455 East 51st Street (Beekman Terrace)

The lot is large by prewar Beekman standards — roughly 166 feet of frontage on a lot about 100 feet deep, some 16,677 square feet, carrying about 47,000 square feet of building across six stories. That ratio is the whole design: the H-plan spends its frontage on light and on the courtyard rather than on height, which is why a six-story building on this block feels generous rather than cramped.

The elevation is irregular by intention. Rough red brick rises over an arched, rusticated stone ground floor; the terra-cotta plaques with the lion of St. Mark and the maritime devices are set into the brick rather than assembled into a cornice program; the canopied entrance faces the stair down to the sunken park. Air-conditioner sleeves protrude in places, which is the ordinary consequence of a 1925 building that has never been under landmark review.

Apartments are large-boned rather than large. Layouts run from one-bedrooms with entrance galleries, libraries and separate dining rooms through two- and three-bedroom lines with 20-foot-plus living rooms; wood-burning fireplaces recur throughout the inventory; some apartments carry terraces. The two exposures behave very differently. East-facing rooms take the river, the bridges and the Roosevelt Island channel — but they also take the FDR Drive directly below, and any buyer should listen to a specific apartment with the windows open and closed before pricing the view. South-facing rooms look over the sunken park and the low Beekman Place townhouses, which is the quieter exposure. Courtyard-facing rooms look at the garden rather than at a rear lot line, which in a six-story building is a real amenity.

The building runs white-glove at small scale. Uniformed doormen staff the gate 24 hours a day under house rules that require every visitor and delivery to be announced; a resident superintendent leads a unionized staff; there is a separate service entrance through which all trades, messengers and large deliveries must pass. The amenity set — landscaped courtyard, seasonal roof deck, basement laundry, exercise room, storage bins — is documented in the house rules rather than in marketing copy, which is worth knowing because the roof deck in particular comes with real conditions: decked areas only, no smoking, no cooking, no alcohol, seasonal hours, no unaccompanied minors, and advance notice to the superintendent for gatherings.

The financial picture in the most recent audited statements on file is the part a buyer should read closely, and it is a mixed one. On the positive side, the corporation modernized both passenger elevators in 2017 under a roughly $413,000 contract and completed the work that year, has held maintenance increases in the 2 to 2.5 percent range in the years covered, and carries an operating budget in which real estate taxes — not debt service — are the largest single line. On the other side, the corporation was running a small operating deficit before depreciation in the last year on file, its reserve fund had fallen sharply year over year, it funded part of the elevator work by drawing on its line of credit, it levies a recurring annual assessment of roughly $23–24 per share to cover ordinary operating costs, and its auditor noted that management had omitted the estimates of future major repairs and replacements that generally accepted accounting principles require. The statements therefore give no repair estimate; whether a separate reserve study exists is a question for the managing agent.

The single most important open item is the underlying mortgage. The $3.5 million loan placed in June 2013 was interest-only at 4 percent and matured on July 1, 2023. The file does not establish whether the loan was refinanced, extended or retired, or the rate and cost of any successor debt. In a thirty-six-apartment building, a change in underlying debt service is spread across a very small denominator. Ask for it first.

Layered on top of that is a live exterior program: sidewalk shed and pipe scaffold filed in July 2022, and a façade repair project covering the cellar, façade, open space and roof filed in September 2023 and approved that October. There is no J-51 or other tax exemption offsetting any of it.

Unusually for a small prewar cooperative, most of this is documented rather than inferred — because the house rules, proprietary lease and alteration agreement are on file in The Roebling Research Library. Where a term was not established in the reviewed material, obtain current written confirmation.

Ownership form: Cooperative. A purchaser acquires shares in Beekman Terrace, Inc. together with a proprietary lease for a specific apartment. Board approval follows a full financial package and an interview, and a board is not obliged to explain a rejection.

Right of first refusal: Before an apartment goes on the open market, the house rules require the selling shareholder to offer it to fellow shareholders. This is a genuine timing item in a sale and should be built into any listing plan.

Transfer fee: 2 percent of the sale price, payable by the purchaser, per the audited financials. Most Manhattan flip taxes fall on the seller; this one does not. On a purchase in the low seven figures that is a five-figure line item that buyers routinely fail to budget.

Financing: Board approval is required for any financing, refinancing or equity line secured by the shares. Confirm the current maximum permitted loan-to-value with the managing agent in writing.

Post-closing liquidity: Confirm the current written requirement. Ask the managing agent for the current standard and how qualifying liquid assets are defined; the unit count does not establish a common cause of rejection.

Subletting: Board policy is to discourage it. Where approved, the term may not exceed two years, the shareholder must be temporarily absent from New York for a reason the board accepts, the subtenant is vetted as a purchaser would be, the rent must be at market, a $500 application fee applies, and 10 percent of the annual rent is charged monthly to the shareholder's account. Renewals past two years will not be granted. Treat it as unsuitable for any plan that depends on rental income; a temporary-absence sublet is possible only at the board's discretion.

