The Surrey Residences: Condos Above a Corinthia Hotel

The Surrey Residences are 14 condominium homes on the upper floors of a 1926 residence hotel at 20 East 76th Street, which reopened in 2024 as The Surrey, a Corinthia Hotel.

Owning here means living above a working hotel inside the Upper East Side Historic District, and that pairing shapes the purchase as much as the address does. Here is what buying there involves.

1. What the Building Is

The Surrey stands on the south side of East 76th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, just west of Madison and a short walk from Central Park. It was designed by Schwartz & Gross and completed in 1926 as a residence hotel, and over the decades it became known as a discreet hotel for public figures who wanted privacy.

After bankruptcy proceedings in 2020, the Reuben Brothers acquired the property and commissioned BKSK Architects for a three-year restoration. It reopened in October 2024 as The Surrey, a Corinthia Hotel, the group's first property in North America, with a restaurant, a spa, and 70 guestrooms and 30 suites on floors three to ten.

Above the hotel, from the 11th floor up, are the residences, marketed as The Surrey Residences: two- and three-bedroom apartments, a half-floor penthouse and a duplex penthouse. The building is a condominium in which the hotel is held as a separate unit, and the city's tax roll now lists 11 residential units, three of them under combined apartment numbers.

The location is on Google Maps.

2. From Residence Hotel to Corinthia

The Surrey was built as a residence hotel, a building meant for long stays with hotel service rather than nightly turnover. Its reputation for discretion carried through the decades, and the restoration was framed around that history of a nearly century-old Art Deco building rather than a new identity.

BKSK renovated the guest rooms on floors three to ten and the residential floors above, modernised the second-floor spa and fitness centre, reconfigured the restaurant and added a rooftop addition. A new entrance was set within existing window openings, alongside careful masonry restoration of the facade.

Because the building lies within the Upper East Side Historic District, designated in 1981, exterior work and interior work that needs a Department of Buildings permit require a Landmarks Preservation Commission permit. Build that review into any renovation timeline, alongside the condominium's own alteration rules.

Before planning any renovation, have an architect confirm which approvals the work would need.

3. Living Above a Hotel: Services and Amenities

Residents come in through a lobby attended around the clock by a doorman and concierge, then use a private elevator lobby with priority key-fob elevator access. Each apartment has a private entry foyer and a built-in concierge closet where packages, laundry and room service can be left.

Owners have access to the hotel's services, including The Surrey Spa and a fitness centre with an outdoor terrace, plus preferred access to Casa Tua, the hotel's restaurant, with membership of its members' club. The spa includes treatment rooms, a steam room, a sauna and a salt relaxation room, and a rooftop terrace laid out as an English cottage garden is reserved for residents.

Inside, the apartments have white oak chevron floors, custom casement windows, kitchens with Calacatta Golden marble islands and Miele appliances, and washers and dryers in every home. With 14 residences planned above a 100-room hotel, the homes are a small part of a building run largely as a hotel.

Ask which hotel services are covered by the common charges and which are billed per use.

4. Buying Here as an Overseas Purchaser

The Surrey Residences are condominium units, so there is no co-op board approval, and foreign buyers can purchase. Financing for foreign nationals exists, but expect larger deposits and fuller documentation than a US borrower faces, and ask lenders early whether they will lend in a building that also contains a hotel.

At closing the buyer pays New York's mansion tax on residential purchases of $1 million or more, charged on the whole price at graduated rates from 1% between $1 million and $2 million up to 3.9% at $25 million and above. On a later sale by a foreign owner, FIRPTA withholding of 15% of the gross price applies unless an IRS withholding certificate reduces it.

A non-resident who is not a US citizen has only a $60,000 US estate tax exemption on US-situs assets, so settle the ownership structure with tax counsel before contract. Since July 2026 New York City has also levied an annual pied-à-terre surcharge on high-value apartments that are not anyone's primary residence, and its administration is before the courts.

Settle structure and financing first, then make the offer.

Recorded Sales: What the Public Record Shows

NYC's Department of Finance records every sale with its address and price. Between January 2023 and September 2026 it recorded 10 sales of apartments at The Surrey Residences, at a median price of $13.5 million. Half of them closed between $9.71 million and $24.62 million; the highest was $28 million.

A median across a whole building mixes small and large apartments, low floors and high ones, so it describes the building rather than any one residence. Use it to see how often apartments here change hands and where the building's prices sit. Price a specific apartment from recorded sales on the same line and floor range, which can be pulled from the deed records before you make an offer.

These are recorded deed prices, not asking prices, and none of them is a Reinvent NY transaction. A sale appears in the record weeks after closing, and a deed price can include a parking space or storage unit bought at the same time.

Final Thoughts: Hotel Service at Residential Scale

The Surrey Residences pair a handful of condominium homes with full hotel service downstairs, inside a 1926 building in a historic district. The trade-off is that the residences share one building with a commercial hotel operation, and its rhythm sets the tone of daily life.

Read the offering plan, the condominium declaration and the latest budget, and look closely at how expenses and decisions are split between the hotel unit and the residential owners. Those documents, rather than the lobby, determine what it costs to hold an apartment here. Ask, too, what would happen to residents' services if the hotel operator ever changed.

Price a specific apartment from recorded sales of comparable layouts rather than a building-wide average, because the homes range from two-bedroom apartments to duplex penthouses with terraces. With so few units, each sale carries weight, so compare against nearby buildings as well.

Request the offering plan and current budget before you schedule a viewing.

Figures here describe the building, not any one apartment. Asking prices, monthly carrying costs, tax abatement status and sublet rules are established unit by unit from the offering plan, the most recent financial statement and the managing agent.

Reinvent NY Inc. provides real estate and business expansion consulting in New York. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice.

More buildings worth knowing: 100 Eleventh Avenue, 111 West 57th Street, 130 William. The full set is indexed under New York building profiles.