Arcadia, 408 East 79th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 408 East 79th Street by Carter Horsley

Air-rights transfers - the exchange of unused development rights from one property to another - are not unusual in New York City, but they are seldom used to build directly above the other property. Usually, the properties are adjacent lots that may be legally merged for new construction on the combined lot.

This 20-story condominium apartment building, however, has used the air-rights from the low-rise apartment building with fire escapes, immediately to its east, to cantilever part of its bulk over that building, a rare phenomenon in the city.

The building has a doorman, a concierge, a health club, a children's playroom, a library, a screening room, wine cellar, and storage, and is pet-friendly.

Construction on the new building began in 2004. It is cantilevered at its seventh floor on its east side. The building, which has 45 units, has a setback above its 13th floor. The developer of this building is Jelee LLC.

Costas Kondylis was the architect.

The building is across the street from a newsstand and Saint Monica s Catholic Church, and it is on the former site of Phillips auction house. It is adjacent to a slightly taller, but setback, apartment tower on the southeast corner, at First Avenue.

This location is now convenient to subways with the opening of the Second Avenue subway with a station at 72nd Street and 86th Street. There is also good bus service on 79th Street and York Avenues, and there is a downtown entrance to the FDR Drive, at the east end of 79th Street.

Carl Schurz Park and a couple of the city's top schools for girls are a few blocks away to the east and north.