50 Madison Avenue

The site is an interior lot of 2,963 square feet on the west side of Madison Avenue. Everything about the building follows from that: a single stack, one apartment per floor above the commercial base, and a façade that concentrates its glass on the avenue.

The base survives from the earlier building — the Department of Buildings file records a renovated street vault under the sidewalk, a builder's pavement plan, and façade repair carried out in 2003 while the enlargement was underway. Above it the precast panel floors run to the eleventh story, with balconies and terraces on some lines and two private terraces at the penthouse. Several residences have been gut-renovated since 2005 under separate alteration filings, so condition is line-specific rather than building-wide.

Residences occupy floors three through eleven. The assessment roll puts the typical full-floor plate at roughly 2,600 to 2,650 square feet, historically marketed as three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath homes, with the duplex penthouse at roughly 3,560. The two commercial units occupy the base, together about 3,300 square feet of retail area, separately taxed at class 4.

Exposures are worth testing in person. East-facing rooms look directly at the New York Life Insurance Building's gilded pyramid and, from the upper floors, south toward Madison Square Park and the Metropolitan Life tower. The rear elevation faces a built-up block interior and some of those windows are lot-line windows. Establish which ones belong to the floor you are buying.

The building runs lean by design. The audited statements show security as by far the largest operating line — larger than repairs, utilities and payroll combined — which reflects a serviced lobby rather than a large uniformed staff. Management is third-party and the house rules on file reference a resident superintendent.

Two structural points belong in any buyer's underwriting. The commercial units carry a very small share of common expenses relative to the residences: the audited statements record commercial assessment income at a fraction of the residential total, which means the nine apartments fund essentially the whole building. And the association ran a designated litigation fund for several years, winding it down in 2020 and transferring the balance into operations after management concluded it was no longer needed. Both facts are in the statements on file and both are better raised with your attorney than assumed away.

Ownership form: Condominium. Transfers close through the board's right of first refusal rather than a cooperative approval.

Pets: Permitted, capped at two domestic dogs or cats in the aggregate, subject to the written consent of the board or managing agent under the Rules and Regulations on file. That consent is expressly revocable — an unusual retention of discretion for a condominium, and worth reading before you buy with a large dog.

Pied-à-terre, subletting, LLC, trust and foreign ownership: All permitted under the standard condominium framework. Minimum lease terms should be confirmed with the managing agent.

Terraces and balconies: The house rules prohibit barbecuing, enclosure, and any decoration, planting or installation on a terrace or balcony without prior written approval. If outdoor space is part of why you are buying, read rule 23 before you plan the furniture.

Noise and alteration hours: Construction and repair work is limited to business days between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., and there are defined quiet hours for music and sound. In a single-stack building where every apartment shares a floor slab with the next, these matter more than they would elsewhere.

Working capital: Approximately three months of common charges on initial purchase, per the audited statements.

Flip tax: Not documented in the condominium documents on file. Confirm with the managing agent before pricing a sale.

Real estate taxes: The current roll shows no exemption; check the specific unit's tax bill for any abatement and underwrite that bill rather than a projected schedule.

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 (2024) cleared a median $2,457/sf (recorded) across 1 sale. Median listing discount 4.1% 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 1-00856-7501; 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.

The reserve position is the diligence item. The audited statements reviewed report that the governing documents do not require reserves, no reserve study had been prepared and the board's plan for major work was to borrow, assess, or defer; confirm whether a study or funding plan has since been adopted. For an assessment in this nine-unit building, confirm each unit's allocated share in the governing documents and assessment notice rather than assuming nine equal contributions. Price that risk.

Confirm who owns the commercial units. The audited statements through 2020 record the sponsor as owner of both and disclose their assessment income as a related-party transaction. Current ownership and the commercial common-interest allocation should be verified — the residential owners carry most of the budget.

Underwrite full taxes from day one. There is no 421-a, no J-51 and no other exemption on any residential unit lot, and there never has been.

Read the pet rule and the terrace rule. Both are stricter than the condominium default and both are in the Rules and Regulations on file.

The landmark status cuts both ways. Not being in the historic district is why the building exists, and it also means the surrounding undesignated parcels carry the same latitude. Check what the neighbors could build, and establish which rear windows are lot-line windows.

Lead with the floor plate. A full-floor residence of roughly 2,600 square feet with two exposures and a private landing is a concrete layout feature to compare with the actual plans of converted office buildings on Fifth Avenue or East 26th Street.

Get ahead of the tax number. Sophisticated buyers will pull it. Presenting the current bill up front, paired with a True Monthly Carrying Cost analysis, beats letting it surface late.

Have the financials ready. The reserve note in the audited statements will come up, and it is better answered with the current budget, balance sheet and assessment history than left to the buyer's attorney to characterize.

Price line by line. With nine residences and twenty years of thin turnover, a building average is of little use. Floor, condition, outdoor space and exposure carry the pricing.

If you're considering 50 Madison Avenue, also evaluate:

• 21 East 26th Street (The Whitman) — same block, inside the Madison Square North Historic District; a 1924 building converted in 2013 and the closest small-building peer
• 15 East 26th Street (Fifteen Madison Square North) — prewar office conversion on the block behind, at larger scale
• 225 Fifth Avenue (The Grand Madison) — the block's Fifth Avenue frontage; the large-format conversion alternative facing Madison Square Park
• 212 Fifth Avenue — prewar office conversion overlooking the park; the high-end conversion comparable
• 241 Fifth Avenue — boutique NoMad condominium with full-floor and half-floor layouts
• 141 Fifth Avenue (Merchants Bank Building) — landmarked base with a residential conversion above; the closest analogue to this building's old-base, new-shaft logic
• 39 East 29th Street (Twenty9th Park Madison) — small NoMad condominium a few blocks north
• 45 East 22nd Street (Madison Square Park Tower) — the ground-up trophy tower on the park; a different price tier and a different economic model
• 260 Park Avenue South — loft conversion two blocks east; the larger, more amenitized alternative
• 30 East 31st Street — boutique new construction north of the district