555 West 59th Street (The Element)
555 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019
Lincoln Square, Upper West Side
BBL 1011517503 · BIN 1087704
- Year built
- 2007
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 186
- Floors
- 33
- Landmark
- No
- Amenities
- 24-hour doorman and concierge, parking garage, a 60-foot indoor lap pool with a children's pool and whirlpool, fitness and well-being center, yoga and Pilates studio, basketball court, squash court, saunas and steam and spa, residents' lounge with billiards, children's playroom, approximately 12,000 square feet of landscaped outdoor space, a rooftop terrace, and bike and cold storage
- Pets
- Pet-friendly
- Flip tax
- None documented — verify against the by-laws at offer stage
Every recorded sale at this building, 2006–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf (floor-adjusted)
- $1,424
- Listing discount
- 0.0%
- Recorded sales
- 384
- On record
- 2006–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at The Element 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.
The Element is one of the earlier all-glass luxury condominiums to rise near Columbus Circle in the mid-2000s, and it remains one of the most heavily amenitized buildings of its size on the West Side's southern flank. Delivered in 2007–2008 at the seam between Lincoln Square and Riverside South, it offers a full blockfront of new-construction condominium product a short walk from Columbus Circle, the Time Warner (now Deutsche Bank) Center, Central Park's southwest corner, and the Hudson.
The building's thesis is amenity depth at a per-foot below the Central Park-front trophy market. For a 186-unit building to carry a 60-foot lap pool, a squash court, a basketball court, a full spa floor, and roughly 12,000 square feet of landscaped outdoor space is unusual — newer condominiums charge substantially more to approximate the package. Combined with condominium flexibility — pied-à-terre use, investor purchasers, live/work accommodation — The Element appeals to buyers who want resort-grade building services without the pricing of the Billionaires' Row corridor to the east.
Architecture and unit composition
SLCE's design is a clean glass curtain-wall tower approached through a landscaped circular driveway and porte-cochère — a gracious arrival sequence uncommon on a mid-block West Side site. The 186 residences run from one- through four-bedroom layouts, with garden townhomes at the base and duplex penthouses at the crown. Higher floors carry open city, river-direction, and partial park exposures. As with any 2000s luxury condominium, renovation quality and finish level vary line to line.
Building operations
The Element runs as a full-service, deeply amenitized condominium: 24-hour doorman and concierge, a parking garage, and a wellness stack that includes a 60-foot indoor lap pool with a children's pool and whirlpool, a fitness and well-being center, a yoga and Pilates studio, a basketball court, a squash court, saunas, steam, and spa, plus a residents' lounge with billiards, a children's playroom, roughly 12,000 square feet of landscaped outdoor space, and a rooftop terrace. Common charges reflect the amenity depth; the offering plan and current house rules are on file in The Roebling Research Library.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $137,104/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $61
- Modeled exposure split equally across 186 units (the city tax-lot count). Not an assessed amount; co-op shareholders are typically charged by share allocation.
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 FISP filing classified the facade as Safe — no repairs were required at that inspection. Facade inspections run on a fixed five-year cycle; future inspection, repair, and any assessment decisions remain building-specific.
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.
Management & transfer contacts
- Sublet policy
- Allowed; Corporate lease fee equal to 5% of common charges billed monthly for duration of lease
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
- Notable fees
- Working Capital Contribution equal to three months' maintenance (buyer); Move In/Out fees $500 each; refundable deposits $2,000; Background Report Fee $125/applicant
Recent sales
The Element trades in the middle-to-upper band of the Columbus Circle / Riverside South condominium market, with the duplex penthouses at the top of the building's range. The amenity depth supports pricing relative to less-amenitized peers of the same vintage, while pricing remains below the Central Park-front market a few blocks east.
Unit-level transaction history is maintained in The Roebling Research Library and shared with clients during diligence.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 25, 2026 | 23A | 1 BR · 1 BA · 789 sf | $1,160,000 | $1,470/sf | -2.4% |
| Aug 5, 2026 | 11F | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,273 sf | $1,725,000 | $1,355/sf | -7.5% |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 25E | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,384 sf | $2,200,000 | $1,590/sf | -2.2% |
| Jun 30, 2026 | 28D | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,384 sf | $2,250,000 | $1,626/sf | -4.3% |
| Sep 19, 2025 | 12E | 1 BR · 1.5 BA · 800 sf | $1,090,000 | $1,363/sf | -12.8% |
| May 6, 2025 | PHA | 3 BR · 3 BA · 2,441 sf | $4,500,000 | $1,844/sf | -9.1% |
| Mar 27, 2025 | 21F | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,273 sf | $1,970,000 | $1,548/sf | -4.8% |
| Mar 11, 2025 | 23A | 1 BR · 1 BA · 789 sf | $1,200,000 | $1,521/sf | -14.3% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,424/sf (floor-adjusted) across 4 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 0.0% from the last ask.
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 1-01151-7503). 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 The Element, last 36 months
| Size | Leases | Median / month |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 12 | $5,597 |
| 2 bedroom | 7 | $7,650 |
| 3 bedroom | 3 | $11,500 |
22 closed leases, October 2023 to September 2026. Most recent lease August 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 $1.97M (10 sales since 2024), a buyer putting 25% down would pay about $79,649 to close, or 4.0% of the price.
- Mansion tax: $19,700
- Mortgage recording tax: $28,442
- Title insurance: $8,865
- Attorneys, lender, building fees, reserves and filings: $22,642
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
Underwrite the amenity value honestly. A 60-foot pool, squash, basketball, and a full spa floor in a 186-unit building is a genuine differentiator. If you will use the package, the carrying costs buy more here than the monthly number suggests; if you will not, you are subsidizing neighbors who do.
Confirm the exposure line by line. The site sits between Lincoln Square and Riverside South; view quality and light vary substantially by floor and orientation.
Condo flexibility is real. Pied-à-terre, investment use, and live/work are accommodated under the declaration; subletting is permitted subject to the by-laws; closings run on a condominium timeline of roughly 30 to 45 days.
Model the full carry. Common charges plus property taxes plus utilities and insurance — the amenity depth makes the monthly number real; run it completely.
What to know if you’re selling
The amenity stack is the marketing story. Lead with the pool, spa, and sport-court program — it is deeper than most peers of the vintage and widens the buyer pool.
Position against Columbus Circle and Riverside South. Your comparable set is the surrounding 2000s luxury condominiums, not the Central Park-front trophy market.
High floors and outdoor space carry the premium. View, floor, and private terrace or garden drive the per-foot spread.
Closing timelines are condo-fast. 30 to 45 days from contract to closing.
Comparable buildings
- 100 Riverside Boulevard (The Avery) — Extell; nearby Riverside South condominium
- 50 Riverside Boulevard (One Riverside Park) — Extell; nearby boulevard condominium
- 80 Riverside Boulevard (The Rushmore) — Extell; nearby boulevard condominium
- Waterline Square — the newest construction at the corridor's northern end
- One West End — the amenity-rich West End condominium to the north
More Upper West Side buildings
- The Vandewater (543 West 122nd Street) — 2021 condominium
- 545 West 110th Street — 2005 condominium
- The Rockfall (545 West 111th Street) — 1909 co-op by George and Edward Blum
- 580 Columbus Avenue (The Centra) — 1985 condominium
- 600 West 111th Street — 1925 by Jacob M. Felson
- 600 West 115th Street (The Luxor) — 1911 condop by Gaetano Ajello
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Upper West Side — read The Roebling Team Guide to Upper West 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.
Considering a move at The Element?
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