Building types in Manhattan
Condops in Manhattan
A condop is a condominium regime split between a commercial unit and a residential unit that is itself run as a cooperative, and Manhattan holds the stock that made the structure well known.
What is different about buying a condop in Manhattan?
Quick Answer
A condop is a condominium of two units, one commercial and one residential, with the residential unit run as a cooperative. Manhattan’s came out of 1980s conversions of buildings with large commercial space, and by city building-class data the borough’s stock sits almost entirely on the Upper East Side.
Which buildings of this hybrid kind are actually in Manhattan?
- Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Midtown buildings converted in the 1980s with substantial ground-floor or lower-level commercial space
- Buildings where a garage, a medical suite or a large retail run made the commercial income too big for an ordinary cooperative
- A small set of buildings by any measure, and one that Queens matches almost apartment for apartment, so the structure is not the Manhattan exclusive it is usually called
- Buildings marketed loosely as condops that are in fact ordinary co-ops with relaxed rules, which is a different thing entirely
Which set of approval and financing rules governs in Manhattan?
- The residential side still transfers as shares with a proprietary lease, so the purchaser is buying personal property and financing through a UCC filing
- Some condops adopted condominium-style approval, with a right of first refusal rather than a full board package, and some did not
- Lenders treat the residential side as a co-op loan, so the recognition agreement and the co-op lien search apply as usual
- Commercial-unit ownership and its share of expenses affect the residential budget, and a purchaser is entitled to see how that split works
Which taxes and recording steps apply in Manhattan?
- No mortgage recording tax on the residential share loan, because it is a UCC filing rather than a recorded mortgage
- New York State transfer tax and the New York City real property transfer tax apply to the share transfer
- The condominium declaration that splits the building did record, even though the individual apartment transfer does not
- The mansion tax is reached on a substantial share of Manhattan condop sales, given where this stock sits
What pattern does a purchaser meet in Manhattan?
- The first task is establishing what the building actually is, because the word is used loosely in listings
- Read how the declaration allocates common expenses between the commercial unit and the residential unit, because that split funds or starves the residential budget
- Approval practice varies more than in any other Manhattan structure, so the governing documents decide whether there is a board package at all
- A commercial unit owner with a large expense share has practical leverage over building decisions that a purchaser should understand
Are condops only a Manhattan structure?
No. City building-class data records the co-op-within-a-condominium class in exactly three boroughs, and Queens holds almost the same number of apartments in it as Manhattan does, with Brooklyn a distant third and none at all in the Bronx or on Staten Island. What is Manhattan-specific is the origin story, not the structure.
Is a condop approval easier than a co-op board approval?
Sometimes, but not by definition. Some condops adopted condominium-style approval with a right of first refusal, which is faster and lighter. Others kept a full board package and interview. The governing documents decide it, and a listing describing a building as a condop tells you nothing reliable about which applies.
What else should you read before closing on one of these?
In the glossary
- Proprietary leaseThe occupancy lease a co-op corporation grants a shareholder for a specific unit. It is assigned at closing together with the stock certificate for...
- Right of first refusalThe right to match an offer before a sale closes. In condominiums it is exercised or waived by the board, and the written waiver is delivered at cl...
- Co-op lien searchThe search performed on a co-op purchase covering UCC filings, judgments, liens and unpaid building charges tied to the shares and to the selling s...
- Common chargesThe recurring charge a condominium levies on each unit for building operations and reserves. Real estate taxes are billed to the unit directly and ...
- Aztech recognition agreementThe agreement in which a co-op corporation acknowledges a lender's security interest in a shareholder's shares and proprietary lease. The Aztech fo...
Questions this raises
- Does a condop close as a co-op or as a condo?A condop apartment closes as a co-op share transfer even though the building is divided into condominium units. What that hybrid changes at the clo...
- What is the difference between common charges and maintenance?Condo common charges fund operations only, with taxes billed separately. Co-op maintenance bundles operations, property taxes and the underlying mo...
- Why will a co-op lender not close without a recognition agreement?A co-op loan is secured by shares rather than a recorded mortgage, so no lender funds until the building signs an agreement respecting its interest.
Building types
- CondopA building split into two condominium units, one commercial and one residential, where the residential unit is owned by a cooperative corporation.
- Standard co-opThe ordinary New York City cooperative: you buy shares in a corporation and receive a proprietary lease to occupy a specific apartment.
- Standard condoA New York City condominium unit: real property conveyed by deed, recorded in ACRIS, with an undivided interest in the common elements.
- Mixed-use condo with commercial unitsA condominium holding both residential and commercial units, where the declaration allocates common charges, voting rights and use restrictions bet...
This building type, borough by borough
- Condops in QueensQueens holds almost as many co-op-within-a-condominium apartments as Manhattan does, spread from Rego Park to Astoria to the Rockaways rather than ...
- Standard co-ops in ManhattanManhattan is the borough where cooperatives still outnumber condominiums, so board practice, financing caps and post-closing liquidity requirements...
- Standard condos in ManhattanIn Manhattan the condominium is the minority structure, which is why condos there carry a price premium over comparable co-ops and why the approval...
- Mixed-use condos in ManhattanIn Manhattan the commercial unit in a mixed-use condominium is often large and valuable enough to have real power over the building’s decisions.
- Land-lease co-ops in ManhattanManhattan is not where most of the city’s ground-lease cooperatives sit, but it is where a reset bites hardest, because the appraisal at a reset is...
- Converted building condos in ManhattanManhattan conversions include the loft buildings of SoHo, NoHo and Tribeca, where legalization history and the certificate of occupancy are the liv...
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