A three-bedroom co-op that once belonged to Robert F. Kennedy has changed hands for the first time in more than 50 years, fetching $1.99 million after a bidding war drove the sale price above asking. The 2,000-square-foot residence sits on the 14th floor of 870 United Nations Plaza, the East River tower where Kennedy lived while serving as a U.S. senator from New York, and it still carries original details from his ownership, including kitchen appliances and marble baths untouched since the building went up in 1966.
Kennedy contracted to buy the co-op in 1965, a purchase driven partly by politics: he needed to establish official New York residency after his November 1964 election to the Senate, according to The Raab Collection. He used the apartment as his official residence during his time in the Senate, according to the New York Post, even as he and Ethel Kennedy raised their family primarily at Hickory Hill, their home in McLean, Virginia. The couple had nine children at the time the Post's reporting describes, and would eventually have 11.
A Political Nerve Center on the 14th Floor
The apartment was more than a legal address. Kennedy was inside the co-op in March 1968 when President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he would not seek re-election, a moment that reshaped the race for the White House. Kennedy reportedly turned to the aides and reporters gathered with him and said, “the joy is premature,” according to Wikipedia, a remark that captured his wary read of how the sudden opening would affect his own presidential ambitions.
The residence includes a foyer, a corner living area, a galley kitchen, and an eating nook, per the Post's report. The main bedroom overlooks the United Nations headquarters and the East River, while 48 feet of floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the apartment take in views of the UN garden. The tower itself carries a bronze-and-glass curtain wall, a soaring double-height lobby, and building amenities that include a doorman, concierge, gym, lounge, and roof deck with panoramic views.
A Rocky Path to Closing
The sale did not come together on the first attempt. The co-op was initially listed in fall 2025 and first hit the market on October 28 of that year asking $1.79 million. An initial bidding war produced a signed contract above asking at $1.99 million, but that deal fell apart before closing, and the home returned to the market in the spring, relisted at the same $1.99 million price, according to listing broker Mary Barbrack of Compass, who spoke with the Post. The second attempt succeeded, with the co-op ultimately selling for $1.99 million following another bidding war.
Buyers at 870 United Nations Plaza also face a mandatory 3% flip tax payable at closing, a building-level transfer fee common to co-ops that boards use to build capital reserves, according to Compass. In February, the co-op board for 860 and 870 United Nations Plaza selected Manhattan firm Allied Partners to manage the twin-tower complex, according to the New York Real Estate Journal, a change that landed just months before the apartment's second sale attempt closed.
Mid-Century Design, Star-Studded Address
The twin 38-story towers at 860 and 870 United Nations Plaza were designed by Wallace K. Harrison and Max Abramovitz, the same architects behind the United Nations complex and Lincoln Center. Completed in 1966, the complex was co-sponsored by Alcoa Plaza Associates and built on a 2.3-acre site, featuring one of the world's largest early residential uses of anodized aluminum and glass curtain walls, according to Wikipedia.
The complex holds 336 residential co-op units, a 46-person staff, one of New York City's longest private circular driveways off First Avenue, and a top-floor amenity space called Club 39 with a golf simulator and billiards room, per Coldwell Banker Warburg. Kennedy's neighbors over the decades reportedly included Truman Capote, Walter Cronkite, Johnny Carson, Katharine Graham, Yul Brynner, and David Koch, per the same listing. Capote bought his own 22nd-floor apartment in the building in 1965 using royalties from *In Cold Blood*, and he and guest of honor Graham reportedly returned to their respective apartments there after his famed Black & White Ball at the Plaza Hotel in November 1966, according to Cottages & Gardens.
The neighborhood around the tower has also evolved. The 0.33-acre MacArthur Playground next door was donated to the city in February 1966 by Alcoa Plaza Associates during the complex's construction, per Wikipedia. More recently, residents gained direct access to new waterfront infrastructure when the city opened the 1.8-acre East Midtown Greenway along the East River in December 2023, extending a continuous public promenade along the waterfront near the building.