Occupancy and pied-à-terre: The house rules confine residence to shareholders and immediate family and instruct staff to refuse entry to non-family "guests" when the shareholder is not in residence. Trust and entity ownership are not addressed in the documents on file and must be raised with the managing agent before an offer if the purchase is to be structured that way.

Pets: Up to two per apartment, each with written board permission, which the board states it will not unreasonably withhold. Permission is revocable if a pet becomes a nuisance.

Renovation and mandatory upgrades: Alterations require written approval, a $1,000 application fee and a board-retained architect's review at the shareholder's cost. Separately — and this is the item most often missed — a purchaser must, within one year of closing, replace all original windows against a $10,000 deposit held at closing, install new electric service with dedicated air-conditioner circuits, replace a stove or refrigerator older than fifteen years, and either lay new flooring over soundproofing or re-nail and refinish the existing floors. Shareholders must also carpet 80 percent of floor area outside kitchens, baths and closets, and must carry liability insurance.

Washer/dryer: Not permitted in an apartment without written board approval.

Real estate taxes: Paid at the corporate level and passed through in maintenance. No building-level exemption appears in the FY2021 through FY2027 rolls.

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 $815/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 7.0% 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 1-01363-0020). 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.

Budget the 2 percent transfer fee as a buyer cost. It is documented in the corporation's audited financials and it falls on the purchaser, not the seller. Confirm the current rate with the managing agent, and add it to closing costs before you set your offer.

Budget the one-year capital obligations too. Original windows must be replaced within twelve months against a $10,000 deposit taken at closing, and the house rules also require new electric service with air-conditioner circuits, replacement of appliances over fifteen years old, and flooring work with soundproofing. In an estate-condition apartment these are not optional improvements; they are contractual.

Establish the financing ceiling and the liquidity standard in writing. Confirm both in the current application instructions and governing documents; the shareholder count does not establish the requirements.

Do not buy here for rental income. The stated policy is to discourage subletting, the maximum term is two years, renewals are refused, and the fee stack is a $500 application charge plus 10 percent of annual rent. A sublet is a discretionary exception for a temporary absence, not a rental strategy; if your plan depends on renting the apartment, this is the wrong building.

Ask for the current underlying mortgage, the reserve position and the façade status. The $3.5 million loan on file matured in July 2023 at a 4 percent interest-only rate; the current loan status, balance and debt service must be established from updated documents rather than inferred from the maturity date. The auditor's report on file also notes that the required estimates of future major repairs and replacements were omitted; ask whether a separate reserve study or capital plan exists. Request the last two audited financial statements and two years of board minutes, and read them against the 2022–2023 façade filings.

Listen to the apartment. The FDR Drive runs directly below the east elevation. River views depend on floor and line; the roadway is there either way. Courtyard and south-facing lines are the quiet ones.

Start with the shareholder right of first refusal. The house rules require you to offer the apartment to fellow shareholders before it goes on the open market. Build that step into the timeline rather than discovering it after you have a launch date.

Be direct about the buyer-paid transfer fee. Sophisticated buyers' counsel will find it. Presenting it up front, with the number attached, produces cleaner negotiations than letting it surface after an accepted offer.

Assemble the document package before you list. House rules, proprietary lease, alteration agreement, the last two audited financials, current underlying mortgage terms, the assessment schedule and the current façade project status. Supplying the current documents supports diligence without establishing control over the transaction timetable.

Qualify buyers against the building's real standards. A small board with a conditional sublet policy and a 65% financing cap can decline candidates who look fine on paper elsewhere. Screening before you accept an offer reduces the risk of the most expensive outcome in a co-op sale.

Price against condition and exposure, not a building average. With thirty-six apartments across six floors and three very different outlooks, in-building comparables are thin. Run the Renovation Cost Calculator against your asking strategy, and account for the fact that a buyer must fund window, electric and flooring work in year one.

If you're considering Beekman Terrace, also evaluate:

• 450 East 52nd Street (The Campanile) — the 1927 Venetian Gothic cooperative one block north on the same tax block, at the East 52nd Street river terminus; a different building entirely, with sixteen apartments; review its current governing documents
• River House (435 East 52nd Street) — the 1931 Art Deco cooperative at the same river edge; the enclave's defining building
• 1 Beekman Place — 1929 cooperative on the Beekman Place cul-de-sac immediately south; the closest peer in discretion and scale
• 2 Beekman Place — Rosario Candela's 1931 cooperative at the foot of Beekman Place
• 30 Beekman Place — river-facing cooperative at the north end of the enclave, a block from Beekman Terrace
• 12 Beekman Place — H. I. Feldman's 1957 white-glove cooperative; the postwar alternative on the same street
• Southgate (410 East 52nd Street) — the large Southgate-era cooperative on the same street, at far greater unit count and very different economics
• 1 Sutton Place South — 1927 riverfront Sutton Place cooperative by Rosario Candela with Cross & Cross; same vintage, same river, a larger shareholder body
• 25 Sutton Place — Rosario Candela's 1928 cooperative at the north end of the Sutton enclave
• 400 East 51st Street (The Grand Beekman) — the condominium alternative in the same enclave, without co-op board admission; confirm its leasing rules