205 East 63rd Street

Right, a ground lease. Terminates in 2048, with the rent reset every five years.

Oops, looks as if the rent can increase every year, depending on Consumer Price Index.

The 1995 amended lease: http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/Detail?Doc_ID=FT_1790004831779

The land is owned by some heirs of the Beekman Estate.

I guess this land lease thing is common in the area? Is the same story with 301 E 63rd. Any one know why the price diff between these two buildings?

Oops again: the 1995 lease provides for renewals through 2097. The closer you read these leases, the more little tidbits come out....

Thanks again NWT. So all this info is available from Acris if you know how to search it? I did search it once for a selling price of an apt which did work, but it was slow and tedious.

The fastest way, once you have the block and lot, is to look at any UCC1 for a buyer's share loan. That'll give you the co-op corporation's name, so you can search on that instead of scrolling through hundreds of other UCC1s, etc. Then you'll find either a deed where the co-op bought the land from the developer, or a memorandum of lease where the developer assigned its leasehold to the co-op, or some other permutation. Keeps it interesting.

The co-op's annual financials will include a note saying what its obligations are under the lease.

I wouldn't say leaseholds were common, but they do crop up a lot when a co-op seems to be a bargain.

Most of the UES leaseholds seem to be connected with the original large landholdings of the Beekman estate. Then down east of lower Fifth, Sailors Snug Harbor owned lots of land, but the co-ops there bought their land several decades ago when SSN needed cash.