Last month, 498 West End Avenue accomplished a rare feat for Upper West Side landmarked buildings — approval for a rooftop addition (sorry ’bout it, Apthorp).
The 12-story rental building between West 83rd and 84th streets will be getting a reconfigured front entrance and two new stories atop the existing roof, adding about 4,000 square feet, Curbed reported. And après addition, le condo deluge.
The building’s condo offering plan was approved July 1, with an initial price of $144.683 million and 45 residential units.
In 2012, the century-old limestone and brick property traded for $52.5 million — a record for a rental building with fewer than 50 units along West End Avenue, The Real Deal reported. The buyer was Queens-based Samson Management. According to a press release issued by Fenwick Keats, which represented the seller, “the trend of converting rental buildings of this type into co-ops or condos made this property exceptionally attractive to [prospective] buyers.”
A little history on the building, courtesy of West Side Rag: “Built in 1911, the 12-story building’s original apartment layouts ranged in size from 8, 7 and 6 rooms, each with a large entry foyer and service entrance.” As a result of the original design, all rooms feature exterior exposures with no interior courtyard.
Construction workers were active on the site when we stopped by this morning. Permits filed in 2013 and subsequently approved call for the demolition of interior partitions, without any change in use, egress or occupancy. Cetra/Ruddy is the architect of record. There are also permits filed for facade repairs and renovation of the lobby, the latter in full swing today.
A tipster tells us that the newly converted condos will be three-bedroom to five-bedroom units.
