514 West End Avenue
514 West End Avenue, New York, NY 10024
Upper West Side
BBL 1012320061 · BIN 1033124
- Year built
- 1923
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 45
- Floors
- 15
- Landmark
- Designated
- Amenities
- attended lobby, laundry, basement storage (as share-allocated units). No garage and no commercial space at the base
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 2BR median
- $1.7M
- Recent range
- $1.6M – $3.3M
- Listing discount
- 2.6%
- Recorded transfers
- 57
Gaetano Ajello built more of this neighbourhood than any other architect, and 514 West End Avenue is one of his corner buildings — a 1923–24 Renaissance Revival house at 85th Street, red brick over a limestone base, quoined at the corners, banded with cornices at the fourth and fifth floors and finished with arched windows and a balustrade at the top. It went up for the Paterno organisation, whose monogram is still over the door, and it belongs to the same run of work as 255 West 84th Street (The Alameda), which sits on the same tax block and which Ajello had designed nine years earlier.
The two are worth comparing because they are structurally different in the way that matters most. The Alameda is a condop: a two-unit condominium whose residential unit is owned by a cooperative, with the Broadway retail owned separately. 514 West End Avenue is a plain cooperative — one tax lot, one corporation, no commercial unit, no second layer of governance, and no commercial neighbour whose interests diverge from the shareholders'. Both sit inside the Riverside–West End Historic District Extension I, designated in June 2012, and that is verified here by tax lot rather than assumed from the block. If you are choosing between them, you are choosing between two Ajello buildings on one block with very different ownership machinery underneath.
The second thing to understand is the sponsor. This building converted late — the offering plan is dated March 27, 1996, decades after most of West End Avenue — and the sponsor still holds a meaningful position. As of the most recent audited year on file, it owned 7,860 of 37,157 shares, about 21 percent, allocated to eleven apartments and twenty-two storage units, all of them tenant-occupied and generating rent that roughly equalled the maintenance charged on them. Only one of those eleven apartments has traded since. A fifth of a forty-five-unit cooperative held by a single entity is not a defect, but it is a fact that some lenders and most buyers' attorneys will ask about, and it shapes how quickly the building's remaining inventory reaches the open market.
The third is the roofline. In January 2010 the cooperative filed an Alteration Type 1 to combine the two penthouse apartments and build a vertical enlargement above Ajello's cornice — work that predates the June 2012 designation and that shows up today as the sixteenth floor city records now carry against the fifteen stories LPC records. Anything done to the exterior from here runs through the Commission.
Architecture and unit composition
The lot is small — 4,973 square feet, roughly 62 feet of frontage — and the building carries about 68,000 square feet of residential floor area on it, a built floor area ratio of 13.69 in a district zoned for 10.0. That arithmetic is the reason the apartments are large: forty-five apartments over sixteen floors works out to roughly three per floor and an average well above 1,400 square feet.
Recorded share transfers show A, B and C lines on the residential floors, with combinations appearing regularly — 8A with 9A, 12B with 12C, 16B with 16C, 9B with 9C. Department of Buildings filings record combinations in 2002, 2003, 2007, 2018 and again at the penthouse in 2010. Because the site is a corner, exposure is genuinely differentiated: north-facing lines have West 85th Street, west-facing lines have West End Avenue and, from the upper floors, a Hudson outlook over the low-rise rowhouse blocks at 508 and 510 West End Avenue, which are themselves inside the historic district and are not going to be built up. The south facade faces a gated service alleyway and is only partially designed.
The building's basement storage units are worth understanding as a category of their own. They are share allocations, bought and sold through the same transfer machinery as an apartment, and they show up in ACRIS as share transfers with unit designations like SU4 and SU33. Twenty-two of them remained sponsor-held as of the most recent amendment.
Building operations and capital position
The cooperative runs an attended lobby with a small staff — payroll and related expenses ran about $384,000 in the most recent audited year on file — with laundry and storage in the basement. There is no garage and no commercial income.
