56 East 87th Street

The lot runs about 77 feet along East 87th Street on 7,718 square feet, carrying roughly 33,400 square feet of residential floor area over six stories. The engineer's report prepared for the conversion describes a brick building with terra cotta at the cornice, an interior court, fire escapes, an automatic self-service elevator serving cellar through sixth floor, and a cellar given over to a boiler room, laundry and storage.

The age question deserves a paragraph rather than a footnote. City records date the building to 1923. The engineer's report filed with the offering plan — a document prepared for regulatory filing, identifying the property by block and lot — states that it was erected under New Building Application 553-1904 as a New Law tenement, and the conversion contract refers to buildings, plural, at 56–60 East 87th Street. A six-story, four-apartments-per-floor plan on a 77-foot frontage is consistent with a pair of New Law tenements later joined behind a single elevator; a 1923 elevator apartment house on this block would ordinarily have been built taller. The honest position is that the two dates most likely record two different events — original construction and a later combination or major alteration — and that neither the public record nor the documents on file resolve which the 1923 date describes. A buyer underwriting building systems should assume early-twentieth-century bones.

Inventory today runs A, B, C and D on each floor, with 3CD and 5CD recorded as combinations from 2005 and 2006. At conversion the sponsor had already gutted and rebuilt eight apartments and partially renovated four more, with new gypsum walls and ceilings, oak strip floors in living areas, ceramic tile bathrooms and through-wall air conditioning in living rooms and bedrooms; the remaining apartments were left in original condition with parquet floors and older kitchens and baths. Four decades on, that distinction has been overtaken by individual renovations, but it explains why condition across the building has always been uneven.

Underlying mortgage. ACRIS records a refinancing on November 24, 2023 with Apple Bank for Savings — a new note of $250,192.78 consolidated with the assigned prior debt into a $1,650,000 consolidation, extension and modification agreement, with a matching assignment of leases and rents. That replaced an Astoria Federal facility placed in December 2013 at a similar level. For a twenty-four-apartment cooperative this is conservative underlying leverage, and the fact that the building refinanced in late 2023 means the current rate reflects that market. Balance, rate and maturity should still be confirmed with the managing agent.

Capital work. Department of Buildings filings record a boiler and oil burner replacement in 2002; a seventh-cycle Façade Inspection and Safety Program repair in 2012 with a sidewalk shed and pipe scaffold; dumbwaiter shaft fire-stopping in 2010; and activation of the gas portion of the existing gas/oil burner in 2015, moving the building off number 4 fuel oil. No audited financial statement or board budget for this cooperative was located in either document library, so reserve balance, current assessments and the forward capital plan are not established here and must come from the managing agent.

Ownership concentration. There is no sponsor overhang. A holder entity, 56 East 87th Units Corp., sold its remaining apartments in 2005, and a single limited liability company that had acquired an apartment that year sold it in 2021. Recorded share transfers since are between individual shareholders and estates. The building is shareholder-owned.

The transactional stack here is documented, which is unusual for a building this size, and it is strict in the ordinary Carnegie Hill way rather than an eccentric one.

Flip tax: 2.5 percent of the sale, paid by the seller, with a $750 transfer agent fee and a $500 refundable move-out deposit. A purchaser pays a $500 refundable move-in deposit and a $300 non-refundable application processing fee.

The board package is a full one. A completed application; a financial and net-worth statement with documentation supporting every asset listed; the fully executed contract; two years of signed federal returns with all schedules, W-2s and 1099s; an employer letter stating title, length of employment, salary and bonus; a landlord or managing agent reference; two personal and two business letters of reference; a credit report showing the applicant's score; a signed house-rules acknowledgement; the executed loan application and commitment letter; and three recognition agreements — the package states that only Aztech forms are acceptable, which is a small detail that has delayed more than one closing. Only complete, collated packages are accepted. Plan on an interview.

Financing is permitted; the ceiling is not published. Nor are the post-closing liquidity requirement or any debt-to-income threshold. These are board-set and applied case by case, and they are the most common reason a financially qualified buyer is turned down. Get them from the managing agent before you sign a contract, not after.

