340 East 74th Street (The Avon House)
340 East 74th Street, New York, NY 10021
- Year built
- 1957
- Type
- Condop — the building is legally The 340 East 74th Street Condominium
- Units
- 119
- Floors
- 12
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- 24-hour doorman, live-in superintendent, renovated lobby and elevators, landscaped roof deck (recently renewed per brokerage records), private storage, bike room, central laundry, and on-site garage (the separately owned commercial condominium unit)
- Pets
- Permitted, per brokerage records
- Financing
- 80 percent permitted, per brokerage records and transaction records on file
- Flip tax
- 2 percent of the sale price, seller-paid — adopted by the corporation on April 13, 2010, effective for sales after January 1, 2012, per the plan documents on file
The Avon House is the rare building where the word "condop" can be explained from primary documents rather than market shorthand. The building is legally a condominium with two units: a Residential Unit — the 119 apartments, carrying a 93.92 percent common interest — owned by 340 East 74th St. Owners Corp., a cooperative formed in January 1990 under a November 1988 conversion plan, and a separately owned Commercial Unit comprising the garage entry and most of the cellar, carrying the remaining 6.08 percent. Per the offering plan and audited financial statements on file, residents buy shares and live under co-op mechanics, while the garage operates entirely off the cooperative's books. The practical result: shareholders get the services of a garage building without the cooperative carrying its commercial operations.
What distinguishes the building inside Lenox Hill is its policy stack. Pied-à-terre purchases, co-purchasing, gifting, pets, and 80 percent financing are all permitted per brokerage records — a combination most co-ops between Lexington and the river do not offer — while the documented 2 percent seller-paid flip tax (adopted in 2010, per the plan documents on file) funds the corporation on each transfer. For buyers who want a boutique full-service post-war building with flexibility a conventional co-op board would not allow, and without condominium pricing, this is precisely the structural middle ground condops were designed to occupy.
The setting is one of the quieter blocks in the East 70s: mid-block between First and Second Avenues, across from the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, whose low-rise presence keeps light on the street. The Forum, the large tower at 343 East 74th Street, faces from the north side. The Q at 72nd and Second and the 6 at 77th and Lexington bracket the location.
Architecture and unit composition
The Avon House is a disciplined example of its vintage: 12 stories of beige brick over a canopied entrance with landscaped sidewalk frontage, through-wall air conditioning in place of window units, and no balconies — the flat-faced massing typical of 1957 construction east of Second Avenue. The 119 apartments run from studios and one-bedrooms through two-bedroom lines, with the post-war proportions — defined foyers, dining alcoves, generous closets — that renovate well. The lobby and elevators have been renovated in recent cycles, and the landscaped roof deck, renewed per brokerage records, serves as the building's shared outdoor amenity.
Building operations
Full-service at boutique scale: 24-hour doorman, live-in superintendent, central laundry, storage, and bike room, with the garage accessed on site through the commercial unit. The audited financial statements on file show a cooperative run on conservative mechanics — maintenance of roughly $2.7 million annually across the share count, an annual operating assessment that approximates the real estate tax abatements credited back to eligible shareholders (read the maintenance and assessment lines together when comparing carrying costs), a designated reserve fund, and documented capital work on the boiler, risers, and garage roof. The 2013-vintage mortgage carried a fixed 3.30 percent and was scheduled to mature in July 2023; the current loan terms are a first-order diligence item, since refinancing flows through to maintenance.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $33,908/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $23
What to know if you’re buying
It lives like a co-op — underwrite it like one. Despite the condominium wrapper, purchases run through the cooperative's board process with a board package and approval. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering, and budget for the standard co-op timeline.
The flexibility is the headline. Pied-à-terre, co-purchase, gifting, pets, and 80 percent financing — permitted here per brokerage records — are exactly the terms that conventional Lenox Hill co-ops decline. If your purchase involves any of these structures, this building's framework is materially friendlier; confirm current policy with the managing agent.
Understand the condop split before attorney review. The cooperative owns 93.92 percent of the common elements; the garage and most of the cellar belong to the separately owned commercial unit. Your attorney should review how shared building costs allocate between the units — the financial statements on file document the mechanics.
Ask about the mortgage refinancing. The documented loan was scheduled to mature July 1, 2023 with an approximately $4.8 million balloon. The terms the cooperative secured at refinancing shape the maintenance trajectory — request the current loan summary during diligence.
Price the fee stack into your net sheet. The 2 percent flip tax is seller-paid, but it shapes seller pricing behavior; buyers should also confirm move-in deposits and application fees with the managing agent. Run the Buyer Closing Cost Calculator on the specific deal.
What to know if you’re selling
Market the structure, precisely. "Condop with co-op pricing and condo-adjacent flexibility" is the accurate pitch: 80 percent financing, pied-à-terre, co-purchase, and gifting all permitted. Buyers' agents screening for flexible buildings will surface yours if the marketing states the policies plainly.
Net out the flip tax from day one. The 2 percent seller-paid transfer fee, documented in the plan amendments on file, belongs in your pricing math at listing — run the Seller Closing Cost Calculator before setting the ask.
Condition drives the spread. In a 119-unit building with simple line structure, renovated units clear at visible premiums and estate units price to the renovation math. The Renovation Cost Calculator is the honest anchor for either side of that conversation.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 340 East 74th Street, also evaluate:
- The Forum (343 East 74th Street) — the large condop tower directly across the street; the bigger-building alternative with the same ownership structure
- 200 East 74th Street — white-brick post-war co-op at the Third Avenue corner of the same street; the conventional co-op alternative one block west
- 305 East 72nd Street — large post-war full-service co-op two blocks south
- 360 East 72nd Street — post-war co-op with garage and grounds; the scale step-up
- 333 East 79th Street — the two-building First Avenue Owners co-op campus five blocks north; similar policy flexibility at far larger scale
- St. Tropez (340 East 64th Street) — the early Lenox Hill condominium alternative for buyers who want full condo mechanics
The Roebling Team at The Avon House
The Roebling Team at Compass works Lenox Hill and the broader Upper East Side as a core practice area, and our file on The Avon House — offering plan, amendments, and audited financials — reflects direct transaction work in the building. We publish this building profile because condop buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — ownership structure, policy framework, and fee mechanics — not generic neighborhood commentary.
If you're considering a transaction at 340 East 74th Street, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.