Underlying mortgage. The audited statements on file describe a refinancing on July 30, 2014 with the National Consumer Cooperative Bank: $4,000,000 at 4.00 percent, interest only, on a ten-year term maturing August 1, 2024, together with a $1,000,000 revolving line of credit that had not been drawn, a lender-required $350,000 reserve account, and a stepped prepayment penalty. ACRIS then records a further NCB refinancing on July 12, 2021 — a $5,000,000 mortgage and a $500,000 line, with the 2014 facility satisfied — which supersedes those stated terms entirely. The current principal balance, rate and maturity must be obtained from the managing agent. This is a building whose underlying debt has been refinanced twice in a decade and structured interest-only both times, which means no principal has been amortized away.
Reserves. The reserve fund stood near $379,000 at the most recent year-end on file, down from about $480,000 the year before as capital work was funded. The auditors note that the corporation has not conducted a study of the remaining useful lives of building components and that no plan exists to fund future major repairs — the statements are issued without the supplementary information on future major repairs and replacements that accounting standards require. That is a real disclosure and it belongs in a buyer's file.
Assessments. The board imposed a $3.12 per share capital assessment in 2010 to fund exterior work, raised it to $6.00 per share effective September 1, 2015 when roof and elevator costs arrived, and discontinued it effective June 30, 2018. Separately, and recurring, the board assesses all shareholders on a per-share basis in an amount approximating the Cooperative and Condominium Property Tax Abatement credited to eligible shareholders — $2.5396 per share in the most recent year documented. That is a common structure and it means the abatement does not reach shareholders as a net reduction in carry.
Capital work. Documented in the statements and in Department of Buildings filings: façade restoration campaigns in 2000, 2006 and 2013 with sidewalk sheds and pipe scaffold; roof tank replacement; roof structure reinforcement in 2015; elevator modernization under a $141,200 contract completed in the most recent audited year; electric panel upgrade; sidewalk restoration with a new ramp; security upgrades; and standpipe work in 2017.
Taxes. Real estate taxes ran about $464,000 net in the most recent audited year against maintenance charges of roughly $1.35 million — the largest single line in the budget after payroll and debt service. The corporation files tax certiorari protests regularly and had multiple years open at the last report. Maintenance was increased 3.5 percent effective July 1 of the most recent year documented.
Policy framework
The transactional stack at this building is not published, and the documents on file — an offering plan amendment and audited financial statements — do not set it out. Financing ceiling, minimum down payment, post-closing liquidity requirement, debt-to-income threshold, sublet policy and fees, flip tax, pet policy, pied-à-terre policy and the board's posture on trusts, limited liability companies, co-purchasers and guarantors are all board-set and must come from the managing agent before you sign a contract. They are the single most common reason a financially qualified buyer is turned down, and they are not discoverable from the public record.
What is established: this is a share purchase. You buy shares in DAK Equities Corp., sign a proprietary lease, submit a board package and sit for an interview. The board is resident-controlled and has been since 1999. Purchases of sponsor-held apartments from Reads Associates LLC are made under the offering plan rather than through board approval, which is a materially different transaction — if you are buying one of the remaining unsold apartments, your attorney should be reading the plan and its amendments, not just the contract.
One further caution that applies to entity and trust ownership generally in New York City cooperatives: a transfer into a trust can suspend or forfeit the Cooperative and Condominium Property Tax Abatement unless the trust and its beneficiaries are properly registered with the Department of Finance. Confirm the mechanics with the managing agent and your attorney before restructuring title.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $23,321/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $42
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 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.
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).
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
514 West End Avenue trades as a large-apartment prewar cooperative, sold on rooms, light and condition rather than on price per square foot. The corner site, the room counts that come from a 13.69 floor area ratio, and the Ajello detailing are the product. Indexed to the last complete year, the West End Avenue prewar market has favoured renovated, family-sized apartments with real exposures and has discounted estate condition more sharply than it did five years ago.
Three structural facts sit in the pricing. The first is the sponsor's remaining roughly one-fifth position, disclosed in the plan amendments and occupied by tenants — a point that will come up in attorney review and, occasionally, in lender underwriting. The second is the underlying debt: interest-only, refinanced in 2021, with no amortization and a maturity that is a scheduled future maintenance question. The third is that the conversion-era J-51 benefit is gone from the lot entirely, so there is no subsidy left to burn off and nothing to model down.
