880 Fifth Avenue

The building holds the full corner of Fifth Avenue and 69th Street on a lot of roughly 29,280 square feet, with 322,000 square feet of building above it. Setbacks on all sides produce a stepped profile rising to the paired-tower crown, and they are the reason the upper stack carries terraces — the 1947 plan describes a "19-story and penthouse" building, the Department of Finance carries 20 stories, and current filings reference apartments on penthouse levels numbered into the 21st floor. Reconcile the plan, recorded story count and apartment-level numbering against approved drawings and the current certificate of occupancy; the reason for the difference is not established here; the practical point for a buyer is that the top of the stack is a different product from the middle.

Lines run A through L, with the Fifth Avenue and Central Park exposures on the west face and 69th Street to the south. The original mix was large: the plan enumerates 19 apartments each in the A, B, E, F and G lines, 15 each in C and D, 11 each in H, K and L, and four in the J line, plus six separately sold servants' rooms. Layouts are post-war in proportion — defined entrance galleries, real dining rooms, staff rooms in the larger lines — with pre-war ceiling heights on the lower floors and progressively more light and terrace as the setbacks begin.

Roughly two apartments have been lost to combination since 1948, which sounds small and understates the activity. Department of Buildings records show a steady stream of combinations and gut renovations across the decades — 3F/3G, 9G/9H, 10C/10D, 11H/11K, 15B/15C, 16F/16G among them — and a continuing volume of single-apartment work today. Those examples do not establish that most apartments have been reconfigured; review the specific home’s approved plans and renovation history.

Two physical facts govern renovation here and both are worth stating plainly. The building is inside the Upper East Side Historic District and operates under a Landmarks-approved window master plan; original casement windows must be replaced in conformity with that plan, not with a product of the buyer's choosing. And through-the-wall air conditioning is the required standard — protruding window units must go. Both obligations attach at purchase, not at the buyer's convenience.

880 Fifth runs as a full-service pre-war-scale cooperative with union staff under the SEIU Local 32BJ apartment building agreement and a resident manager. Three passenger and three service elevators, a package room, a central laundry, a storage bin assigned to each apartment, and the entrance court that the original design laid out as a formal garden. Service and delivery traffic runs through the service entrance and service elevators by house rule; bicycles enter and leave through the garage.

The garage is an operational feature to compare with specific Fifth Avenue cooperatives. It occupies the basement and sub-basement, with a driveway running through the block from 69th to 70th Street, and it was in the building's design from the start. It is also a material revenue line: garage income at the most recent audited year-end on file exceeded $1 million and offsets maintenance across the shareholder base. The corporation's prior long-term garage lease was terminated in 2020 and the garage has since been run for the corporation's account by an outside parking operator under a management agreement — the corporation now takes the operating economics directly, and the upside and the risk both sit with the building.

The other distinctive amenity is the 880 Fitness Center, which is governed by its own membership rules, requires a signed assumption of liability, and carries annual dues. It is not free with the apartment, and — see below — a new purchaser pays an initiation fee for it at closing whether or not they intend to use it.

The capital program is being funded out of assessments and reserves rather than out of debt. Recent capitalized work on file includes a roofing project, façade restoration, window sill replacements, HVAC and plumbing upgrades, a water tank roof replacement, fitness center air conditioning, security system enhancements, and garage lighting and cameras. The façade is the live item: cycle 9 of the Façade Inspection and Safety Program was filed in June 2022 as SWARMP, following SWARMP filings in cycles 7 and 8 and an UNSAFE filing in cycle 6 that was amended to SAFE in 2010, and sidewalk shed and pipe scaffolding permits have run from 2024 into 2025 with a temporary hoist and shanty added in mid-2025. A buyer should read the current engineer's report and the board's façade budget together, and should expect the work to be paid for out of the capital assessment rather than out of a new mortgage.

Ownership form: Cooperative. Purchase requires board approval on a full package, and the closing timeline is the cooperative timeline — plan on 60 to 90 days from contract.

Pets: Dogs are prohibited, including visiting dogs. Up to two domestic cats or caged birds, and fish in a tank not exceeding 55 gallons, are permitted; anything else requires express written board consent, revocable at any time. Permitted pets travel in service elevators, carried or crated.

Subletting: Not permitted, save for one narrow trust exception written into the house rules. Treat this as an owner-occupancy building.

Guest and family occupancy: Non-resident adult family members may occupy the apartment in the shareholder's absence for no more than 90 days in a calendar year in aggregate.

Financing: 50 percent maximum, per the purchase application on file. A recognition agreement in triplicate and the lender's commitment letter go into the package.

Post-closing liquidity and debt-to-income: No numerical test appears in the documents on file. The package requires a sworn statement of net worth and income, a financial statement, verification of assets and three years of federal tax returns, and the board applies its own standard to them. Ask the managing agent for current guidance before you offer.

Transfer fee: 3 percent of the purchase price, payable by certified check at closing, and the purchase application places it on the purchaser. This is unusual — most Manhattan cooperatives put the flip tax on the seller — and it belongs in the buyer's closing-cost model rather than the seller's.

Fitness center initiation: A mandatory initiation fee, most recently $3,000, is payable at closing regardless of whether the purchaser intends to use the facility. Annual membership dues are separate.

Alterations: The alteration agreement is signed as part of the purchase package, before approval, and the package asks for a list of intended alterations and their estimated cost. The agreement requires a security deposit set at 10 percent of the cost of the work with a $10,000 floor, umbrella insurance coverage in the millions with the corporation and managing agent named as additional insureds, and it imposes per-day liquidated damages for overrunning the approved completion time. Work hours are weekdays only, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Obligations under an open alteration agreement pass to the next purchaser by assumption.

