For this section, we've compiled an extensive list of New York City
rental apartment buildings.
The majority of buildings listed are "no-fee" - i.e. managed by companies that deal directly with renters. That means you do not need to hire a broker in order to rent an apartment there.
Some managers prefer to "outsource" the rental
process to brokerages that do collect a fee.
Whenever we have information that such an arrangement takes place, we note it in the building's profile page.
In general, we try our best to show direct management contact info wherever possible and where not possible,
show the exlusive brokerage contact while also specifying whether or not it is
"no-fee".
Most buildings listed offer unfurnished apartments, but major appliances are nearly always included. Typical leases are 12 and 24 months. The buildings are grouped by area.
This is a partial list of rental apartment buildings in Downtown Manhattan
(i.e. below 14th street).
The
complete list of downtown rental buildings (containing 397 buildings)
is a bit longer.
100 Jane Street
(West Village) {4 available apts} Opened in 1995. Contains 148 apartments, 30 of which are
set aside for low-income New Yorkers (under a special program
by the NYC Housing Development Corporation).
100 Maiden Lane
(Financial District) {6 available apts} Former headquarters of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft converted
into a residential building in 2005.
The centerpiece of 100 Maiden Lane is its 100-foot high atrium, which is top....
2 Gold Street
(Financial District) {8 available apts} A 51-story tower, joined to a smaller "sister" building of 26 stories. The façade alternates between cream-colored brick and "high-performance" windows
with recesses for balc....
Le Rivage
(21 West Street, Battery Park City) {3 available apts} Built in 1926 in the Art Deco style, restored and converted in 1998. Architectural details abound in the halls, lobby and elevators.
Post Towers
(75 West Street, Battery Park City) {8 available apts} The building is named Post Towers after The New York Post, for which it was built in 1926. The Post left it in 1970, and the Bank of New York used it until 1996.
Tribeca Tower
(105 Duane Street, TriBeCa) {4 available apts} A 52-story full-service luxury apartment building.
West Coast (110-114 Horatio)
(110 Horatio Street, West Village) {9 available apts} A 6-story pre-war apartment building connected to the newly constructed 8-story one.
Archstone Chelsea
(800 Sixth Avenue, Chelsea) {15 available apts} A high-rise concierge building.
Archstone Clinton
(510 West 52nd Street, Hell's Kitchen (Clinton)) {21 available apts} Two 24-story towers. The project is built under
the 80/20 program and 126 apartments will house
lower-income families.
London Terrace Gardens
(415 West 23rd Street, Chelsea) {4 available apts} When it was completed in 1931, London Terrace was the considered the largest apartment building in the world. Occupying the entire block between 23rd and 24th Streets and Nint....
The Metropolis
(150 East 44th Street, Midtown East) {2 available apts} A centrally located luxury building.
The Montrose
(306-308 East 38th Street, Murray Hill) {2 available apts} A 20-story luxury residential rental project. A "boutique" building with fewer than a hundred units, but many luxury amenities, offering residents a "user-friendly home enviro....
The Sierra
(130 West 15th Street, Chelsea) {1 available apt} A mid-rise building.
The Tate
(535 West 23rd Street, Chelsea) {6 available apts} A concierge building.
The Westport
(500 West 56th Street, Hell's Kitchen (Clinton)) {6 available apts} A luxury building offering 25 different apartment layouts to choose from.
Post Toscana
(389 East 89th Street, Upper East Side) {10 available apts} A modern high-rise concierge building.
River East
(408 East 92nd Street, Upper East Side) {4 available apts} A modern high-rise doorman building.
The Sagamore
(189 West 89th Street, Upper West Side) {4 available apts} A modern apartment building (built in 1997) whose apartments
are "pre-war in both look and feel". David Rockwell designed
the building's lobby.
Sessanta
(229 West 60th Street, Upper West Side) {3 available apts} A high-rise doorman building.
The Manhattan Court
(444 Manhattan Avenue, Central Harlem) {6 available apts} A modern luxury building in Harlem. Some apartments
are reserved as affordable housing for mid-income tenants.
The Monterey
(175 East 96th Street, East Harlem) {5 available apts} A modern high-rise building occupying the corner of East 96th Street and Third Avenue.
Susan's Court
(454 Manhattan Avenue, Central Harlem) {7 available apts} A modern mid-rise doorman elevator building.
Although
Roosevelt Island
is officially part of the borough of Manhattan,
it is an island, so if you decide to rent there, you'll need to get acquainted with a lesser-known mode of transportation called the air-tram.
Manhattan Park on Roosevelt Island
(10-40 River Road, Roosevelt Island) Over a thousand rental apartments in five buildings. Many residents are UN employees. 94 apartments are reserved for the elderly and physically challenged.
The Octagon
(888 Main Street, Roosevelt Island) A luxury apartment building offering a wide range of services and amenities including tennis courts, waterfront pool, health club & day care center. The building was designed ....
Clermont Armory Towers
(171 Clermont Avenue, Fort Greene) {1 available apt} Built in two wings behind the façade of the original armory, the apartments face an elevated courtyard.
In an attempt to capture some of the character of the original Clerm....
The Portland (108-110)
(108-110 South Portland Avenue, Fort Greene) {1 available apt} Four walk-up apartment buildings with a limestone façade built in 1900 in the neo-renaissance style.
East Coast @ 4720 Center Blvd.
(4720 Center Boulevard, Long Island City) {15 available apts} A 32-story tower, part of "East Coast" - a development project for Long Island City. The tower sits right on the waterfront.
Whenever possible, for rental buildings, we list direct contact information for each building
and for no-fee buildings this means that you'll be dealing
with the management company directly, without any intermediaries (brokers or agents) and consequently, you won't be required to pay extra fees.
When the manager requires prospective tenants to go through a brokerage,
broker fees may be charged. We try to note such arrangements in the building's "capsule".
If you contacted your broker before seeing the apartment, typically you'll
have to pay the fee, even if it later turns out that the building wasn't
requiring you to use a broker and you could have come and talked directly to the
management. That's why it pays to do your research in advance.
Renting in condo and especially co-op buildings more often than not requires
a broker - unless you're dealing directly with the owner of the unit or the developer of the building. This market is much more fractured and complicated
than the "mainstream" rental market, but the upside is that you can find a much
more unique apartment to live in.
How Much Is the Fee?
In New York, a typical broker's fee is about 15% (up to 20% in some cases)
of one year's rent. Thus, the broker's fee on a $3,000 apartment will be $5,400. No wonder New Yorkers have been looking hard to avoid paying
such fees (and thanks to NYBits, they can now do that!).
In certain situations, however, brokers charge less - for example, it is
not uncommon to pay the "low fee" of around 10% or even a fee of one month's rent (which roughly corresponds to 8.3%).
When we have information that a building is rented through a brokerage
and requires a fee, we show a "fee warning" prominently in the building
capsule.
Sometimes (and more so in a "down" market), landlords agree to pay the broker
directly - an arrangement that is called "Owner Pays" (OP) in the industry
lingo.
Fairly often, companies hire (and pay) an "exclusive" broker to advertise their
properties or even to man an on-site rental office.
You should not be paying a fee to a no-fee broker: the landlord has already agreed to do so. Always confirm this is the case before signing anything.
In case you're wondering, "OP" is actually the standard way of doing business pretty much everywhere in the country except New York, although even in New York it seems to be more accepted now.