The spread is the widest on the Upper West Side: studios and one-bedrooms in the 1960s buildings sell well under Manhattan's $1.25 million median (Miller Samuel / Elliman, second quarter 2026), while the Riverside Boulevard towers, 15 Central Park West, and the Columbus Circle condominiums sell for several times it. Amenities, views toward the park or the river, floor height, and whether the home is a condo or a co-op all move the number. Michael can give you building-specific figures for what you are considering.
Culture at the doorstep
Apartments in Lincoln Square.
Lincoln Square is the southern gateway to the Upper West Side, the blocks from 59th to 72nd Street between Central Park West and the Hudson, built around Lincoln Center. It is the most condominium-heavy corner of the neighborhood, with full-service towers from the 1960s to the 2020s alongside pre-war co-ops, and it draws buyers who want amenities, culture, and Columbus Circle within a few minutes' walk.
Lincoln Square
What are apartments in Lincoln Square like?
More varied than anywhere else on the Upper West Side. The Lincoln Towers complex between 66th and 70th Streets (1960s) and the post-war buildings around it offer some of the neighborhood's best value; the condominium towers along Riverside Boulevard, from Riverside South to Waterline Square (2019), bring doormen, gyms, pools, and Hudson views; 15 Central Park West (2008) and the Deutsche Bank Center at Columbus Circle sit at the top of the market. Pre-war co-ops survive on the side streets, 27 West 67th Street has been an artists' cooperative since 1901, and One Lincoln Plaza (1974) and 3 Lincoln Center, the only apartment building inside the complex itself, sit between the extremes in age and price.
If you want an amenity-rich, central address without leaving the Upper West Side, Lincoln Square is where the choice is widest. It is also where the building matters most, because a 1960s co-op and a 2019 condominium a block apart are entirely different purchases.
Is Lincoln Square better for condos or co-ops?
It is the easiest place on the Upper West Side to buy a condominium, thanks to the towers built along Riverside Boulevard and around Columbus Circle since the late 1990s. That suits buyers purchasing through an LLC or trust, foreign buyers, and anyone who wants to sublet, with one new cost to weigh: an apartment that is not your primary residence now carries New York's annual pied-à-terre surcharge once the city values it at $1 million or more. The co-ops here usually cost less per square foot and come with a board.
Because Lincoln Square has both in quantity, it is the best place in the neighborhood to weigh condo against co-op on real apartments, side by side, in the same week. Michael reads the offering plan or the co-op's financials for each so the comparison is honest.
Lincoln Square
Lincoln Square
Who is Lincoln Square right for?
Buyers who want culture at the door, a doorman and a gym in the building, and a short walk to Central Park, Columbus Circle, and the express trains, and who are willing to trade the quiet of the blocks uptown for it. It suits full-service living, purchases through an entity, and anyone who wants the newest construction on the West Side; families who want a brownstone block and a quieter evening usually look north of 72nd Street.
A walk through Lincoln Square
Lincoln Square, in light.
The buildings, blocks, and rooms that define Lincoln Square — captured on Michael's walks home.
An open-plan living room and kitchen
The city skyline seen down a tree-lined street at sunset
A bedroom with a round mirror above the bed
A panoramic Manhattan skyline above Central Park
A Central Park West condominium with sweeping park views
The entrance to a New York apartment building
“I walk Lincoln Square every week. Knowing the buildings from the inside is what makes the difference for whoever ends up living here.”
— Michael J. Carroll
Answers
Lincoln Square, answered
- Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, built from 1959 and home to the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School. Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus, LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and the American Folk Art Museum are here too, and Columbus Circle, with the shops and restaurants of the Deutsche Bank Center, marks the neighborhood's southeast corner at the entrance to Central Park. The blocks were San Juan Hill until the renewal that began in 1959, the streets that gave West Side Story its setting; today Broadway carries the everyday retail, from the Apple store at 67th Street and the AMC Lincoln Square cinema at 68th to the restaurants of Columbus Avenue.
- The 1 train at 66th Street–Lincoln Center; the 1, 2, and 3 at 72nd Street; and the A, B, C, D, and 1 at 59th Street–Columbus Circle, one of the busiest stations in the system. Riverside Park and the Hudson River Greenway begin at the western edge, and Central Park is a block east of Columbus Avenue at the southern end.
- More easily here than in the rest of the neighborhood, because so much of Lincoln Square is condominium. Condominiums accept foreign buyers, LLCs, and trusts with far fewer restrictions than co-ops. If you are buying through an entity, or the apartment will not be your primary residence, Michael starts from each building's written rules, and from the city's valuation of the specific apartment, since that is what decides whether the pied-à-terre surcharge applies.
A private consultation
Find your home on Lincoln Square
Tell Michael what you are looking for, and he will help you find the right apartment on Lincoln Square and in the buildings that fit you best.
What happens next
- 01
Michael reads your note personally
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- 02
You'll hear back, usually the same day
By phone or email — whichever you prefer.
- 03
A no-pressure first conversation
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