220 W 148th St

PS90 Condominiums

The PS90 Condos, which were renovated from a public school that became vacant in the 1970s, let residents live in a historic piece of New York City without paying sky-high prices that more prominent Gothic Revival buildings — such as The Dakota or The Woolworth — are known for. “The original architect, Charles Snyder, was a superintendent of schools and he built something like 400 of these [kinds of schools] throughout the city. The earlier ones were inspired by the Hotel de Ville in Paris,” says Sidney Whelan, former PS90 sales director and a real estate agent at CORE. To make the schools safer and easier to evacuate in case of a fire, Snyder developed an H-shaped design with courtyards in the front and back. The 120-plus-year-old building retains those features, as well as the decorative stone trim, and has playful nods to the educational past, with checkerboard tiles and wainscotting in the lobby. Inside the units, 12-foot ceilings, European oak floors and Bosch washer-dryers create comfortably modern living spaces. Studios start at 700 square feet and tend to have little separation between living, eating and sleeping areas. One bedrooms, which start at 800 square feet, have open kitchens like the studios, and some on the first floor have a bonus outdoor terrace. Two bedrooms, which start at 1,200 square feet and come with two bathrooms, make up the bulk of the residences. Some have bay windows in the living room, and those on the penthouse level have patios that are as big as the unit. The few three bedrooms continue the open-kitchen theme and often connect one of the two bathrooms to the primary bedroom. “You have 10- to 12-foot ceilings in all the units on floors one through five,” Whelan says, “then the developer was able to put a penthouse level on top.” In addition to making room for 6- to 9-foot-tall windows, high ceilings keep central heating and cooling hardware out of the way. Wide-plank flooring, which has a herringbone pattern in the living rooms, pairs with the kitchens’ Stevali-brand wooden cabinets. There are white quartzite counters, KitchenAid appliances and Bosch washer-dryers, even in the studios. Bathroom finishes can vary, with larger units using marbled tiles and rainfall showerheads, and smaller units tending toward more plain fixtures. On this block of 148th Street, PS90 is the most expensive residence. Studios range from $550,000 to the high $600,000s, and one bedrooms range from $650,000 to $1 million for especially large layouts. Two bedrooms are priced from $1.1 million to $2 million, depending on size, and the rare three bedrooms, which can have the same square footage as some two bedrooms, are at the higher end of that price range. Owners can rent out their units with one-year-minimum leases, and when the building’s J-51 tax abatement ends in 2025, monthly taxes will increase slightly. While the billiards room is a fun addition to the former school, the backyard patio is the most impressive shared space. It has trees and flowerbeds with wooden benches around the perimeter, and being raised above street level increases the sense of privacy. There’s also a small fitness center and a public parking garage next door. “I did a comparison of all the garages within walking distance and it’s one of the cheaper ones,” Whelan says. This part of Central Harlem has a diverse dining scene, with Jamaican, Haitian and Ethiopian restaurants, plus a classic New York pizzeria. Just west, Jackie Robinson Park has sports fields, an outdoor pool and a stage for music and community theater performances. There are more playgrounds east, and right across the Macombs Dam Bridge, Yankee Stadium hosts baseball games and concerts. On the backside of PS90, the nonprofit National Dance Institute also has its teaching and performance studios. Two nearby subway stations, at 145th and 148th streets, give residents access to the A, B, C, D and 3 trains, which serve the west side of Manhattan and travel into Brooklyn. Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, at the end of the block, has uptown and downtown buses, and the other end has a CitiBike station. Car owners are also only a short drive from the Major Deegan Expressway for trips upstate.