411 East 57th Street

Schuman & Lichtenstein's design is disciplined 1950s modern: a 17-story mass in white speckled glazed brick over a polished granite base, with consistent fenestration and a canopied entrance. The offering plan records 112 apartments plus two professional suites at the base and a ground-floor store; city records now count 103 residential units, the difference reflecting decades of combinations. The mix runs from studios and one-bedrooms through combined two- and three-bedroom homes, with penthouse units above the 17th floor. Post-war planning conventions hold throughout — defined foyers, generous closets, eat-in or pass-through kitchens depending on renovation generation — and the concrete flat-plate structure takes renovation well. Corner exposures at First Avenue get open western light; upper floors on the east and north pick up bridge and river outlooks.

Full-service at the corridor's standard: 24-hour doorman, resident manager, central laundry, bike and luggage rooms, rentable storage, and a basement garage operated under the cooperative's authority — the offering plan placed garage rentals under the board's control, and current availability and rates should be confirmed during diligence. The roof deck is the building's signature shared amenity. A retail store at the base contributes commercial income to the cooperative, a structural plus for maintenance stability that dates to the original conversion economics. The 1970 offering plan and its architects' report are on file in The Roebling Research Library.

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. Most recent trades (2026 to date) cleared a median $914/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. 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 2.6% 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 1-01369-0002). 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.

The policy framework is the headline. 70 percent financing, no flip tax, and openness to pieds-à-terre, gifting, and guarantors per brokerage records — that combination is rare on this corridor, where 50 percent financing and case-by-case skepticism are the norm. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering.

Do not underwrite sublet flexibility. Listing records indicate subletting is generally not permitted, and the proprietary lease requires board or supermajority shareholder consent. If you need exit-via-rental optionality, this is the wrong building — buy it to live in or as a true pied-à-terre.

The block is the amenity. Walk East 57th between First and Sutton at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. before deciding: it is one of the quietest full-service blocks in Midtown, with Sutton Place Park and the river esplanade at the end of the street.

Through-wall air conditioning cuts both ways. Original to the building and genuinely convenient — no window units, no central-plant seasonal switchover for cooling — but factor sleeve and unit replacement into renovation budgets.

Verify the garage and storage queues. The basement garage and storage lockers run under board authority; availability, wait lists, and rates should be confirmed with the managing agent before contract.

Sell the framework, not just the unit. No flip tax, 70 percent financing, and pied-à-terre acceptance materially widen your buyer pool relative to neighboring co-ops. State these facts in the marketing — many Sutton-corridor searchers assume stricter terms and self-eliminate.

Position against the pre-war tier honestly. Your buyer is cross-shopping pre-war Sutton co-ops with higher maintenance and stricter boards. The pitch is service, structure, and block quality at a meaningful discount in both price and carry.

Condition drives outcomes in post-war stock. The spread between renovated and estate-condition units is wide here; price to the renovation math rather than against it. Run the Renovation Cost Calculator against your asking strategy.

If you're considering 411 East 57th Street, also evaluate:

• 1 Sutton Place South — the corridor's pre-war trophy co-op; the prestige step-up
• 2 Sutton Place South — Sutton Place cooperative; compare construction history, service and river outlook separately
• 25 Sutton Place South — post-war full-service co-op on the river esplanade
• 425 East 58th Street — the Sovereign; the corridor's grand-scale post-war alternative
• 430 East 58th Street — boutique neighbor one block north
• 303 East 57th Street — the Excelsior; the full-amenity post-war co-op alternative at 57th and Second
• 444 East 57th Street — nearby building; verify ownership and purchase requirements before treating it as a cooperative comparison
• 400 East 56th Street (Plaza 400) — large post-war co-op with extensive amenities one block south
• 117 East 57th Street — the Galleria; the condo alternative on 57th Street's Midtown spine