501 Third Avenue (Eastlight)
501 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10016
BBL 1009147501 · BIN 1091631
- Year built
- 2020
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 144
- Floors
- 34
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Permitted under condominium rules
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
Eastlight is the most consequential ground-up condominium built at the Kips Bay–Murray Hill seam in the last two decades, and it is the clearest test of a thesis that the corridor had not previously proven: that a Third Avenue address in the low 30s could carry a genuinely designed, amenity-complete new-development condominium rather than the investor-grade product the avenue had absorbed through the 2000s.
The corridor's existing condominium stock explains the gap Eastlight was built into. 143 East 34th Street (2002), 385 Third Avenue (2006), The Charleston at 225 East 34th Street (2007), and 303 East 33rd Street (2009) between them define a fifteen-year run of competent, unremarkable boutique-to-midsize construction. None of them carried an architectural argument. Eastlight does. China Overseas America commissioned CetraRuddy — a firm whose Manhattan residential portfolio is built on massing tricks that generate light and view from constrained sites — for a 5,600-square-foot lot with an 18.78 built floor-area ratio, roughly double the 10.0 residential FAR the underlying C1-9 zoning allows as of right. The result is a tower that is far taller and far thinner than its lot would ordinarily produce, and the design consequence of that geometry is the building's entire premise.
That premise is light. The tower cantilevers above its base and steps as it rises, which puts a meaningful share of the inventory on projecting corners with two or three exposures rather than the single-aspect slot layouts that dominate the corridor's older stock. The glazing runs floor to ceiling and is sound-attenuated — a necessary specification on a Third Avenue frontage that carries bus and truck traffic all day. From the upper floors the sight lines run to the Chrysler Building to the north, the East River and the Queens skyline to the east, and downtown to the south. The building's name is not decorative; it is the underwriting case.
The second structural argument is the amenity level's placement. Most new-development condominiums of this size bury their amenities in the cellar and on the second floor, where they are cheap to build and unsellable as residential area. Eastlight puts its fitness center, lounge, game room, private dining room and outdoor terrace on the 34th floor, at the top of the building. That is an expensive decision — it surrenders the best floor in the tower — and it is the single amenity choice at the building that a resident actually notices daily.
Architecture and unit composition
The 144 residences run from studios of approximately 462 square feet through one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and a small number of three-bedroom and convertible layouts at the upper floors. Average unit size across the building is roughly 917 square feet by architectural records — small by trophy-tier standards and appropriate to the corridor, where the buyer pool skews toward first-purchase, relocation, and pied-à-terre use rather than family-sized primary residences.
Interior specification is consistent across the building rather than tiered by floor. Kitchens carry integrated Miele appliance packages; bathrooms carry Kohler fixtures in a titanium finish; every residence has a vented in-unit Bosch washer/dryer, which in this corridor is a genuine competitive advantage over the converted-rental condominium stock nearby. Several layouts were drawn with a flexible alcove or secondary space that has functioned well as a home office — a configuration that has aged better than the sponsor could have known when the plans were drawn.
The line-level distinction that matters most at Eastlight is exposure, not floor. The corner and cantilevered lines carry the multi-exposure light the building is named for; the interior lines do not, and price accordingly. A buyer comparing two units at the same asking price on adjacent floors should be looking at the window count and the orientation, not the altitude.
Building operations
Eastlight operates as a full-service condominium with an attended lobby, package handling, bicycle storage, and the top-floor amenity level. Staffing is calibrated to a 144-unit building rather than a trophy tower — buyers accustomed to a doorman, concierge and separate service entrance should confirm the current staffing schedule with the managing agent rather than assume it.
Because the building is recent construction, the operating questions that dominate diligence in prewar co-ops — façade cycles, underlying mortgage maturity, elevator replacement — are not yet live here. The questions that are live are different and specific to new development: the status of any remaining sponsor punch-list obligations, the reserve balance at the most recent year-end, whether the condominium board has completed its transition from sponsor control, and whether any common-element defect claims are open. Ask for the most recent audited financial statement and the last two years of board minutes; on a building of this vintage those two documents answer nearly everything.