Floor covering and noise: At least 80 percent of the floor area of each apartment, excluding kitchens, pantries, bathrooms and closets, must be carpeted or otherwise sound-attenuated unless the board expressly waives it. Wall-mounted televisions and surround-sound systems require soundproofing under the alteration guidelines.

Smoking: Prohibited in all common areas, and the house rules treat smoke — including marijuana smoke — migrating from an apartment into a hallway or a neighbor's apartment as objectionable conduct, with the board reserving the right to seek termination of the proprietary lease.

Real estate taxes: No building-wide abatement. The cooperative refunds the shareholder-level New York City co-op and condominium property tax abatement to shareholders and charges an approximately offsetting assessment, which is standard practice and is disclosed in the financial statements.

Press accounts have recorded the transportation entrepreneur and philanthropist John D. Hertz as a resident (The New York Times, 1957) and the Broadway composer Mitch Leigh (New York Post, 2001). Beyond those published accounts we do not identify residents of this building.

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.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026 to date) cleared a median $1,652/sf (floor-adjusted) across 3 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 4.6% 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 1-01384-0001). 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.

Read the pet rule before you fall in love with an apartment. Dogs are prohibited outright — not restricted by weight or breed, prohibited, including visiting dogs. Two cats or caged birds and a 55-gallon fish tank are the permitted universe. Confirm the current rules, any written-consent provisions and legally required accommodations; the reviewed evidence does not rank causes of failed transactions. A disability-related assistance animal is handled as a reasonable-accommodation request, not under the pet rule.

Budget 50 percent down and the 3 percent transfer fee on your side of the table. Maximum financing is 50 percent per the purchase application on file, and the transfer fee — 3 percent of the purchase price — is written as a purchaser obligation, payable by certified check at closing. Include that amount in the buyer’s closing-cost model and confirm the current application terms; the reviewed evidence does not establish how often buyers misallocate it.

Price the windows and the air conditioning into the offer. A new shareholder must replace original casement windows in conformity with the Landmarks-approved master plan and replace protruding air conditioners with through-wall units, within six months of closing, at their own cost. On an unrenovated apartment this is not a small line and it is not optional.

Add both assessments to the maintenance. The operating and capital assessments are separate from maintenance, recurring, and expected to continue. Run the True Monthly Carrying Cost Calculator with all three in it.

Underwrite the façade cycle, not the balance sheet alone. The building is debt-free, and it is also in an active façade program on a landmarked elevation, with cycle 9 filed SWARMP and sheds and scaffolding up since 2024. Ask for the engineer's report, the scope, the budget and the funding plan.

Sign the alteration agreement knowing what it costs. It goes into the board package before approval, and it carries a security deposit of 10 percent of the work with a $10,000 floor, high insurance limits and daily liquidated damages for overruns. If your plan is a gut renovation, price the agreement, not just the contractor.

This is an owner-occupancy building. No subletting, and family may occupy in your absence for no more than 90 days a year. If you need flexibility, this is the wrong address.

Prepare a full package. Four personal references, a business reference, a landlord or managing agent reference, employment verification, a sworn net-worth statement, verification of assets, and three years of federal tax returns. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before you offer.

Lead with the balance sheet. No underlying mortgage, no maturity risk, a funded reserve, and a garage throwing off seven figures a year. Present the dated financial statements and current debt confirmation so buyers can evaluate that position alongside capital work and assessments; attorney priorities and buyer responses vary.

Disclose the assessments up front. Sophisticated buyers and their attorneys will find them in the financials. Presenting maintenance plus assessments together, with the reason for each, produces better outcomes than letting the number arrive as a surprise in diligence.

Screen for the pet rule early. A showing for a buyer with a pet dog is a wasted showing. Say it in the first conversation.

Set expectations on financing and the transfer fee. Fifty percent down and a purchaser-paid 3 percent transfer fee narrow the buyer pool. Qualify buyers against both before you accept an offer, not after.

Handle the window and air conditioner obligation in the negotiation. A buyer will discover it in the package. Sellers who price it into the ask, or credit it, close faster than sellers who let it reopen the negotiation two weeks before the board deadline.

Comp against post-war Fifth Avenue and the Emery Roth stock, not against the pre-war trophies. The buyer pool for this building overlaps with 875 Fifth across the street and with the avenue's other mid-century houses far more than with the 1920s limestone tier.

If you're considering 880 Fifth Avenue, also evaluate:

• 875 Fifth Avenue — Emery Roth directly across 69th Street; compare architect, date and design
• 870 Fifth Avenue — the 1949 cooperative immediately south at 68th Street; compare post-war layouts and services
• 930 Fifth Avenue — the other Uris-built Fifth Avenue cooperative, at 74th Street; same developers, same period
• 860 Fifth Avenue — post-war Fifth Avenue cooperative a few blocks south; comparable scale and service level
• 900 Fifth Avenue — post-war cooperative at 71st Street; compare its construction date and current apartment features
• 834 Fifth Avenue — Rosario Candela pre-war building; compare actual prices and ownership terms
• 820 Fifth Avenue — a prewar Fifth Avenue alternative; compare actual layouts, prices and service
• 10 East 70th Street — Emery Roth & Sons around the corner; same architects; compare dated prices and actual exposures
• 3 East 69th Street — the side-street cooperative alternative on the same block
• 15 East 69th Street — Lenox Hill building on the same street; smaller building, different policy stack