521 West 161st Street
Class B
Class C
12 months to Aug 2026
rent-stabilized with
DHCR (most recent year)
units (PLUTO)
12 months through March 2026
rent
min walk
(311 complaints)
errands grade
nearby
Top insights
- 5 open hazardous (Class C) violations
- Built before 1939 (city records: 1925) — likely subject to NYC lead-paint rules
- Rent-stabilized: 29 of 30 units
About this building
City records list 1925 as the year built — newer than 84% of the 708 buildings we cover in ZIP 10032. The building’s floor space is 4.3 times the size of its lot: 21,468 sq ft of building on a 4,996 sq ft lot.
Comparisons with neighboring buildings, as of November 10, 2026.
A difference between the DHCR rent-stabilized count and the PLUTO total is common and does not, on its own, indicate a violation: units can leave rent stabilization legally, the two datasets count units differently, some units may be non-residential, and a registration can be filed incompletely. To check your own apartment, see how to request your rent history from DHCR.
521 West 161st Street
Open in Google Street View ↗
- City records show 13 open HPD violations, 5 immediately hazardous (Class C) at this building. Ask which are still unresolved in the unit and the landlord’s timeline to clear them.
- The oldest open violation on record dates to 1987 — why has it stayed open this long, and is it in or near this unit?
- DHCR’s most recent registration lists 29 rent-stabilized units here. Ask whether this specific unit is one of them, and ask the landlord for its legal regulated rent and lease history.
- Confirm the condition behind the most recent open violation was actually repaired, not just marked closed: Repair the broken or defective plastered surfaces and paint in a uniform color ceiling….
- Confirm in person that the immediately-hazardous (Class C) conditions — typically heat, hot water, leaks, mold or pests — are genuinely fixed, not just marked closed.
521 West 161st Street sits in Manhattan, ZIP 10032. The closest subway is 163 St-Amsterdam Av (C) (2-minute walk), served by the C line.
Building Condition
Oldest open violation: June 1987 · Most recent: August 2023. HPD marks a violation open until it is certified as corrected, so an old date can mean an unresolved condition or a repair that was never certified.
- 2023-08-07
- 2023-08-07
- 2023-08-07
- 2023-08-07
- 2022-10-26
- Class C · 5 open · penalty 75 · (15/ea)
- Class B · 6 open · penalty 30 · (5/ea)
- Class A · 2 open · penalty 2 · (1/ea)
- 2026-04-21 · Apt BLDG · EMERGENCY · HEAT/HOT WATER
- 2026-04-12 · Apt BLDG · EMERGENCY · HEAT/HOT WATER
- 2026-03-11 · Apt BLDG · EMERGENCY · HEAT/HOT WATER
- 2026-04-13
- 2025-05-17
- 2009-01-01
- 1993-03-18
2 lead-paint hazards cited and later remediated (most recent 2018); no open hazards on record. Remediation addresses the cited conditions, not necessarily every painted surface.
Under NYC Local Law 1 (Admin Code §27-2056.5), lead paint is presumed present in common areas and in apartments where a child under 6 resides, in multiple dwellings built before 1960 (this building: built 1925). The presumption stands unless the owner obtained a lead-free or lead-safe exemption from HPD. Those exemption records aren’t published as open data, so we can’t confirm one either way.
The Building
Neighborhood & Environment
~1 block 300m
~2-3 blocks
- HARRASSMENT 2: 150
- ASSAULT 3 & RELATED OFFENSES: 132
- PETIT LARCENY: 113
- FELONY ASSAULT: 80
- DANGEROUS DRUGS: 73
- Illegal Parking: 970
- HEAT/HOT WATER: 401
- Noise - Street/Sidewalk: 355
- Noise - Vehicle: 243
- Noise - Residential: 236
- 519 W 161ST ST
- 528 W 162ND ST
- 1045 SAINT NICHOLAS AVENUE
- P.S. 004 Duke Ellington
- WHIN Music Community
- P.S. 028 Wright Brothers
- Community Health Academy of the Heights
- JHS 164 Edward W Stitt
- M.S. 326 - Writers Today & Leaders Tomorrow
- Community Health Academy of the Heights
- Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathe
- 163 St-Amsterdam Av
- 157 St
- 168 St-Washington Hts
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Grade A
- Morris Jumel Mansion Inc
- Boricua College
- P.s. 004 Duke Ellington
- Broadway Malls
- Dance Project Of Washington Heights
- Community Health Academy Of The Heights
Internet providers serving this area
Internet providers available in this area — including fiber:
- Verizon Fiber Up to 2,300 Mbps down · 2,300 Mbps up
- Spectrum Cable Up to 1,000 Mbps down · 1,000 Mbps up
How to check internet providers before signing an NYC lease →
Source: FCC Broadband Data Collection (NY, rev. May 2026). Wired broadband only — cable + fiber. DSL, satellite, and fixed-wireless not included. Block-level data; actual availability may vary by building.
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