641 Fifth Avenue (Olympic Tower)
641 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10022
Midtown East
BBL 1012871000 · BIN 1035481
- Year built
- 1976
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 225
- Floors
- 51
- Financing
- No building-imposed financing cap (condominium); financing is subject to lender underwriting.
- Subletting
- Generally permitted (condominium); confirm any rental cap or right of first refusal at the offer stage.
- Pied-à-terre
- Permitted.
- Washer / dryer
- Permitted in-unit.
- Pets
- Not permitted.
Compiled by The Roebling Research Desk from the building’s offering plan, amendments, and related building documents (primary source dated 2026). Board policies can change by amendment — confirm at the offer stage.
Every recorded sale at this building, 2003–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,746
- Listing discount
- 6.5%
- Recorded sales
- 246
- On record
- 2003–2026
Olympic Tower is the first building erected under the city's Special Fifth Avenue Zoning District (1971) — a structurally consequential urban planning experiment that "inspired influential followers such as Solow Tower (1979), Trump Tower (1983), and Trump World Tower (2001)" per public records.
Driving the project was the Onassis / Arlen developer pedigree — Aristotle Onassis took a personal hand in the building, and his involvement anchored a foreign-buyer marketing campaign that ran from opening night. The form he commissioned was genuinely new for the avenue: a mixed-use vertical stack that sets a 30-story cast-in-place reinforced-concrete apartment building atop a 21-story steel-framed office block, with ground-floor retail and a through-block public arcade. Wrapping all of it is the bronze-reflective-glass curtain wall, introduced to Fifth Avenue here and since absorbed into the city's late-1970s commercial-residential vocabulary.
Architect SOM (after Morris Lapidus and Kahn & Jacobs preceded them) achieved an FAR of 21.6 — roughly twenty percent greater than otherwise permitted — by deploying every available Special District bonus. The through-block arcade features a "30-foot-high ceiling" and "a large, skylit, south-facing, multi-tiered waterfall."
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $382,760/yr
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $1,054,060/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $142 – $392
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.
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.
See the full facade history →Management & transfer contacts
- Pied-à-terre
- Allowed
- Notable fees
- Condo. Transfer fee 1% of gross sales price. App processing $600 ($650 without broker); background $125/applicant; move-in/out fee $750; closing $600; lease renewal $300. Dogs not allowed
Recent sales
Recent closings 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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 2026 | 28A | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,792 sf | $2,500,000 | $1,395/sf | -9.1% |
| May 14, 2026 | 30F | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,688 sf | $3,495,000 | $2,070/sf | +9.2% |
| Apr 28, 2026 | 26A | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,791 sf | $3,100,000 | $1,731/sf | -3.1% |
| Apr 16, 2026 | 42H | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,780 sf | $3,000,000 | $1,685/sf | -7.7% |
| Dec 22, 2025 | 42A | 2 BR · 3.5 BA · 2,260 sf | $3,700,000 | $1,637/sf | -1.3% |
| Oct 27, 2025 | 45H | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,800 sf | $3,300,000 | $1,833/sf | -21.4% |
| Aug 25, 2025 | 22O | 366 sf | $625,000 | $1,708/sf | off-mkt |
| Aug 13, 2025 | 27H | 2 BR · 2.5 BA · 1,780 sf | $2,995,000 | $1,683/sf | -15.6% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $1,746/sf across 4 sales. Median listing discount 6.5% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
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 1-01287-1000) 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 from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
Comparable buildings
- The Galleria (117 East 57th Street) — Specter 1975; nearby mixed-use peer
- Trump Plaza (167 East 61st Street) — Birnbaum 1984; nearby Birnbaum peer
- [502 Park Avenue (Trump Park Avenue)](https://www.theroeblingteam.com/buildings/502-park-avenue) — Kondylis conversion 2005; nearby condominium peer
- The Sovereign (425 East 58th Street) — Roth & Sons 1973-74; nearby trophy peer
- The Excelsior (303 East 57th Street) — Birnbaum 1967; nearby Midtown East peer
Sources: The Roebling Research Library (offering plans, house rules, financial statements, board minutes, internal transaction records); NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers; publicly recorded NYC building data.
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