515 East 72nd Street
515 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021
Lenox Hill, Upper East Side
BBL 1014847501 · BIN 1046261
- Year built
- 1985
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 326
- Floors
- 41
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Permitted under condominium rules
- Financing
- Condominium — low minimum down payment; no co-op-style financing cap
- Flip tax
- None documented as a condominium; confirm any current transfer fee at offer stage
Every recorded sale at this building, 2007–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf (floor-adjusted)
- $1,310
- Listing discount
- 6.4%
- Recorded sales
- 537
- On record
- 2007–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 515 East 72nd Street 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.
515 East 72nd Street is the amenity-first tower of the far East River end of the Upper East Side — a 41-story building that started life in 1985 as Harry Macklowe's River Terrace rental, then was reborn in the early 2000s as a 326-unit condominium organized around something almost no other Manhattan building can offer: a genuine half-acre of private, landscaped park at its base, complete with a central lawn that the building markets as the largest private green space in the borough. For families and buyers who want a suburban-scale amenity package inside a full-service Manhattan condominium, this is a destination building.
The conversion is the reason the building reads the way it does. Where most 1980s rental-to-condo conversions simply re-papered the ownership structure, the ownership here reduced the unit count from 408 to 326 — combining apartments into larger, family-sized homes — and built out an amenity program with real capital behind it: a competition-sized indoor saltwater pool, a full spa, a fitness center with a rock-climbing wall, and a multi-purpose sports court. The result is a condominium that competes on lifestyle rather than address prestige, in a location where the trade-off is deliberate: you accept the far-east walk to the subway in exchange for river light, quiet, and amenities that peer buildings on Park and Fifth cannot match.
Location defines both the appeal and the constraint. The building sits at the river's edge, delivering open East River exposure on its strongest lines and a stillness that mid-block corridor buildings never have. The same geography puts it a meaningful walk from the Lexington Avenue subway and adjacent to the FDR Drive and the hospital corridor to the south. Buyers who prioritize views, air, and amenity read the location as a feature; buyers who prioritize transit and central positioning weigh it carefully.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a brown-brick East River tower of the 1980s idiom — a tall, balconied slab positioned to maximize water frontage. Its architectural interest is less in the facade than in the site plan: the park at the base and the amenity core were the organizing move of the conversion, and the strongest apartments are the river-facing lines with floor-to-ceiling glass and, on many lines, private balconies overlooking the water.
The 326 condominium residences run from one-bedrooms through large three-, four-, and reconfigured multi-bedroom family homes created by combining original rental units. Layouts favor generous room proportions and river exposure; the upper floors carry the widest, most open East River and city sightlines. The conversion-era interiors were finished to an early-2000s luxury standard, and many units have since been renovated by owners.
Building operations
515 East 72nd Street operates as a full-service luxury condominium: 24-hour concierge, doorman, and porter staffing, an on-site attended parking garage, and one of the deepest amenity rosters in the market — the private park, the indoor saltwater pool, the spa with hot tubs, the fitness center and rock-climbing wall, the sports court, art studio, teaching kitchen, and two children's playrooms. That amenity depth is the building's identity, and it is also its carrying-cost reality: common charges reflect the staffing and maintenance a program this large requires. Buyers should model the specific unit's full monthly carry, and review the building's reserve position and any active assessment during diligence — a large amenity plant is a capital-intensive thing to run.
Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as Unsafe — conditions requiring corrective action, which under FISP means a protective sidewalk shed and repairs. Review the subsequent filings, the repair status, and the building’s board and financial materials — we pull the repair scope and funding picture 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).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 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.
