5 East 44th Street
5 East 44th Street, New York, NY 10017
BBL 1012797501 · BIN 1035368
- Year built
- 2009
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 20
- Floors
- 20
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Confirm specifics at offer stage
- Subletting
- Permitted under the condominium bylaws
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Every recorded sale at this building, 2009–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,374
- Listing discount
- 11.4%
- Recorded sales
- 41
- On record
- 2009–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at Number 5 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.
5 East 44th Street — Number 5 — is a rare piece of design-name architecture in the heart of Midtown: a slender 20-story condominium tower designed by Alan Ritchie of the office of Philip Johnson, tucked mid-block between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Completed in 2009 on just a 28-foot-wide lot, the building is a deliberate exercise in verticality — off-white metal panels accented by a bold colored column on the façade — and inside, a boutique plan of largely full-floor residences that few Midtown addresses can match.
For the buyer who wants a design-forward, boutique condominium at one of Manhattan's most central addresses — steps from Grand Central, Bryant Park, the Fifth Avenue retail spine, and the Madison Avenue corridor — Number 5 is a clean proposition: deeded condominium ownership, architect-designed interiors, full-floor privacy, and a 20-residence scale in a building with genuine design pedigree.
Building operations
The condominium runs on a boutique full-service model: an attended lobby, central air and heat, and the privacy of a largely full-floor plan. The 20-residence scale keeps the building intimate while the attended lobby provides security and package coverage.
As a condominium, ownership is by deed rather than shares. Purchases avoid the share-loan structure and interview process of a cooperative; financing is a matter between buyer and lender; and pied-à-terre, investment, and subletting uses are permitted under the bylaws. Pet rules, any transfer fee, and specific sublet terms should be confirmed against the current bylaws at offer stage.
Architecture and residences
The building carries a Gilded Age backstory: its site was once home to Canfield's, one of the era's most famous gambling houses, shuttered in an anti-vice campaign in 1901. A century later, the office of Philip Johnson gave the block a very different landmark — a narrow contemporary tower whose off-white metal-panel skin and colored accent columns read as an intentional break from Midtown's masonry.
Inside, Number 5 is built around full-floor and mid-floor residences with high ceilings, Bulthaup kitchens, and Toto fixtures — the building was the first residential project in Manhattan to install the Toto Neorest in every apartment. Central air and heat serve the homes. The 20-residence, one-per-floor logic gives owners privacy, light on multiple exposures, and a scale that feels more like a private tower than a typical Midtown condominium.
The Midtown block
The mid-block between Fifth and Madison on 44th Street places Number 5 at the crossroads of Midtown — a short walk from Grand Central Terminal, Bryant Park and the New York Public Library, the Fifth Avenue flagship retail corridor, and the Madison Avenue office and hotel spine. It is one of the most transit-rich and centrally connected positions in Manhattan, with the 4/5/6/7/S at Grand Central and the B/D/F/M at Bryant Park close at hand. To own here is to own at the literal center of the city, in a boutique tower on a distinguished block.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $9,014/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $33
- Modeled exposure split equally across 23 units (the city tax-lot count). Not an assessed amount; co-op shareholders are typically charged by share allocation.
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →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.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2015–20 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
421-a Tax Abatement
- Last year of benefit
- FY2021
- Fully taxed from
- FY2022 (2021–22)
- Program
- 421-a (10-year)
The 421-a benefit has run its term. Taxes on these units have stepped up toward the full assessed amount, so the low carrying cost this building once carried is no longer available. Price from the current tax bill, and treat any comparable sale made while the abatement was still running as a different asset.
Source: NYC Dept. of Finance property-tax exemption records (421-a), refreshed 2026-09-06 · The Roebling Research Library. Confirm the exact step-up schedule on the building’s DOF tax bill. Years shown are NYC tax years, which start July 1 — FY2022 runs July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The benefit last appears on the 2021 assessment roll, which is what dates the end of the term.
