- Year built
- 1920
- Type
- Cooperative
- Units
- 16
- Floors
- 12
- Landmark
- Designated
- Subletting
- Restrictive
Every recorded sale at this building, 2004–2026
Bedroom-by-bedroom medians, the full transfer record, and how units trade against ask.
- 4BR+ median
- $37M
- Recent range
- $1.5M – $37M
- Listing discount
- 6.7%
- Recorded transfers
- 16
845 Fifth Avenue is one of James E. R. Carpenter's most architecturally restrained and most consistently celebrated Fifth Avenue commissions. Built in 1920 as a 12-story limestone-clad cooperative, the building exemplifies Carpenter's late 1910s and early 1920s posture: an unremarkable exterior wrapping apartments of genuinely substantial scale and detail. The architectural argument is that the building should not announce itself — that the apartments, not the facade, should carry the building's quality.
The result has been one of the most quietly consequential addresses in the Gold Coast. 845 Fifth has 16 apartments across 12 floors — meaning most floors carry a single full-floor configuration. The apartments are large, with multiple fireplaces, formal entry galleries that organize the floor plate, and pre-war architectural detail (paneling, plaster work, marble) that has been preserved across the building's century of occupancy.
The building's resident roster across that century has included a remarkable cross-section of American finance and industry. Late Wall Street legend Alan "Ace" Greenberg, the longtime chairman of Bear Stearns, owned an apartment at 845 Fifth. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's longtime New York residence was at 845 Fifth; in 2022, following Allen's death, Julia Koch (widow of David Koch) acquired the apartment for $101 million — among the largest co-op transactions in New York City history and a transaction that anchored the building's pricing in post-pandemic recovery. In early 2026, the socialite Shafi Roepers sold her third-floor unit for $28 million. A full-floor apartment associated with Greenberg was listed at $30 million in 2025.
The transaction record makes 845 Fifth among the highest per-square-foot trading cooperatives in Manhattan — and one of the few addresses where multiple eight-and-nine-figure transactions have occurred within a compressed window. For buyers, this signals both the building's continued status at the apex of the Lenox Hill market and the meaningful sponsor liquidity in the inventory.
What structurally differentiates 845 Fifth from neighboring tier-one Lenox Hill peers (820 Fifth, 834 Fifth, 875 Fifth) is the unusually consistent full-floor configuration combined with the small total inventory. Where 820 Fifth has 13 apartments and 998 Fifth has 17, 845 Fifth's 16 apartments occupy a similarly intimate institutional culture — but in a building organized around Carpenter's specific architectural premise rather than Starrett & Van Vleck's, Roth's, or McKim Mead & White's.
Architecture and unit composition
The 16 apartments at 845 Fifth are predominantly full-floor configurations, with floor-plate sizes producing apartments in the 4,500–7,500 sf range depending on the specific floor and the renovation history. Pre-war architectural signatures throughout: 11–12 foot ceilings in primary rooms, formal entry galleries running the depth of the apartment, multiple fireplaces (the building's distinguishing interior feature), library-living combinations, primary suites with extensive closet and dressing infrastructure, and service wings.
Park-facing apartments on the eastern flank have direct Central Park views with stable view envelope. The building's positioning between East 66th and East 67th Streets places it at the heart of the most expensive stretch of the Gold Coast.
Apartment-by-apartment heterogeneity is meaningful — combinations, renovations, and individual stewardship have produced apartments with substantially different layouts and finish conditions across the building's century.
Building operations
845 Fifth operates as a full-service pre-war cooperative. The building's small unit count (16) produces institutional culture characteristic of the most intimate tier-one Gold Coast co-ops — residents and staff know each other across multi-decade tenures, and the building's daily-life signature is unusually quiet for Manhattan.
Specific policy details (financing cap or prohibition, flip tax structure, sublet policy specifics) are not formally published in the manner of comparable buildings. Buyers should obtain current information directly from property management during due diligence and review the proprietary lease and house rules.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $34,013/yr
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $107,341/yr
- Per unit / month range
- $177 – $559
Facade safety — Local Law 11
Safe to live in today — but the last inspection flagged repairs that are due on a deadline, so facade work and its cost are coming. Whether that’s a real concern depends on the scope, the timing, and how the building plans to pay for it — reserves or an assessment — which is exactly what we’d dig into for you.
