5 Riverside Drive
5 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10023
Upper West Side
BBL 1011840028 · BIN 1030993
- Year built
- 1936
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 100
- Floors
- 19
- Landmark
- Designated
- Pets
- Permitted — cats and dogs per brokerage records
- Financing
- Brokerage records indicate a minimum down payment of roughly one-third of the purchase price — verify current terms
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 2BR median
- $2M
- Recent range
- $480K – $3.1M
- Listing discount
- 0.0%
- Recorded transfers
- 89
5 Riverside Drive is a building made possible by an infrastructure project. Beginning in 1934, the New Deal-funded West Side Improvement rebuilt Riverside Park and buried the New York Central's freight tracks beneath it — removing, at a stroke, the noise and soot that had kept the Drive's southern blocks a tier below West End Avenue. The city's designation report identifies this building as one of the first large apartment houses — possibly the first — erected after that improvement was completed. When Boak & Paris filed plans in October 1936 for a nineteen-story-and-penthouse tower at the corner of the Drive and West 73rd Street, the period press noted it would face "the newly landscaped Riverside Park"; by the time it opened in the fall of 1937, the building was effectively the prototype for the modern, park-facing lower Drive. The New York Times reported demand for its suites in 1939, and the building's developer had already made its profit: within months of completion, Simon Brothers' syndicate sold the building for $2.5 million to a Protestant Episcopal school organization as an investment — a transaction The New York Times described as among the largest New York realty exchanges in several years.
The architecture is the second argument. Boak & Paris were among the most distinctive apartment designers of the 1930s, and this is one of their strongest surviving facades: red brick over a heavily reeded stone base, a broken-pediment entrance crowned by a classical urn, green-marble entry reveals, and wrap-around corner windows that turn the park exposure into the apartments' defining feature. Inside, the firm's signature is intact — foyers that step down into dropped living rooms, dining galleries, and decorative fireplaces — a piece of 1930s romantic modernism that newer inventory cannot replicate and that the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension has protected since 2013.
The building's co-op era has its own footnote in New York housing history: in 1982, the board's rejection of the actor Werner Klemperer — Colonel Klink of Hogan's Heroes — became a New York Times story about the opacity of co-op admissions, with the actor protesting that no law required the board to tell him why. The episode is a period piece; today the building trades as one of the lower Drive's approachable pre-war co-ops, a block from the 72nd Street express subway and the park's Eleanor Roosevelt entrance.
Architecture and unit composition
The massing rises sheer from the corner through the 15th story, then steps back twice with balconette-railed terraces to the penthouse — the upper-floor setback units carry some of the building's only private outdoor space, and listing records confirm select terraces. Apartments run from the original two-to-five-room program: today that translates to one-bedrooms through three-bedroom corner lines, around 100 units in all. The premium inventory is structural and obvious — west and southwest corner lines above the treetops, where the wrap-around windows deliver Riverside Park, the Hudson, and open sky. The dropped living room does real work in these layouts: it separates the entertaining floor from the entry sequence and adds perceived ceiling height exactly where the view is. Most window sash has been replaced over the decades (a handful of original multi-paned corner sashes survive, per the designation report), and through-wall air conditioning is the building norm.
Building operations
A doorman-and-concierge pre-war run at modest scale: attended lobby, live-in superintendent, central laundry, and bike room, with no gym, garage, or roof deck — buyers comparing carrying costs should weigh the leaner amenity load against the lower overhead it implies. The building sits within a designated historic district, so window and facade work runs through Landmarks review on the usual timelines. Policy specifics — sublet terms, pied-à-terre posture, flip tax — are thinly documented publicly and should be verified against current management documents during diligence.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $34,171/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $28
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent). Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library.
See the full facade history →Management & transfer contacts
- Flip tax
- 2.5% of purchase price (shareholder)
- Sublet policy
- Allowed; sublet fee = 10% of annual rent (billed as additional rent)
- Notable fees
- Co-op (art deco, 109 units, UWS). Max financing 66%. Buyer app $700; credit $250; financing $400; move-in/out $350 fee + $2,000 deposit; alteration deposit 10% of renovation cost
Recent sales
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 2026 | 1C | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,249,000 | +0.0% | |
| Mar 24, 2026 | 12B | 1 BR · 1 BA · 950 sf | $1,235,000 | $1,300/sf | -4.3% |
| Mar 20, 2026 | 11C | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,700,000 | -2.9% | |
| May 21, 2025 | 3B | 1 BR · 1 BA | $896,117 | +0.1% | |
| Apr 9, 2025 | 17B | 2 BR · 1.5 BA | $2,400,000 | +14.6% | |
| Nov 20, 2024 | 14D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $997,375 | +0.7% | |
| Jul 23, 2024 | 5D | 1 BR · 1 BA | $1,205,000 | +12.1% | |
| Mar 15, 2024 | 15A | 2 BR · 2 BA | $2,325,000 | -3.1% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,177/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 0.7% 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.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 7, 2011 | 4F | $363,000 |
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 1-01184-0028) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. 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.
What to know if you’re buying
Buy the corner if you can. The wrap-around corner windows over Riverside Park are the building's structural asset — protected park frontage, Hudson light, and a facade detail the historic district designation preserves. The spread between corner-line and interior-line pricing is rational; pay it.
The dropped living room is a feature, not a quirk. Boak & Paris's sunken living rooms photograph and live beautifully, but they complicate certain renovations (flooring continuity, accessibility). Review the specific unit's plan with your architect before assuming a combination or reconfiguration.
Underwrite the policy stack early. Financing convention per brokerage records is roughly one-third down, and sublet, pied-à-terre, and flip-tax terms are not publicly documented — we verify against management documents during diligence. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before offering.
Calibrate amenity expectations. No gym, no garage, no roof deck — the trade is a leaner monthly carry and a quieter lobby. The park across the street is the amenity floor.
Transit is a genuine strength. The 72nd Street 1/2/3 express station is about a quarter-mile east; the crosstown M72 and the park entrance are at the corner. For a Drive address, this is unusually connected.
What to know if you’re selling
Market the history with precision. First large apartment house of the post-West Side Improvement Drive, Boak & Paris attribution, the 1937 press record, the protected facade — this building has a documented story, and the pre-war buyer pool responds to documentation over adjectives.
Stage the level change. The foyer-to-living-room step is the building's signature moment; photography and floor plans should feature it rather than crop it. Decorative fireplaces and gallery proportions deserve the same treatment.
Anchor pricing to exposure, not building averages. The corner/interior spread is wide, and same-line history is the honest comp set. We price from line-specific records, not building-wide per-foot figures.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 5 Riverside Drive, also evaluate:
- 11 Riverside Drive (The Schwab House) — the post-war full-block neighbor immediately north; the scale-and-flexibility alternative
- The Chatsworth (344 West 72nd Street) — the Drive's grand 1904 anchor at 72nd; the prestige pre-war step-up
- 340 West 72nd Street — pre-war co-op at the same park entrance
- 100 Riverside Drive — pre-war Drive co-op at 82nd–83rd
- 140 Riverside Drive (The Normandy) — Emery Roth's 1939 Art Deco landmark at 86th; the corridor's premier moderne comparable
- 173-175 Riverside Drive — J.E.R. Carpenter's curved-front co-op at 89th
- 320 West End Avenue — Rosario Candela pre-war one block east; the West End Avenue alternative
- 180 Riverside Drive — Schwartz & Gross pre-war co-op at 90th
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Riverside Drive — read The Roebling Team Guide to Riverside Drive.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
Considering a move at 5 Riverside Drive?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 5 Riverside Drive 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.