Building 400 East 54 Street

The only thing I know about the building is that after long time retail tenant Starbucks moved out, the retail space has been vacant for years. With the exception of a short term Halloween pop-up store and a furniture store that lasted about a year. Other than that it's a non-descript 1970's building in a nice midtown east neighborhood, a block from Sutton Place.

In 1981 the landlord tried to get the apartments destabilized when the building's 421-a exemption expired: http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/27/realestate/tax-abatement-and-lid-on-rents.html

In 1982 the landlord tried an eviction-plan co-op conversion, but the Attorney General shot it down.

In 1988 the landlord converted it to condo, and sold enough of the units for the conversion to take effect.

For many years after that, the sponsor held on to unsold units as they became vacant, and rented them at market, rather than sell them. In 2004 the sponsor still owned 153 of the 229 units.

Since then, as the market favored selling them, the sponsor has unloaded many more. As RS and market units become vacant, the sponsor's been tarting them up and selling them. As of 2009, the sponsor still owned only 44.

I looked in this building when I was buying in the neighborhood... Floorplans are nothing special, but the views to the east can be good on higher floors - there are some views of the river.