Pied-à-terre and business use are reviewed, not ruled on in advance. Both the purchase and the sublease application require the applicant to state and explain any such intended use. Treat this as a primary-residence building unless the board tells you otherwise in writing.

Pets require written permission under House Rule 16, revocable at any time. Dogs must be carried or leashed in public areas.

Subletting is permitted with board approval on a full application package. The documents on file do not state a seasoning period, a maximum term or a sublet fee; confirm all three.

House rules worth knowing before you renovate: floors must be covered by rugs or equivalent noise-reducing material over at least 80 percent of each room other than kitchens, bathrooms, closets and foyer; construction and repair work is permitted only on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; window air conditioners and ventilators require approval; and the roof is off limits without specific board authorization. The house rules also contemplate professional offices in the building, with a rule barring patients and clients from waiting in the lobby — whether any professional unit remains in use should be confirmed.

Recent sales

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.

Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2022): a median $1,273/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 0.7% 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 1-01498-0045) 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.

The building is not landmarked, and that is worth money. Verified lot by lot against the Landmarks Preservation Commission's database. Window replacement and exterior work do not require Commission review, unlike most of the prewar stock within two blocks in any direction.

Get the financials before you go to contract. No audited statement or budget for this cooperative was located in our document libraries. Ask specifically for the current budget, the reserve balance, the underlying mortgage terms following the November 2023 refinancing, the most recent Local Law 11 filing and its remediation status, and the assessment history for the last five years. In a twenty-four-unit building there is very little cushion, and a single capital event is felt per share.

Budget the board package properly. Two years of returns, four reference letters, a credit report with the score, a commitment letter, and three recognition agreements on Aztech forms only. Assemble it before you are asked. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator as soon as you have the financing ceiling and liquidity requirement from the managing agent.

Do not assume 33 apartments. The offering plan and the Certificate of Occupancy both say twenty-four, and combinations have taken it lower. If a maintenance-per-share or reserve-per-unit calculation you have been given uses the PLUTO figure, it is wrong.

Underwrite the building's age from the older date. Whatever 1923 records, a document prepared for the conversion cites a 1904 new-building application for this lot. Risers, elevator and structural systems should be diligenced accordingly.

Lead with the room count and the block. Four apartments to a floor between Madison and Park, one block from Central Park and the Guggenheim, in a building where the elevator opens on very few doors. That is the product.

Say the undesignated status out loud. Sellers in Carnegie Hill rarely realise this is a selling point. For a buyer planning windows or a terrace-level alteration, not needing Landmarks approval is worth explaining early.

Have the building file ready. No audited statement circulates in the market for this cooperative. A seller who arrives with the current budget, the reserve position, the post-2023 mortgage terms and the Local Law 11 status removes the largest source of buyer hesitation in a small building.

Model the flip tax. 2.5 percent of the sale comes out of your proceeds, plus the transfer agent fee and move-out deposit. Run it through the Seller Closing Cost Calculator before you set an asking price.

If you're considering 56 East 87th Street, also evaluate:

• 62 East 87th Street — the immediate neighbour on the same tax lot line, likewise undesignated and likewise small; the closest like-for-like
• 55 East 86th Street — around the corner on the same tax block, also outside both historic districts; the other half of the undesignated pocket
• 47 East 87th Street — directly across the street on the north side
• 12 East 87th Street (The Capitol) — George & Edward Blum, 1911, the same street toward Fifth and inside the Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District; the useful contrast on what designation costs and protects
• 1050 Park Avenue — the Park Avenue corner at the eastern end of this block, inside the Park Avenue Historic District
• 1040 Park Avenue — Delano & Aldrich at 86th and Park; the prestige step up on the same block
• 115 East 87th Street — the larger full-service alternative east of Park
• 21 East 87th Street — the boutique prewar alternative between Fifth and Madison
• 12 East 88th Street — one street north; the comparable Carnegie Hill side-street co-op
• 49 East 86th Street — the full-service comparison on 86th Street, also undesignated