73 Fifth Avenue (The Kensington)
73 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003
BBL 1008437501 · BIN 1016069
- Year built
- 1907
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 17
- Floors
- 11
- Landmark
- No
- Pets
- Pet-friendly under house rules
73 Fifth Avenue (The Kensington) sales history: 18 recorded sales
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2026
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf (floor-adjusted)
- $1,660
- Listing discount
- 6.0%
- Recorded sales
- 18
- On record
- 2004–2026
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 73 Fifth Avenue (The Kensington) 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.
73 Fifth Avenue — The Kensington — is a 1907 limestone building that stands at the northeast corner of West 15th Street, a short walk from Union Square Park at one of the most attractive stretches of lower Fifth Avenue. The facade is the building's calling card: a classical, prewar composition of limestone, a strong terminating cornice, carved garlands, and balconies that give the elevation a dignity out of scale with its footprint. Converted to a residential cooperative in 1996, it holds seventeen apartments across eleven floors — a genuinely boutique building on an avenue better known for its loft-era commercial architecture.
What buyers respond to here is the combination of a prewar limestone address, the Union Square location, and the intimacy of a seventeen-unit cooperative. The neighborhood around the building — Union Square's greenmarket, the restaurant density of the Flatiron and Union Square blocks, and the transit hub a block south — is among the most convenient in Manhattan, and 73 Fifth places its residents in the middle of it while keeping the quiet of a small, owner-occupied co-op.
This is a cooperative, not a condominium — a distinction that shapes everything from financing to the buyer pool. The Kensington rewards the primary-residence purchaser who wants architecture, location, and the stewardship a small co-op provides.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a careful exercise in early-twentieth-century classicism executed in limestone. Above a defined base, the elevation carries carved garlands, balconies, and a prominent cornice — the vocabulary of a fine prewar apartment house rendered at boutique scale. The 1996 residential conversion preserved the exterior's character while reworking the interior into seventeen apartments.
Inside, the layouts reflect the conversion of an early-twentieth-century structure: apartments of varying size and plan, many with the ceiling height and light one expects from a building of this era and its avenue-facing exposures. Because the building holds only seventeen homes, the mix is heterogeneous — no two floors read identically — and pricing is built unit by unit rather than from a template.
Building operations
The Kensington runs as a boutique cooperative: an elevator, secured entry on a virtual-doorman model, private storage, and bicycle storage, with a pet-friendly posture under house rules. As with any cooperative, the board sets financing limits, sublet policy, and any flip tax, and reviews prospective purchasers through a board-package-and-interview process; buyers should confirm the current financing cap, pied-à-terre stance, and sublet terms in writing before committing. Monthly maintenance in a seventeen-unit building reflects a small shareholder base carrying the building's fixed costs, so due diligence on the financials and any assessment history matters more here than in a larger co-op.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $20,303/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $0 – $100
- Modeled exposure split equally across 17 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 filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair, with repairs due by the deadline stated in the filing. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials 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
- Flip tax
- 1% of gross sales price (seller)
- Sublet policy
- Allowed; application processing fee $250
- Notable fees
- Application processing fee $750 (sale); closing fee $350; move-in/move-out deposit $250 each
Recent sales
Recent transfers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 23, 2025 | 3A | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,741 sf | $2,300,000 | $1,321/sf | -7.1% |
| Apr 30, 2024 | 2B | 4 BR · 3 BA · 3,200 sf | $2,500,000 | $781/sf | -28.6% |
| Oct 30, 2020 | 7 | 4 BR · 2.5 BA | $5,937,500 | -17.5% | |
| May 8, 2020 | 10B | 3 BR · 2 BA · 3,400 sf | $4,950,000 | $1,456/sf | -9.9% |
| Sep 8, 2015 | 6A | 3 BR · 2 BA · 2,400 sf | $4,150,000 | $1,729/sf | -2.9% |
| Jan 26, 2015 | 10B | 2 BR · 2 BA · 3,400 sf | $5,375,000 | $1,581/sf | -4.9% |
| Aug 28, 2014 | 5B | 3 BR · 3,100 sf | $4,450,000 | $1,435/sf | -4.8% |
| Sep 28, 2011 | 8A | 2 BR · 1,400 sf | $1,600,000 | $1,143/sf | -8.6% |
Market read. $/sf is measured on the latest sales with reliable square footage (2025): a median $1,660/sf (floor-adjusted) across 1 sale. The building has traded as recently as 2026. Median listing discount 6.0% 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 1-00843-7501). 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 on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.
Buying here? Co-op closing costs typically run 2 to 3% of the price. See NYC co-op and condo closing costs, line by line.
Keep up with 73 Fifth Avenue (The Kensington) and its market
The Roebling Report, monthly: Manhattan sales data and analysis, including buildings like 73 Fifth Avenue (The Kensington). Unsubscribe anytime.
We’ll use your email for The Roebling Report and note your interest in this building. See our privacy policy.
What to know if you’re buying
This is a cooperative — underwrite accordingly. Financing is capped by the board, purchases run through a board package and interview, and the building is oriented toward owner-occupants. Confirm the current financing limit and sublet policy before you commit.
The architecture and location are the assets. A 1907 limestone facade steps from Union Square is a durable, defensible story that does not depend on market timing.
Expect prewar-conversion individuality. With seventeen apartments, layouts vary. Walk each unit on its own terms — floor, exposure, ceiling height, and condition all move the value.
Budget any flip tax and assessments. In a small co-op, confirm the flip tax, reserve position, and any assessment history during due diligence.
Mansion tax thresholds apply. At this building's pricing, the $1M and $2M cliffs can be in play. Run pricing through the Mansion Tax Calculator.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the limestone and Union Square. The prewar facade and the location are the marketing story; foreground them.
Comp at the apartment level. With seventeen heterogeneous units, generic neighborhood averages mislead. Price from the building's own trades and the closest boutique co-op peers.
Prepare the buyer for the board. A well-prepared board package and a financially strong, primary-residence buyer move a co-op sale to closing; set expectations early.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 73 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate these nearby Flatiron and Union Square buildings:
- 74 Fifth Avenue — neighboring lower Fifth Avenue cooperative
- 69 Fifth Avenue — nearby lower Fifth Avenue prewar building
- 105 Fifth Avenue — nearby Fifth Avenue cooperative near Union Square
- 15 Union Square West — full-service Union Square condominium
- 8 Union Square South — Union Square building steps away
More Flatiron buildings
- 63 West 17th Street (Lyla) — condominium
- 64 West 15th Street — 1920 co-op
- The Wedgwood House, 69 Fifth Avenue — 1961 co-op
- The Folio House, 105 Fifth Avenue — co-op
- 108 Fifth Avenue — 1986 condominium
- 119 East 23rd Street (Crossing 23rd) — 2005 condominium by H. Thomas O'Hara Architects
The neighborhood
For the full corridor — architecture, transit, and pricing across Flatiron — read The Roebling Team Guide to Flatiron.
The full playbook — what goes in the package, how boards read your financials, the interview, and the timeline — plus sample cover, reference, and personal letters you can adapt.
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 73 Fifth Avenue (The Kensington)?
Request a private building brief with the relevant comparable sales, current and off-market availability, and an apartment-specific view of value.