![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/f6967be42300467ac6c61a26146e5972a3-1122-Madison-Avenue---Exterior-Hummingbi.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Buyers have flocked to limestone condos on the Upper East Side for years, but 1122 Madison\u2019s sales have been particularly brisk.
\n Photo: Hayes Davidson\n <\/p>\n
\u201cThat building is on fire,\u201d says one uptown broker of 1122 Madison Avenue,<\/a> where the duplex penthouse just went into contract for $89.5 million, an Upper East Side condo record, barely a month after sales launched in mid-January. \u201cIt\u2019s the talk of the town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the \u2018It\u2019 building,\u201d agrees Donna Olshan, who tracks the Manhattan luxury market, pointing out that the building will be sold-out soon \u2014 20 of the 26 units in the building are now in contract, according to the developers, Legion Investment Group and Nahla Capital. They\u2019ve already raised prices four times with the attorney general\u2019s office since they started selling the development off floor plans last month. \u201cIt really speaks to the demand for these large, quality apartments in boutique Upper East Side buildings,\u201d says Olshan. \u201cThere\u2019s just not enough inventory for all these very, very rich buyers.\u201d The condo tower, designed by William Sofield\u2019s Studio Sofield in the prewar limestone style<\/a> so popular among uptown buyers, isn\u2019t even close to completion \u2014 it\u2019s not expected to be finished until fall of next year.<\/p>\n \n The building is designed by Studio Sofield, one of the most popular architects doing classic prewar-style condos. Of course, limestone condo towers have a history of selling spectacularly well uptown, ever since 15 Central Park West, known as limestone Jesus, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, hit the market 20 years ago. (They also sell well downtown now, as 80 Clarkson <\/a>has demonstrated.) And while most lack the name recognition of a 15 CPW or 220 Central Park South (or addresses on Park or Fifth, where the real estate is largely claimed by prewar co-ops with notoriously sluggish sales<\/a>), the buildings themselves are also instantly recognizable: faux-ops, done in limestone or brick, with elegant lobbies, classic floor plans tweaked to modern tastes, and ample (if not over-the-top) amenities, designed by architects like RAMSA, Studio Sofield, or Peter Pennoyer. More than a dozen such Upper East Side projects done in this manner have sold briskly over the last decade \u2014 Beckford Tower, 109 East 79th Street, the Chatham. Few units come up for resale (and those that do command top prices).<\/p>\n Even so, 1122 Madison has moved at a speed that brokers described as surprising. The penthouse also went into contract for more than $10 million above the current Upper East Side condo record: a $78.9 million penthouse at the Zeckendorf\u2019s 520 Park. (It is not, however, an Upper East Side residential record, which was set in 2022 by Julia Koch\u2019s $101 million purchase of a pair of co-ops<\/a> at 4 East 66th Street.) Why, exactly, are buyers so eager to get into this particular building?<\/p>\n \n The penthouse is poised to set an Upper East Side condo record, going into contract for $89.5 million. \u201cIt\u2019s a great location, a boutiquey building, and the layouts are amazing,\u201d says Claire Groome, an associate broker at Sotheby\u2019s. \u201cI think it\u2019s just exactly what New Yorkers are looking for.\u201d It is, in other words, very similar to what uptown buyers have been snapping up for years, just in a somewhat better-located, better-done, fancier version of it than any of the other projects currently on the market. Its timing also happens to correspond to the Upper East Side\u2019s revival<\/a> as a destination neighborhood. Another broker described Legion, its developer, as offering a more upscale version of a Naftali building, the dominant developer of this type of Uptown condo. (Legion, which also did 109 East 79th Street<\/a>, is headed by Victor Sigoura, who previously worked at Naftali and Elad.) Not that Naftali projects are exactly cheap \u2014 the last unit to sell at the Benson<\/a>, on 79th and Madison, in November, was a two bedroom that went for $6.6 million. Still, prices at 1122 Madison are almost Billionaires\u2019 Row level \u2014 averaging a little more than $5,500 per square foot \u2014 and the least expensive unit in the building was a $6.75 million two-bedroom (which is in contract). Only a few three- and five-bedrooms are left, according to Legion.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it comes down to the rarity of this development site,\u201d says Sigoura, Legion\u2019s founder and CEO, who told me that his company assembled the corner lot from five different parcels over roughly that many years. It\u2019s also on the west side of Madison \u2014 that is, closer to the park \u2014 bordering the Upper East Side Historic District (meaning protected views). Just to be safe, the developers also purchased a light and air easement from one of their neighbors. Any development opportunity west of Lexington is rare, Sigoura adds, and sites on the west side of Madison are extremely rare \u2014 the last one to be developed was a cond-op, which is not considered as desirable. Most of the buyers, he says, have been New Yorkers, including many who already live in the neighborhood. That includes the penthouse buyer.<\/p>\n \n The project is a boutique 26-unit building. In a little over a month, 20 of the units have gone into contract. The penthouse is 9,350 square feet, with seven bedrooms and a library, spanning the 20th and 21st floors, with a double-height great room. There\u2019s a large terrace, facing the park, and the apartment has a total of just under 2,000 square feet of outdoor space. The building itself is a more luxurious version of what\u2019s sold well in the past: private elevator landings for every unit, ceiling heights of at least ten feet, rooms with expansive dimensions, a fully limestone fa\u00e7ade. The amenities are nice, but not too over-the-top: There\u2019s a steam room, a sauna, a cold-plunge pool, a squash court, a gym, a billiards room, a dining room, and a lounge. There\u2019s no pickleball, no car court, no swimming pool. \u201cWe try to do things that are more classical than trendy,\u201d says Sigoura. \u201cI think that wins the day over gimmicky stuff where you may see the room sitting empty more than being used.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/8114cc2583450c28c13d28c9fa9377030d-1122-Madison-Avenue---Full-Floor-Entry-F.rvertical.w570.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Hayes Davidson\n <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/137bbd1dc1f6f4a86969c2640acf3cd508-LE030-0026543-VIEW-16-LOGGIA-FINAL.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Hayes Davidson\n <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/67214b98af2f7730de3ba112c4fc0f3161-LE030-0026536-VIEW-09-BUILDING-ENTRANCE-.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Hayes Davidson\n <\/p>\n