THE CONDO BOOK PROJECT

21 West 86th Street Condominium

21 West 86th Street, Manhattan, NY 10024

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Overview

A 107-unit conversion of a 1927 rental building half a block from Central Park, sponsored by a Clipper Equity entity. Many homes are still occupied by tenants, 30 of them rent-stabilized, and units are sold as is.

  • Address: 21 West 86th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan
  • Plan: CD190131, accepted for filing in October 2020
  • Building: completed in 1927, 15 stories above ground plus a roof level and one cellar, about 151 feet tall
  • Residences: 107, from studios of about 352 square feet to a four-bedroom of about 2,251 square feet, on floors marketed as 2 to 15 (there's no 13) and PH
  • Other units: a ground-floor Commercial Unit of about 7,500 square feet, used as medical offices at filing and not for sale under the plan
  • Storage: 31 cellar storage lockers sold as licenses, from $13,500 to $54,000. No parking.
  • First offering: all 107 residences at about $225.3 million in total, from $675,000 for a studio to $5.28 million for penthouse PH-C (sponsor offering prices, not sales). Tenants buying their own units would pay about $202.7 million in total.

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FigureThis building1Residential Section Of 212 West 72nd Street2196 units · 0.8 miaccepted 2020One11 Residences399 units · 1.6 miaccepted 2022
Common ChargesPer Square Foot / Month$1.21Lowest$2.10$2.00
Average Offering PricePer Apartment$2.11MBelow peers$4.97M$2.46M
Average PricePer Square Foot$2,086Lowest$2,664$2,918
Average Unit SizeSquare Feet1,009 SFIn line1,866 SF843 SF

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Unit mix, closings, budgets, finishes and the team, against Residential Section Of 212 West 72nd Street and One11 Residences, cited to the offering plans. No credit card required.

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How We Got This
  • Comps: the closest Manhattan plans on size, $/SF and launch date, within 2 miles when possible.
  • Figures: each building's own offering plan, filed with the NY Attorney General. Nothing is estimated.
  • Checked: a price list publishes only when its math adds up, and building pages cite the plan pages.
  • Labels: In line is between the comps; Below/Above peers is past both by up to 15%; Lowest/Highest by more.

Budget

What It Costs to Run

The sponsor projected a first-year budget (February 2021 to January 2022) of about $1.57 million. Residences carry about $1.53 million of it. The Commercial Unit pays about $35,500, although it holds about 6.5% of the common interest, because it's separately metered and uses few building services. Here's how that works out in monthly common charges, per Schedule A:

  • About $410 to $570 a month for studios.
  • About $600 to $980 a month for one-bedrooms.
  • About $1,440 to $1,870 a month for most three-bedrooms, and about $2,650 to $2,675 for the largest homes (11A and PH-C).
  • Estimated real estate taxes add about $585 to $3,780 a month.

Notable lines:

  • Staff: about $917,000.
  • Utilities: about $206,000 for common electricity, about $57,000 for gas for heat, hot water and cooking, and about $56,000 for water and sewer.
  • Repairs and supplies: $80,000.
  • Superintendent's apartment: $70,000 for rent and utilities.
  • Service contracts: about $50,500, including $22,000 for the elevators.
  • Insurance and management: about $50,000 for insurance and $50,000 to Douglas Elliman Property Management.

Good to know: the sponsor must fund a reserve under the Reserve Fund Law, estimated at up to about $6.1 million and never less than 2% of the total price, and the board can spend it while the sponsor still controls the board. You'll also pay two months of common charges into working capital at closing (see reserve funds, why operating costs differ and our common charge benchmarks).

From our research: The Sponsor's Condo-Creation Fee in NYC · NYC Condo Insurance Costs Are Rising · Condo Supplies Cost per Unit, by Size

The Building

Finishes

The architect describes the renovated apartments from a visual inspection of just two of them, and warns that tenants may have changed things since (compare with our NYC condo finishes guide). For the 33 unrenovated homes, the plan lists no finishes at all.

Kitchen

  • A Viking stainless steel oven and range, a panel-ready Liebherr refrigerator, a Sharp microwave drawer, a dishwasher and a range hood.
  • Stone countertops and backsplashes, brown millwork cabinets, and a stainless steel sink with a polished nickel Signature faucet.
  • Cooking gas comes through a common meter, so it's paid in common charges.

Baths

  • Duravit Starck 3 toilets, Kohler Caxton undermount sinks and Kaldewei Puro tubs.
  • Polished nickel faucets, shower heads and trim from Signature.
  • Stone floors, walls and counters, plus electric radiant floor-heating mats in perimeter bathrooms.

See how these names compare in our bathroom brands guide.

Floors, Ceilings and Windows

  • Hardwood floors with no known manufacturer or warranty, and painted gypsum walls and ceilings.
  • Double-hung, thermally broken aluminum windows with insulated glass. The architect rates them in fair condition, with no known warranty.
  • The plan doesn't give ceiling heights. Sound ratings between floors and between walls are unknown, and probes found no insulation in the exterior walls.

Laundry, Heating and Cooling

  • Most renovated apartments have a vented Bosch washer and dryer. Ten renovated units (3A, 4F, 4K, 7F, 8C, 8J, 9E, 11D, 12D and 12G) don't, and the plan doesn't say whether unrenovated ones do. The cellar laundry room has five washers and five stacked dryers that take cards.
  • Renovated homes are heated and cooled by an LG variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system, with one rooftop condensing unit shared by four to six apartments. The system had about six years left on a 10-year warranty.
  • Unrenovated homes have Berko electric baseboard heat and no central air. Tenants typically use window units.
  • Hot water comes from gas-fired Aerco heaters in the cellar, with about 10 years of life left and no warranty. Each apartment pays its own Con Edison electric bill.

