As our neighbors get priced out of their Upper East Side apartments due to staggering rent hikes and the city as a whole grapples with an affordable housing crisis, the UES will soon be home to three new luxury high-rise buildings going up along the busy East 86th Street corridor.Just what we needed.
Here’s a look at the buildings you probably can’t afford.
The Bellemont
Clad in Indiana limestone and rising at the corner of East 86th Street and Madison Avenue, The Bellemont is a thirteen story building that contains only twelve apartments– yes, just twelve units within the entire massive 61,649 square foot building.

The cheapest condo at the Belmont— if you can call it that— is a two bedroom that will set you back nearly $9 million, according to the developer’s offering plan seen by Upper East Site.
The most expensive unit is one of the four penthouse units, which includes seven bedrooms and boasts a price tag of $36.5 million.

The Bellemont’s offering plan also lists a range of amenities for residents, including a rooftop terrace with outdoor furniture and a gas fire pit, a regulation-size squash court, a screening room, a children’s play room and a ‘holistic fitness space,’ whatever that means.
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The most useless feature in the swanky new building located at 1165 Madison Avenue would be the bike room, which only has space for six bicycles– even though there are twelve units. Thankfully, the condo owners will be able to fit their bikes inside their massive, opulent apartments.

Don’t worry, the developer didn’t bother adding in a garage or any parking either, so expect a dozen or so more luxury SUVs clogging Carnegie Hill’s streets.
The Bellemont does, however, include two commercial units on the ground floor encompassing nearly 3800 square feet of retail space with storefronts along Madison Avenue.

In an effort to protect the pristine millionaires-only property from the neighborhood riff-raff, the offering plan goes out of its way to prohibit commercial units from being used in a variety of ways, including as ‘any welfare or homeless shelter, soup kitchen, food pantry or settlement house.’
Apparently, food pantries are a breeding ground for crime— or at least in the eyes of rich people.
The Bellemont is expected to be finished in December 2023.
126 East 86th Street
Just a few blocks from the Bellemont, along East 86th Street near Lexington Avenue, you’ll find construction well underway at 126 East 86th Street.

The fifty foot wide lot— which previously contained a two story tall Chase bank branch— will soon be home to a towering 210 foot tall, 20-story condo building, according to plans filed with the city viewed by Upper East Site.
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Inside the more than 62,000 square foot building will be a total of 28 apartments, including two, two-floor penthouse units— that’s down from 32 apartments in the building’s original plans.

Amenities include a gym, spa, sauna, dog spa, bike storage, game room, music room, pantry, a second floor lounge with a terrace and the rooftop terrace, the offering plan says.
According to information posted at the construction site, 124 East 86th Street is expected to be completed in spring 2024.
310 East 86th Street
Located between First and Second Avenues, 310 East 86th Street will be home to 68 condo units across more than 120,000 square feet, according to filings with the city viewed by Upper East Site.

Apartments range in price from just over $2 million for a two bedroom, two bathroom unit to $7.5 million for one of the three bedroom penthouse units, the developer’s offering reveals.
On the ground floor of 310 East 86th Street are three commercial spaces, which can be used for any lawful purpose, according to the offering plan— unlike The Bellemont, which included a long list of prohibited businesses, including food pantries.

The new building will have a kids play room with custom built-in furniture, an art room, an arcade room with gaming consoles, a music room, a pet spa, a human spa and a fitness center.
The developer’s plan states that 310 East 86th Street should be complete by fall 2023.
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The housing crisis doesn’t affect the rich, it’s caused by them and greedy developers.