The 421-a Expiration Wave — our study of when these benefits expire citywide, and what the resale record shows about pricing as they do.
Recent sales
Condominium pricing is read on a per-square-foot basis, and 5 East 44th Street trades as a design-forward boutique Midtown condominium — full-floor layouts, architect-designed interiors, and the flexibility premium that deeded ownership commands. With only 20 residences, resale volume is thin: a small number of closings in an active year. Pricing is driven by floor, exposure, layout, ceiling height, and renovation condition rather than by any neighborhood average, and the Philip Johnson-office pedigree and full-floor privacy are part of the value story. When underwriting a purchase or a list price, capture the specific unit's square footage, floor, light, and finish level rather than leaning on a Midtown headline number.
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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 2026 | 7 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,419 sf | $1,950,000 | $1,374/sf | -18.1% |
| Dec 15, 2025 | 6A | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 876 sf | $1,100,000 | $1,256/sf | -7.9% |
| Jun 1, 2022 | 3A | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 876 sf | $1,038,000 | $1,185/sf | -1.1% |
| Feb 10, 2020 | 7 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,416 sf | $1,450,000 | $1,024/sf | -26.6% |
| Feb 21, 2019 | 18 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,277 sf | $1,580,000 | $1,237/sf | -12.2% |
| Jul 16, 2018 | 3B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 629 sf | $840,000 | $1,335/sf | -4.3% |
| Mar 1, 2017 | — | 2,836 sf | $4,500,000 | $1,587/sf | -7.2% |
| Feb 28, 2017 | COM | 1 BA · 2,858 sf | $4,500,000 | $1,575/sf | off-mkt |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,374/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 11.4% 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 1-01279-7501). 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.
Closed rents at Number 5, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 3 | $4,600 |
| 2 bedroom | 5 | $7,500 |
8 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease May 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
Buying here? Condo closing costs with a mortgage typically run 3 to 6% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
Keep up with Number 5 and its market
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What to know if you’re buying
This is a condominium, so the path is straightforward: no board interview, financing set by your lender, and a review of the building's financials, reserve, and bylaws during due diligence. Read the bylaws on pet rules, any transfer fee, and sublet terms, and confirm them at offer stage. As a 2009 new-construction tower, review the reserve and any capital-planning history on the building envelope, the elevator, and systems — contemporary construction carries its own diligence profile.
The reasons to buy are the design and the location: an architect-designed boutique tower with full-floor privacy, new-construction systems and finishes, deeded ownership with pied-à-terre and investment latitude, and one of the most central addresses in Manhattan.
What to know if you’re selling
The story is design pedigree and full-floor living at the center of Midtown. A Philip Johnson-office tower with full-floor residences, Bulthaup kitchens, and a distinctive façade is a specific, marketable proposition that sells to buyers who want architecture and privacy inside Midtown. Pricing is an apartment-specific exercise: square footage, floor, light, ceiling height, and condition drive the number. We position the architectural narrative, benchmark against the right tier of boutique Midtown condominiums, and market to the design-minded buyer who wants a central, full-floor home.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 5 East 44th Street, also look at these Midtown and Fifth Avenue boutique and full-service buildings:
- 400 Fifth Avenue — full-service Midtown condominium nearby
- 445 Fifth Avenue — Midtown condominium nearby
- 425 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue condominium tower nearby
- 520 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue condominium nearby
- 685 Fifth Avenue — Fifth Avenue condominium nearby
- 100 East 53rd Street — design-forward Midtown East condominium
More Midtown East buildings
- Prospect Tower (45 Tudor City Place) — 1927 co-op
- 50 United Nations Plaza — 2015 condominium by Foster + Partners
- Park Avenue Place, 60 East 55th Street — 2003 condominium by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)
- 100 East 53rd Street — condominium by Foster + Partners
- 100 United Nations Plaza — 1986 condominium by SLCE Architects
- 110 East 57th Street — 1957 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Midtown East — read The Roebling Team Guide to Midtown East.
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at Number 5?
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