Recent sales
Eastlight trades as the corridor's price leader on a per-square-foot basis among conventional condominium inventory, and the spread between it and the surrounding 2000s-vintage stock is the building's defining commercial fact. Sponsor closings began in 2021 into a soft market, which produced a first cohort of buyers whose basis is below where the building has generally cleared since; resale supply through 2024 and 2025 has been thin as a result, and the units that do come to market are disproportionately the smaller studio and one-bedroom lines rather than the multi-exposure corners.
Two pricing behaviors are worth naming for anyone underwriting here. First, the exposure premium inside the building is wide — a light-and-view corner and an interior line on the same floor are not comparable assets, and building-average per-square-foot figures materially mislead in both directions. Second, the corridor discount to the Murray Hill and Midtown East condominium tier a few blocks north is real but has compressed since delivery; buyers pricing Eastlight against The Devon at 333 East 34th Street or The Charleston are comparing new construction to converted and mid-2000s product, and the gap should be expected to persist.
Indexed to the last complete year, the Kips Bay and Murray Hill condominium market has been a volume market rather than a price-appreciation market — steady absorption at the entry and mid tiers, limited pricing power at the top. Eastlight's inventory sits mostly in the tiers that have kept moving.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Recent closings at this building, sourced from NYC Department of Finance records. Apartment-level detail (line, condition, asking-price context) verified upon consultation request.
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 15, 2026 | 22E | $1,435,000 |
| Jul 9, 2026 | 10A | $890,000 |
| Jul 6, 2026 | 20A | $1,322,706.75 |
| Jun 26, 2026 | 29B | $1,575,000 |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 20B | $1,292,086.25 |
| May 28, 2026 | 21E | $1,465,000 |
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 1-00914-7501) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
Buy the exposure, not the floor. The building's cantilevered massing means the difference between a corner line and an interior line is larger than the difference between the 12th floor and the 24th. Walk both at the same time of day before you price either.
Confirm the tax position on the specific unit. No abatement is documented for this parcel. A marketing sheet showing a low monthly tax figure should be checked against the current Department of Finance bill.
Ask where sponsor inventory stands. On a 144-unit building delivered in 2021, the remaining sponsor position and the owner-occupancy ratio drive lender project approval. Get the answer from the managing agent before a mortgage commitment is assumed.
The in-unit washer/dryer is not a given in this corridor. It is here, in every unit. That is a durable resale advantage against the converted-rental inventory nearby.
Model the full carry. Common charges plus unabated taxes on a small-to-mid-sized unit can approach the economics of a larger apartment in older stock. Run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator before committing.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the top-floor amenity level. It is the building's most differentiated feature and the one competing inventory in the corridor cannot answer.
Price against the same line, not the building average. Exposure dispersion inside Eastlight is wide enough that a building-average per-square-foot figure is not a defensible list price on either the high or the low side.
The buyer pool is broader than the corridor's co-ops. Pied-à-terre, investor, LLC and foreign buyers all transact here and cannot transact in most of the surrounding cooperative stock. Market accordingly.
Closings are condominium-fast. Thirty to forty-five days from contract, subject to the board's right of first refusal.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering Eastlight, also evaluate:
- 303 East 33rd Street — 2009 new-construction condominium; the closest prior ground-up comparable in Kips Bay
- The Charleston (225 East 34th Street) — 2007 condominium; the corridor's prior full-service benchmark
- 143 East 34th Street — 2002, built new as a condominium; smaller and quieter
- 385 Third Avenue — 2006 condominium on the same avenue, ten blocks south
- The Devon (333 East 34th Street) — postwar rental converted to condominium; larger floor plates, older systems
- The Future (200 East 32nd Street) — 1993 condominium; the corridor's late-century full-service alternative
- One United Nations Park (685 First Avenue) — 2018 condominium a few blocks east; newer, larger, and a tier up on price
- 200 East 21st Street — contemporary condominium at the Gramercy end of the corridor
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across Gramercy — read The Roebling Team Guide to Gramercy.
Considering a move at Eastlight?
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 Eastlight 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.