61 Lexington Avenue

61 Lexington Avenue was built in 1980 and converted to cooperative ownership in 1988. It is a 7-story red-brick postwar corner building of boutique scale, at the corner addressed both 61 Lexington Avenue and 135 East 25th Street. It is not landmarked — postwar, and outside the Gramercy Park Historic District.

The building's composition is mixed. The residential component is a cooperative of 40 units. Beneath it, on the lower floors, sit roughly 15–16 commercial/professional condominium units, bringing the building to approximately 55 units in total. Some of the upper residential units carry private terraces — a draw at the top of the building. The residential buyer receives standard co-op shares and a proprietary lease; the commercial floors below are a separate condominium ownership regime.

Because the two ownership forms coexist in a single structure, buyers should verify the per-unit ownership form and the relationship between the residential cooperative and the commercial condominium via the offering plan. Ceiling heights, terrace access, and specific layouts should be confirmed at the apartment level.

61 Lexington Avenue's residential component operates as a cooperative. The service tier is deliberately modest for a boutique building: a live-in superintendent rather than a doorman, an elevator, a laundry room, and a video intercom. Some upper units carry private terraces. There is no fitness center and no roof amenity.

The cooperative's policy framework is the building's signature, and it is notably liberal. As documented in publicly recorded NYC building data and public records: subletting is unlimited from day one, subject to board approval — an investor-friendly posture rare in the co-op market. Pieds-à-terre, pets, co-purchasing, gifting, and guarantors are all permitted with board approval. This is an unusually accommodating rulebook for a cooperative, and it is the reason the building draws an investor and pied-à-terre buyer pool alongside primary-residence buyers.

The mixed structure — residential cooperative above commercial condominium — means the residential shareholders' operating budget, maintenance base, and any shared building systems intersect with the commercial condominium below. Maintenance and assessment specifics, and the mechanics of the residential/commercial relationship, should be confirmed at the apartment level with the managing agent and against the offering plan; building-level common-cost figures are not published in aggregated form.

Recent sales

Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Apartment-level facts are independently verified before publishing; sale prices reflect the recorded transfer amount at the NYC Department of Finance.

Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2024): a median $1,227/sf across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2025. Median listing discount 2.4% 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 1-00881-7501) 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; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

This is a cooperative, and an unusually flexible one. The residential units trade as co-op shares with a proprietary lease. What sets the building apart is the rulebook: unlimited subletting from day one, plus pieds-à-terre, pets, co-purchasing, gifting, and guarantors — all with board approval. For investors and pied-à-terre buyers who would be excluded from a conventional co-op, this flexibility is the central attraction.

Understand and verify the mixed structure. The 40 residential co-op units sit above roughly 15–16 commercial condominium units on the lower floors. The residential buyer is purchasing into the cooperative; the commercial floors are a separate condominium. Verify the per-unit ownership form, the residential/commercial relationship, and any shared-systems arrangements via the offering plan before proceeding.

The service tier is modest. There is a live-in super but no doorman, no gym, and no roof amenity. Buyers who require staffed-lobby service should weigh this; buyers who prioritize flexibility and value will find the lower service tier is what keeps pricing and maintenance accessible.

The entry price is accessible. Studios have asked around $365,000, one-bedrooms around $599,000, and a ground-floor unit around $459,000 — accessible entry points for the Gramercy/Flatiron border, reflecting the boutique scale and the soft 2025–26 market.

Verify the operational baseline at offer stage. Maintenance ranges by line, financing percentages required by the board, flip-tax structure, reserve fund status, and the mechanics of the residential-cooperative/commercial-condominium structure should all be confirmed with the managing agent and the offering plan during due diligence.

Lead with the flexibility. The unlimited-sublet-from-day-one policy, plus pieds-à-terre, co-purchasing, gifting, and guarantors, is the building's single strongest marketing argument — it opens the buyer pool to investors and pied-à-terre buyers that most co-ops exclude. Foreground it.

Address the mixed structure clearly. Buyers and their attorneys will scrutinize the residential-co-op/commercial-condominium structure. Marketing and disclosure should present the structure plainly and point to the offering plan, so the diligence process is smooth rather than a surprise.

Position the value and the location. Accessible entry-level pricing on the Gramercy/Flatiron border, walking distance to Gramercy Park, Madison Square Park, and Flatiron, is the location argument. The modest service tier (live-in super, no doorman) is the cost structure that supports the accessible pricing — frame it as deliberate.

Closing timelines are cooperative-standard. Board approval is required; pacing typically runs 60 to 90 days from contract through approval to closing. The liberal policy framework widens the buyer pool but does not change the approval pacing.

If you're considering 61 Lexington Avenue, also evaluate:

• Nearby Gramercy and Flatiron postwar cooperatives of comparable boutique scale.
• Gramercy / Flatiron condominiums offering condominium financing and subletting flexibility for investor and pied-à-terre buyers.
• Boutique postwar co-ops with liberal sublet policies on the Gramercy/Flatiron border, where flexibility and accessible pricing overlap.

The Roebling Team at Compass works the Gramercy and Flatiron corridors as part of our broader Manhattan practice. We publish this building profile because Gramercy/Flatiron-border buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — ownership structure, policy framework, and comparable analysis at the unit level — not generic neighborhood commentary.

If you're considering a purchase or sale at 61 Lexington Avenue, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point.