85 East End Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 85 East End Avenue by Carter Horsley

This red-brick, 15-story rental apartment building at 85 East End Avenue was erected in 1951 and was designed by Emery Roth & Sons.

It has 175 apartments.

The building, which is also known as 601-611 East 83rd Street, has many balconies, a doorman, a canopied entrance, sidewalk landscaping, protruding air-conditioners, and a garage.

It has a 12-story building at its rear that overlooks the East River and is directly across from the prestigious Brearley School at 610 East 83rd Street.

The school entered a contract to buy part of the building and relocate its rent-regulated tenants. The rear section of the building has 57 apartments and when the school entered a contract 24 were vacant, according to a December 21, 2007 article by Bill Sanderson in The New York Times.

The article said that "state law bars the building's current owner, BlackRock Realty, from evicting its rent-regulated tenants," but added that "the law exempts buildings owned by institutions 'operated exclusively for charitable or educational purposes' - giving Brearley the right to challenge residents' tenancy."

Brearley is one of the city's top-rated private schools for girls and its alumnae have included Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and actress Kyra Sedgwick.

A December 20, 2007 article by Eliot Brown at observer.com said that "the school had been eyeing the building for years, and now plans to renovate and remodel it for academic uses, according to Stephanie Hull, head of the school," and it said that Ms. Hull said that "this has been a desire for the school for more than 10 years" because the school was "desperate for space."

The Chapin School, another prestigious private girls school on the west side of East End Avenue at 84th Street, also needed to expand at the same time but it was able to add to its existing building.

The Brearley negotiations over the sale, however, were not finalized and subsequently acquired three neighboring buildings at 70, 72, and 74 East End Avenue, according to an article at DNAinfo.com by Gabriela Resto-Montero, who noted that the move "would displace residents who live at 15 of the 24 apartments in the buildings."

A May 26, 2010 article by Amy Tennery at therealdeal.com said that the purchase was for an undisclosed sum but noted that "previous owner East End Acquisiiton LLC filed a deed on the properties for a combined $52.5 million in December 2005, according to city documents."

85 East End Avenue is one block south of Carl Schurz Park, which contains Gracie Mansion and a riverfront esplanade.

There is good crosstown bus service at York Avenue and 86th Street.