Yang Cao pays $5M for 10-unit walkup in Upper West Side

Yang Cao through the entity 70 West 82nd Street LLC paid $5 million to James Stearn through the entity 70 W. 82nd LLC for the 10-unit residential walkup building (C5) at 70 West 82nd Street in Upper West Side, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on October 27, 2025 and was recorded on November 12, 2025. The property has 5,436 square feet of built space and 1,912 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 7,356 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $910 and the price per buildable square foot is $672 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for James Stearn was James Stearn. The signatory for Yang Cao was Yang Cao. The contract date was August 13, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Yang Cao had purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $4 million over the past 24 months.
The seller James Stearn had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes James Stearn, head officer and Sol Molinero, site manager. The business entity is 70 West 82nd St Llc. The 5,436-square-foot property generated revenue of $255,275 or $47 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential walkup building with 10 residential units in Upper West Side has 5,436 square feet of built space and 1,912 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 7,356 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 18 feet and is 102 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,839 square feet. The zoning is R8B which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The property is in the Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation and $180 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 15 commercial properties representing 328,184 square feet of the 343,357 square feet. The largest owner is Emmut Properties, followed by Rudin Management and then Abc Management.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 39 percent of the 343,357 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space.

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