140 W 71st St

The Danielle

Depending on who you ask, New York City co-ops — or really, New York City co-op boards — either get a bad rap or have a bad reputation for inflexibility and sluggish progress on cosmetic upgrades or aging infrastructure. So, it’s understandable that one might be skeptical when learning about The Danielle, an 80-unit co-op in Lincoln Square where the policies are liberal, the facilities are upgraded and the board converted the building’s boiler to natural gas, a switch that simultaneously saved shareholders money and reduced the building’s carbon footprint. "By converting the building's boiler to natural gas, we were able to save $50,000 annually on our heating bill. This enabled us to reduce the building expenses and keep maintenance costs in check,” the co-op board’s treasurer Shlomo Spritzer told FirstService Residential, the building’s property management company. It doesn’t stop there: the building further increased the heating system’s efficiency by installing air sensors throughout the building so that real-time temperature data could be used to regulate the boiler control. Described in a recent listing as “friendly,” the board permits co-purchasing, pied-a-terres and guarantors. Additionally, The Danielle allows immediate subletting and is investor-friendly, permitting subletting without residency. Built in 1912, the brick, nine-story building’s facade includes arched windows, copper dormer windows on the top floor and a mansard roof. Homes include compact studios with pullman kitchens, one- and two-bedroom apartments and spacious three-bedroom residences, with a few offering a split layout for extra privacy. Units feature prewar details of herringbone hardwood floors and crown molding, and select homes include beamed ceilings, decorative fireplaces and Juliet balconies. Kitchen and bathroom finishes and fixtures vary, due to individual owners’ renovations over time. A few homes on the west side of the building look on to the stained-glass windows of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament next door, built in 1917. Asking prices for studios start at about $325,000; one-bedrooms list for about $500,000 to $700,000, and two- and three-bedroom homes ask $1 million and up. The Danielle offers a live-in super, virtual doorman, a recently renovated laundromat, a small fitness center, bike storage and storage units. Residents of The Danielle enjoy a classic Upper West Side lifestyle. Located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on a leafy block lined with early 20th-century townhouses and other prewar and postwar apartment buildings, The Danielle is a short walk from the 72nd Street entrance to Central Park, near Strawberry Fields and the expansive Sheep Meadow. The area is named for its proximity to the Lincoln Center complex, home to premier arts organizations The Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Film at Lincoln Center. The American Museum of Natural History and the New-York Historical Society are a few blocks to the north. Tucked between three major thoroughfares–Columbus Avenue, Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway–the building provides convenient access to several grocery stores including Fairway, Trader Joe’s and Citarella. Public transit access is ideal, with express and local trains stopping at 72nd Street one block away. Midtown Manhattan can be reached in under 15 minutes. For driving to other parts of the city or beyond, the West Side Highway is less than three avenue blocks away.