Amenities, Staffing & Transportation

The amenities were renovated by the prior owner in 2014 to 2015 and sit in the cellar and on the roof (compare with amenities by building size).

Cellar

  • A fitness room of about 750 square feet with a stretching area of about 170 square feet.
  • A children's playroom of about 550 square feet and a small pet grooming room with a tub.
  • Bike storage for about 23 bicycles, the storage lockers and the laundry room.

Roof and Lobby

  • A common roof deck, a meditation area and a barbecue area with a grill and a sink. The plan puts the roof's legal capacity at just 12 people.
  • A lobby with a package room and mailroom, and an automatic curved glass vestibule door.
  • Two passenger elevators and a service elevator, modernized in 2019.

Good to know: eight homes have private terraces (2D, 2E, 9F, 9H, 12G, 12H, PH-B and PH-C), from about 122 to 544 square feet. The duplex penthouses PH-B and PH-C have roof terraces with a gas grill, an under-counter fridge and a sink. Owners pay for routine terrace upkeep, and leak and structural repairs are shared by all residential owners (see who pays for terrace repairs).

Staffing and Services

The first-year budget assumes a staff in the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council union:

  • A superintendent: about $104,000 in wages plus about $38,000 in benefits. The super won't necessarily live in the building. The budget sets aside $70,000 to rent an apartment nearby or in the building, and the plan doesn't promise one.
  • Four concierges: about $69,000 each in wages.
  • Three porters: about $76,000 each in wages.

Payroll comes to about $917,000, more than half the budget. The medical office unit pays for three hours a week of the super's time and three hours of a porter's. See where common charges go for how that compares.

Transportation

  • Subway: 1 min walk to 86 St B C; 81 St-Museum of Natural History B C, 7 min

Fine Print

What's Specific to It

  • Tenants stay: no non-purchasing tenant can be evicted because of the conversion. At filing, 30 homes were rent-stabilized and only 10 were offered vacant. If you buy an occupied unit, you become the tenant's landlord.
  • A tenant discount: tenants in occupancy get 90 days to buy their own apartment at prices about 10% below what everyone else pays.
  • Two kinds of apartments: 74 homes were renovated by the prior owner in 2014 to 2015 or by the sponsor in 2018. The other 33 are unrenovated, and the architect couldn't get in, so their finishes and appliances are unknown.
  • A sponsor-funded reserve: because it's a conversion, the city's Reserve Fund Law makes the sponsor fund a capital reserve, estimated at up to about $6.1 million.
  • The sponsor may never sell most units: it keeps the unconditional right to rent instead of sell, and only has to sell 15% (16 homes) to declare the plan effective.
  • A landmark district: the building sits in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, so exterior work needs Landmarks approval.

The Brewster stands on West 86th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, less than a block from Central Park. Its offering plan tells you which apartments were renovated, who still lives in them and what the building should cost to run.

Fine Print Worth Knowing

  • Buying an occupied home: if a tenant is in place, you take over the lease and the landlord's duties, and rent-stabilized tenants keep their protections. The plan lists aggregate rent of about $560,000 a month across occupied units as of October 2020.
  • As-is condition: the sponsor makes no repairs and gives no representation about finishes or appliances. The floor plans came from HTO Architect, a firm no longer in business, and tenants may have changed layouts.
  • A board the sponsor may control: the sponsor appoints the majority for up to three years. Under a past settlement with the state, it must hire an independent managing agent and put at least one unaffiliated owner on the board after the first annual meeting.
  • Lot line windows: 19 homes, including 2C, 10C, 14A, PH-A and PH-C, have windows on the east or west lot lines that must be closed up if a neighbor builds differently. The owner pays, an estimated $4,000 a window.
  • Older systems: the roof dates to 2003 with about 10 years of life left and no bond. There's no emergency generator. Adding a washer and dryer or another major appliance needs board consent because of limited electrical capacity.
  • Air rights go with the store: the Commercial Unit owner keeps any excess development rights and can sell them to neighbors, which could affect views. The plan says there were none at filing.
  • Resale and lending limits: you can't list or lease your unit for 12 months after buying. Because the sponsor may hold many units as rentals, lenders may balk, which can make resale harder.

Team

The plan doesn't name an interior designer.

Nearby

FAQ

Can I buy an apartment at The Brewster that has a tenant living in it?

Yes. Most homes were occupied when the plan was filed, including 30 rent-stabilized units. It's a non-eviction plan, so a buyer of an occupied unit takes it subject to the tenant's rights and becomes the landlord, with the managing agent handling day-to-day duties for a fee.

Do the apartments have washers, dryers and central air?

Most of the 74 renovated apartments have a Bosch washer and dryer and LG VRF heating and cooling. The 33 unrenovated apartments have electric baseboard heat and no central air, and their finishes and appliances are unknown. Everyone can use the cellar laundry room.

Does The Brewster have a doorman or a gym?

The first-year budget has four concierges, three porters and a superintendent, all union staff. Amenities include a cellar fitness room with a stretching area, a children's playroom, pet grooming, bike storage and a shared roof deck with a barbecue area.

Where this comes from: the building's offering plan (CD190131) as filed with the New York Attorney General, including its Special Risks, Description of the Property, Schedule A, Schedule B, Identity of Parties and the architect's Description of Property and Building Condition. Prices are the sponsor's offering prices, not sales, and budget figures are the sponsor's first-year projections. Later amendments may change them. Updated October 2026.