420 East 86th Street

Built in 1935, the building belongs to the generation of six-story elevator apartment houses that filled Yorkville's side streets and 86th Street's east end in the 1930s. It has brick elevations with precast concrete ornament and aluminum railings, and an elevator and stair bulkhead on the roof. DOB filings describe wood floor joists, as expected for a mid-rise building of this vintage.

Every floor repeats the same plan. The A and D lines are the largest at about 1,186 gross square feet, B and C about 950, F and G about 845 to 860, and E and H about 556, per DOF records. On the sixth floor the G and H units have been combined into a single unit of about 1,400 square feet. A 2002 DOB filing also proposed combining 5E and 5F, but the tax roll still lists them separately.

DOB records show a façade repair program in 2005 covering all elevations, the roof, and the elevator and stair bulkheads. A second program in 2019 replaced brickwork, precast trim and railings, without those repair filings alone establishing FISP applicability. FISP applies to buildings higher than six stories, while this profile records six; confirm the legal height and filing requirements. In 2012 the boiler was converted from No. 6 to No. 4 oil. In 2020 the building filed to legalize isolated floor-joist repairs made under a DOB violation. That filing was signed off. It is still worth asking about when you review the building's structural history.

No offering plan or financial statements for this building are on file in The Roebling Research Library. Ask the managing agent for the current budget, reserve balance, common-charge arrears, any assessments, and the most recent façade inspection report.

Recent sales

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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $892/sf (floor-adjusted) across 2 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 2.3% 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 1-01565-7501; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). 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.

Sponsor concentration affects your financing. Agency-conforming condominium loans limit how much of a building one owner may hold (Fannie Mae's single-entity limit is generally 20 percent for projects of 21 or more units, with stated exclusions and possible waivers, depending on the status and occupancy of the held units). At about 40 percent of units, this building may exceed that limit, in which case some buyers will need a portfolio lender willing to approve it. Test financing before you sign a contract.

Ask what the sponsor units are. The 19 sponsor-held units are probably rented, though public records don't confirm it. Some may hold long-term regulated tenants who remained through the conversion. Ask the managing agent for the sponsor's occupancy, whether it is current on common charges and taxes, and how many board seats it controls.

The condominium questionnaire is where the answers are. The lender's questionnaire and the managing agent's responses will show owner-occupancy, arrears, litigation and reserves. Read them carefully.

There is no tax abatement. The only J-51 on record ended with the 1994 tax year. Model carrying costs on the unit's current tax bill.

Condo mechanics still apply. There is no board interview. A right of first refusal, if the declaration has one, is usually waived as a formality. Confirm the terms on leasing, pets and pieds-à-terre from the by-laws and house rules.

Lead with fee ownership in a prewar building. Buyers who want prewar character without a co-op board have few options in Yorkville.

Plan for financing friction early. Name a lender familiar with the building, or price for a cash-heavy buyer pool. Questions about sponsor concentration will come up. Answering them upfront keeps a deal together.

Compare to the same line. The spread between lines is wide enough that a building average will mislead a buyer.

If you're considering 420 East 86th Street, also evaluate:

• 425 East 86th Street — a 1929 prewar cooperative across the street; the co-op alternative on the same block
• 153 East 87th Street — a 1928 prewar building structured as a true condominium
• 141 East 88th Street (Philip House) — a 1928 building converted to condominium in 2013; the higher-end prewar condo option
• 237 East 88th Street — a small prewar condominium
• 444 East 87th Street — a 42-unit Yorkville co-op with a similar studio and one-bedroom mix
• 439 East 88th Street — a 32-unit Yorkville co-op from 1915
• 455 East 86th Street — a 1986–1987 postwar condominium across the street