The most useful comparables are the prewar cooperatives on West End Avenue between 83rd and 87th Streets and the Ajello inventory nearby, rather than the Broadway or Riverside Drive towers. Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 9, 2026 | 7B | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,625,000 | -4.1% | |
| Jul 20, 2026 | 12BC | 5 BR · 4 BA | $3,275,000 | -3.7% | |
| Feb 25, 2026 | 14A | 3 BR · 2 BA | $1,570,000 | -1.6% | |
| Aug 30, 2024 | 6A | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,718,525 | +2.6% | |
| Aug 11, 2022 | 11C | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,550,000 | +0.0% | |
| Aug 8, 2022 | 12A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,250 sf | $1,700,000 | $1,360/sf | +1.2% |
| Dec 1, 2021 | 16A | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,250 sf | $1,560,000 | $1,248/sf | -2.2% |
| Mar 8, 2021 | 3B | 2 BR · 2 BA | $1,550,000 | -2.8% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2022): a median $1,344/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 1.9% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 8, 2004 | 11C | $750,000 |
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 1-01232-0061) 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
Establish whether you are buying from a shareholder or from the sponsor. The two transactions are governed by different documents and follow different approval paths. Eleven apartments were still sponsor-held at the most recent amendment on file; only one has traded since.
Get the underlying mortgage in writing. The audited statements describe a 2014 interest-only note that has since been replaced by a 2021 refinancing recorded in ACRIS. Principal balance, rate and maturity all belong in your diligence file.
Read the auditors' note on reserves. No reserve study has been performed and no funding plan exists. Reserves were under $400,000 at the most recent year-end on file against a hundred-year-old landmarked exterior. Ask what the board's five-year capital plan is and whether an assessment is contemplated.
Ask what is currently being assessed. The 2010–2018 capital assessment has ended, but the recurring per-share operating assessment tied to the tax abatement continues. Model your monthly carry from the current maintenance bill plus current assessments, not from a headline maintenance figure.
The building is landmarked, verified by lot. Window replacement and exterior alterations require Landmarks Preservation Commission review. The 2010 penthouse enlargement was filed before designation; nothing comparable would be straightforward now.
Get the policy stack before you offer. Financing ceiling, post-closing liquidity, flip tax, sublet rules and pied-à-terre policy are unpublished. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator once you have them.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the size and the corner. Roughly three apartments per floor in a building overbuilt to nearly 14 FAR produces room counts that newer West End Avenue inventory cannot match, and a corner lot means two real exposures rather than one.
Have the answers to the sponsor and mortgage questions ready. Every serious buyer's attorney will ask about the sponsor's remaining position and about the interest-only underlying note. Assemble the current audited statements, the current budget, the mortgage terms and the assessment history before you list. A prepared answer converts a flag into a fact.
Present the ownership form as the differentiator against the block. On this tax block the alternative Ajello building is a condop with a commercial condominium unit above it in the structure. A straight cooperative with no commercial layer is simpler to explain and simpler to underwrite.
Model the flip tax once you have it. Confirm the amount and payer with the managing agent, then run the Seller Closing Cost Calculator.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 514 West End Avenue, also evaluate:
- 255 West 84th Street (The Alameda) — same tax block, same architect, same historic district, but a condop with a commercial condominium unit; the closest and most instructive comparison
- 500 West End Avenue — Schwartz & Gross, 1914–15, the other large prewar house on this tax block at 84th Street
- 505 West End Avenue — Ajello directly across the avenue at 84th Street
- 522 West End Avenue — the immediate neighbour north of 85th Street
- 525 West End Avenue — across the avenue at 85th Street; the same corner condition on the west side
- 498 West End Avenue — the West End Avenue alternative at 83rd Street, on a different tax block
- 480 West End Avenue — prewar cooperative at 83rd Street
- 310 West 85th Street — Ajello on the same street, closer to Riverside Drive
- 300 West 83rd Street — another Ajello Renaissance Revival house nearby
- 535 West End Avenue — the larger-scale alternative two blocks north
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, schools, transit, and pricing across West End Avenue — read The Roebling Team Guide to West End Avenue.
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.
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.
Considering a move at 514 West End Avenue?
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 514 West End Avenue 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.