 BR · 3 BA | $1,800,000 | -9.8% | |
| Aug 27, 2019 | 5D | 2 BR · 1 BA | $905,000 | -24.3% | |
| Jul 31, 2019 | 2B | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,790,000 | -3.2% | |
| Apr 20, 2017 | 8C | 1 BR · 1 BA | $417,000 | -5.0% | |
| Feb 4, 2016 | 10B | 2 BR · 1,950 sf | $3,200,000 | $1,641/sf | +0.0% |
| Jul 13, 2015 | 5B | 2 BR · 1,350 sf | $2,300,000 | $1,704/sf | -4.0% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2023): a median $1,478/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 3.7% 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 1-01247-0043) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
What to know if you’re buying
This is a prewar cooperative, so a board package and interview are part of the process — but the terms are friendly: 75 percent financing, pet-friendly, and pied-à-terres considered case by case. Budget for maintenance that funds the 24-hour staff and the upkeep of a richly detailed 1915 building.
What you are buying is a large prewar apartment in a small, beautiful, fully staffed building half a block from Riverside Park — a combination that rarely comes to market. We help buyers read the financials, understand the board's posture, and target the homes and exposures that best capture the building's light and proximity to the park.
What to know if you’re selling
The selling case is the building itself: the renowned terra-cotta lobby, the Mulliken & Moeller pedigree, the half-block walk to Riverside Park, and the flexibility of 75 percent financing in a small, full-service co-op. That bundle reaches a deep, discerning buyer pool.
Price against the Riverside / West End prewar cohort, adjusting for floor, exposure, and condition. A renovated apartment with good light will lead the market. We position each listing to the right comparable set, present the building's distinctive character to full advantage, and manage the board process to a clean close.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering The Royal Summit, also evaluate these nearby Upper West Side prewar co-ops:
- 310 West 86th Street — The Royal Summit's twin, next door
- 300 West 83rd Street — prewar cooperative nearby
- 320 West 83rd Street — prewar cooperative a few blocks south
- 200 West 88th Street — prewar West 80s cooperative
- 505 West End Avenue — prewar West End Avenue cooperative
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West Side.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
Considering a move at The Royal Summit?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Royal Summit 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.