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 →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.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 13, 2026 | 3RD | 5 BR · 7.5 BA · 7,000 sf | $28,000,000 | $4,000/sf | -6.7% |
| Mar 25, 2025 | 7 | 5 BR · 5.5 BA · 7,000 sf | $37,000,000 | $5,286/sf | off-mkt |
| May 2, 2016 | 5 FL | 4 BR · 7,500 sf | $52,000,000 | $6,933/sf | +8.3% |
Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $4,000/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount -8.3% over ask.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Other recent transfers
| Date | Unit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 25, 2025 | 1D | $1,500,000 |
| Apr 3, 2024 | 1-A | $4,000,000 |
| Jul 12, 2022 | 11 | $101,000,000 |
| May 18, 2020 | 8 | $43,000,000 |
| May 10, 2013 | 3 FL | $15,750,000 |
| Oct 3, 2011 | PH | $25,000,000 |
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 1-01380-0069) 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.
What to know if you’re buying
Pricing reflects the building's transactional history. The $101M Koch acquisition reset the upper end of expectations for full-floor apartments at 845 Fifth. Comparable analysis should account for the building's recent eight-and-nine-figure trades.
Board approval follows tier-one Lenox Hill norms. Strong financial profile, professional accomplishment, primary-residence intent, and personal references matter. Foreign buyers face friction characteristic of tier-one Fifth Avenue co-ops.
Confirm specific policies directly with management. Because the building's policy block is not formally published in the manner of comparable buildings, buyers should obtain current information on the flip tax structure (payor and percentage), financing posture (cash-only requirement or not, financing cap if any), and sublet policy specifics during the contract review process. Tier-one Lenox Hill cooperatives commonly require 100% cash purchases — confirm whether 845 Fifth carries this requirement.
Renovation is constrained by historic district status and institutional culture. Substantive renovation is feasible but must respect the building's pre-war character. The board reviews scope and quality with attention to the preservation of original detail.
View permanence is exceptional. Central Park east; the corridor is built out.
The full-floor configuration is the apartment. Buyers should understand they are acquiring an entire floor plate, with elevator-vestibule access and the privacy that comes with single-apartment-per-floor configuration.
What to know if you’re selling
The buyer pool is narrow but qualified. With 16 apartments and recent $28M–$101M transactions, the buyer cohort is small, financially substantial, and accessible primarily through private broker networks supplemented by selective public listing exposure.
Marketing requires apartment-level positioning. Each apartment is essentially unique; pricing and marketing should reflect the specific floor, view, configuration, and renovation history rather than building-level averages.
Public listing is the exception, not the rule. Most 845 Fifth transactions are negotiated through private network channels with limited public exposure. The Koch–Allen estate transaction was effectively a private matter; the 2026 Roepers transaction was similarly handled.
Closing timelines are co-op standard. 6–10 weeks from contract signing to closing, with substantial board package work.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 845 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:
- 820 Fifth Avenue — Starrett & Van Vleck 1916; 13 apartments; cash-only
- 834 Fifth Avenue — Candela 1931; 24 apartments; tier-one Gold Coast
- 860 Fifth Avenue — Sylvan Bien 1950 post-war Moderne
- 875 Fifth Avenue — Emery Roth 1941 Moderne; broader amenity package
- 907 Fifth Avenue — James E. R. Carpenter 1916; comparable Carpenter pedigree
- 998 Fifth Avenue — McKim, Mead & White 1912; tier-one Gold Coast pre-war
- 1040 Fifth Avenue — Candela 1930; Jackie Kennedy's building
The Roebling Team at 845 Fifth Avenue
The Roebling Team at Compass specializes in Central Park West, the Upper East Side, and the broader Park-facing Manhattan market. We publish this building profile because Gold Coast buyers and sellers deserve building-specific intelligence — architecture, board culture, transactional mechanics, and the realities of pricing at the apartment level — not generic market commentary.
If you're considering a purchase or sale at 845 Fifth, a 30-minute consultation is the right starting point. We'll bring the full context this page provides plus the transactional specifics your situation requires — financial structuring, board approvability, comparable analysis at the apartment level, and the pacing strategy that fits your timeline.
Get the full picture on this building.
Current availability including off-market, the full comp set, and the board & financials read most listings don't show.