The 5 Most Unusual Condos in NYC
Summary: Most new condo plans promise the same gym, lounge and roof deck. These five offering plans describe something genuinely different, and each one comes with a catch buyers should understand.
Lighthouse Beach 67th, 141 Beach 67th Street, Arverne, Queens
What's unusual: owners help pay to protect an endangered shorebird. The budget carries a line called the Piping Plover Fund, a fixed $3,780 a year. The plan explains that the piping plover, protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, nests on the shoreline in Arverne by the Sea. The city's housing agency (HPD) required the fund as part of the area's environmental review, to support the Urban Park Service's protection work. Residential owners pay most of it and the commercial unit pays $500.
The bird fund is small. The bigger rule is about who can live there. The plan requires each owner to use the apartment as a primary residence for a combined period of at least 20 years after the sponsor's first sale. In return, the building gets a long property tax break. The plan lists 82 apartments, offered for about $102.6 million in total.
The catch: the 20-year primary residence rule limits renting out or using the unit as a second home, and it carries over to later buyers. Read it with your lawyer before you sign. Full details are on the Lighthouse Beach 67th page.
50 West 66th Street, Lincoln Square, Manhattan
What's unusual: a synagogue will own part of the building. The plan says the Community Facility Unit is expected to go to Congregation Habonim, a religious corporation, and that the sponsor understands it will run the space as a synagogue, religious school, pre-school and event space.
That's not the only oddity. The plan says four mechanical floors have ceiling heights of about 20, 64, 64 and 48 feet. Floor numbers are marketing names, not real stories. And the amenity list runs well past the usual, with a squash court, a basketball court, a bowling alley and a swimming pool.
The catch: the plan itself warns that the congregation's planned uses may bring noise to its part of the building. If you're looking at a lower-floor home, find out where it sits relative to that space. See the 50 West 66th Street page.
Claremont Hall, 100 Claremont Avenue, Morningside Heights, Manhattan
What's unusual: the pool sits in a historic seminary dining hall. The plan says the pool room will be in Union Theological Seminary's existing Refectory, renovated by changing its floor slab to hold a pool. A dedicated dehumidifier is designed to run in three modes, including one for events with the pool covered.
The seminary is also a neighbor inside the condo. The plan says it is buying 28 residential units plus an academic unit in the building, sold to it in bulk under the same plan.
The catch: you share a board, some costs and some rules with a large institutional owner. That can be stabilizing, but it also means one owner with its own priorities. More on the Claremont Hall page.
255 East 77th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
What's unusual: a recording studio and a robot garage. The plan lists a Recording Studio, a Sports Simulator Room and a Screening Room among the amenities. Parking is a 22-car automated garage reached by a car lift off the porte cochere next to the lobby. You don't park the car yourself.
The pool is staffed, too. The plan budgets a lifeguard for a total of 70 hours a week.
The catch: staffed amenities cost money every year, whether or not you use them. A lifeguard and an outside amenity provider are real budget lines, and they tend to rise. See the 255 East 77th Street page.
Williamsburg Wharf, 482 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
What's unusual: the condo pays rent for its pool. The plan says the pool and other shared amenities belong to the rental owners in the complex, and the condo gets access through an amenity agreement. The condo pays $200,000 a year for it for an initial five-year term, with an option to renew at market value. The plan also describes a roughly one-acre public park and a walkway along the East River.
The plan also has a flip clause. If you sell within 18 months of buying, the sponsor gets any proceeds above your purchase price.
The catch: the condo doesn't own its main amenities. When the first term ends and the agreement renews at market value, that cost could rise, and owners can't simply vote it down. See the Williamsburg Wharf page.
FAQ
What is the most unusual condo amenity in New York?
Of the plans we've read, the most unusual line item is Lighthouse Beach 67th's Piping Plover Fund, a fixed $3,780 a year that owners pay toward protecting an endangered shorebird. For amenities you can actually use, 50 West 66th Street's bowling alley and 255 East 77th Street's recording studio stand out.
How did you pick these five?
We started from the "What's Specific to It" lists in our building guides, which pull the unusual points out of each offering plan, and kept features that are genuinely rare in New York condo plans, not just expensive, spread across boroughs and price points. For each pick we went back to the plan's own text to confirm the key facts, and dropped a candidate when the text didn't clearly support the claim.
Where do these details come from?
From each building's offering plan, the disclosure document filed with the New York Attorney General before units can be sold. The plan describes the amenities, the budget, the staff and the rules owners will live under. We didn't use listings, marketing materials or sales data.
Is "unusual" a recommendation?
No. Several of these features come with costs or rules that won't suit every buyer. To check a plan yourself, start with how to read Schedule A and Schedule B.
Do unusual amenities raise common charges?
Often, yes. Pools need lifeguards and dehumidifiers, automated garages need service contracts, and rented amenities need yearly payments. Check Schedule B, the projected budget, to see what each feature costs.
Are these prices and budgets current?
No. They come from the original plans. Sponsors change prices and budgets through amendments, and actual costs after closing can differ from the projections.
Can a condo restrict who lives in a unit?
Yes. At Lighthouse Beach 67th, built under a city program, the plan requires owners to use the unit as a primary residence for a combined 20 years after the first sale. Rules like that are in the plan, so read it before you sign.
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