Doctor who? Maisonettes reap more profits than medical space

141 East 88th Street (via Will Femia) and Susan Hewitt
141 East 88th Street (via Will Femia) and Susan Hewitt

In another sign of the heated residential market, building owners are making a bid for bigger bucks by increasingly reconfiguring ground-floor doctor’s offices as maisonettes.

Landlords can charge higher rent for a residential unit in a space that traditionally served a medical function.

So far this year, ground-floor residential space in the Upper East Side sold for a 20 percent premium above ground-floor office space, according to appraiser Jonathan Miller.

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Maisonettes at the Philip House at 141 East 88th Street, for example, feature ceilings as high as 12 feet.

“Medical practices are changing,” Susan Hewitt, founder of Philip House developer the Cheshire Group, told DNAinfo. “It used to be that individual doctors had individual offices. But most medical services are consolidating. Practices are bigger.” [DNAinfo]Mark Maurer