Management & transfer contacts
- Notable fees
- Building Working Capital Contribution = two (2) months common charges; App Processing $700; Transfer Agent Closing Fee $500. No flip tax listed
Recent sales
515 East 72nd Street trades as a family-oriented full-service condominium where the amenity package and the park drive value as much as the apartment itself. Pricing is set unit-by-unit: river-facing lines with open East River exposure command a premium over interior and city-facing lines, and the large combined family homes trade on their own comparable set rather than on building averages. Recorded sales for this building auto-populate from public records; unit-level transaction history and current same-line comparables are maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence. As with any converted rental where the sponsor combined and reconfigured units, same-line, same-exposure comparables are the right analytical unit — not blended per-foot averages.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 2026 | 11D | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 927 sf | $930,000 | $1,003/sf | -22.4% |
| Aug 27, 2026 | 15D | 1 BR · 1 BA · 687 sf | $866,000 | $1,261/sf | -2.6% |
| Jul 17, 2026 | 10P | 1 BR · 1 BA · 685 sf | $835,000 | $1,219/sf | -16.1% |
| Jul 16, 2026 | 39C | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,128 sf | $1,800,000 | $1,596/sf | off-mkt |
| Jul 14, 2026 | 10D | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 927 sf | $840,000 | $906/sf | -6.6% |
| Jul 1, 2026 | 7H | 1 BR · 1 BA · 650 sf | $769,000 | $1,183/sf | -22.7% |
| Jun 23, 2026 | 4B | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,122 sf | $1,550,000 | $1,381/sf | -3.1% |
| Jun 4, 2026 | 32C | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,172 sf | $1,575,000 | $1,344/sf | -4.5% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,310/sf (floor-adjusted) across 11 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 6.4% 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 1-01484-7501). 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 515 East 72nd Street, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 3 | $4,000 |
| 1 bedroom | 26 | $4,850 |
| 2 bedroom | 7 | $7,995 |
| 3 bedroom | 3 | $9,900 |
40 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease September 2026. Sizes with fewer than 2 leases are not shown. Compiled by The Roebling Team at Compass from closed leases.
At the recent median sale of $1.35M (22 sales since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $58,538 to close, or 4.3% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $13,500
- Mortgage recording tax: $19,491
- Title insurance: $6,075
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $19,473
Assumes a resale (the seller pays transfer taxes), a $4,500 attorney fee and a mortgage on the rest.
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What to know if you’re buying
Buy the amenity package deliberately. The private park, saltwater pool, spa, and sports facilities are the reason to be here — and they carry cost. Confirm the current common charge on the specific unit, the reserve position, and any active assessment, and decide whether the lifestyle program justifies the carry for your household. Run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator on the unit.
Condo flexibility is real. As a condominium, the building permits pied-à-terre and investment use, subletting, and financing without a co-op board's income and reserve thresholds — a materially wider buyer and use profile than the co-ops nearby.
Underwrite the location honestly. The river-edge position delivers views and quiet; it also means a longer walk to the Lexington Avenue subway and proximity to the FDR and the hospital corridor. View the specific line at multiple times of day.
Exposure drives everything. River-facing lines are the building's currency. Interior and city-facing lines trade at a discount — use same-line comparables, not building averages.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the park and the amenities. No competing building in the immediate area offers a half-acre private park plus a competition pool and full spa. That is the marketing headline, and it reaches the family buyer directly.
Show the river light. River-facing apartments should be shown when the water reads best. The premium for open East River exposure is real and should be priced in.
Position the location as a lifestyle trade, not a compromise. The right buyer wants air, quiet, and amenity over transit adjacency. Market to that buyer.
Closing timelines are condo-fast. 30–45 days from contract to closing; foreign and investor buyers are welcome under the declaration.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 515 East 72nd Street, also evaluate:
- 520 East 72nd Street — the immediate East River condominium neighbor; the closest like-for-like on exposure and location
- 530 East 72nd Street — East River co-op one building east; the ownership-structure alternative
- 520 East 76th Street — East River condominium a few blocks north; comparable river-edge positioning
- 515 East 79th Street — East River building further north; the northern river-edge alternative
- The Kent (200 East 95th) — the amenity-rich new-development condominium benchmark to the north
- Manhattan House (200 East 66th) — the landmarked postwar-to-condominium benchmark closer to the Lexington corridor
More Upper East Side buildings
- 507 East 80th Street — 1925 condominium
- 510 East 80th Street (The Carriage House) — 1986 condominium by SLCE Architects
- 510 East 86th Street — 1958 co-op
- 515 East 79th Street (Asten House) — 1981 co-op by Philip Birnbaum & Associates
- 515 East 85th Street — 1962 co-op
- 516 East 82nd Street — 1920 co-op
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper East Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper East Side.
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.
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