most expensive apartment in the building

Just as the McMansion surrounded by trailers will have a hard time selling, because who wants to look at all those trailers when you think you're McMansion material, and what will the guests think?, generally so will an apartment that is not in proportion to other units in the building. e.g., resale may be a challenge. That said, maybe you could uncombine them and sell them in their original 1 BR config, or as 2 2-BRs, and come out ahead.

Look at this apartment, the largest in the building because it combined 3 apartments, making 10 rooms. It sold in 77 days at 5.9% less than asking price.
http://streeteasy.com/sale/875204-coop-200-east-end-avenue-yorkville-new-york

YES and no. Unless you are in a VERY desirable location the price of home will probably be lower bc it is largest and most expensive in the building. Other smaller apartments are likely to bring the value of comparable/comps down.

Plus you would be looking at selling to a different demographic than the rest of the building. A 4br is generally meant for a family. Many people that live in 1 bedrooms are single, young couples, or maybe even retired. People might have concerns about soooo many adults living near their children. On the other hand the price per square foot on many 1 br apts is higher than than of 4 br. It all depends.

I would look more that the supply and demand side of this. If you live in a desirable area where lots of people want to live and there are very limited #s of large apartments for families. Then the value of a 4br would probably be higher than that of a 2 or 3 br.

Also a 4br is very large. Many people do not have families that large. The maintenance fees, and general household maintenance on a large apt can be very large. I would double check your budget before buying.
Best of luck!

I don't really think that's such a great example of any benefit to combining. Less than $750 psf and after the expenses of combining. And in a neighborhood that places a premium on family-sized apartments.

Bem9, what neighborhood?

To say something sold below, at or above asking price is unhelpful without knowing how the asking price compared in price per square foot and the like to comparables.

You can look up the comps in the building via StreetEasy. Yorkville has a lot of singles. This building seems to have a lot of apartments greater than 1 bedroom, but they have a number of combined apartments that include 1 bedrooms.

I wouldn't worry about resale value as much as, for lack of a better term, ownership dynamics. When the time comes to renovate the lobby, the 1-BR owners are not going to want (or probably be capable of) spending the kind of money that you would want to spend. Those kinds of issue will eventually cap resale (though I don't think too dramatically) but even more importantly, will stick in your craw while you live there.
ali r.
{downtown broker}

A 1-BR owner's share of the of the lobby renovations is only around 25% of that of the 4-BR owner.

Whereas a 1-BR resident's of the lobby renovation is on average the enjoyment of the 4BR resident's.

In this sense, the 1BR owners have a greater incentive to see the lobby renovated than the 4BR owner.

mistakenly omitted a word there. A 1-BR's enjoyment of the lobby renovation is equal to the enjoyment of the 4BR's.