New York Road Runners lists Upper East Side HQ for $24.75M

The city’s biggest running organization, the non-profit New York Road Runners, is selling its first permanent home.

The 1902-built, Beaux-Art style townhouse is listed for $24.75 million. The six-story house was bought in 1981 by former NYRR president and co-founder of the New York City marathon Fred Lebow, who died in 1994.

The building is six stories, with unobstructed views of Central Park and the Guggenheim Museum, and spans 10,285 square feet.

The property at 9 East 89th Street mostly functions as a hub for runner services, according to Chris Weiller, a spokesman for the organization. The vast majority of NYRR’s staff has been moving out of the townhouse for the last two years, with only a handful of employees remaining on 89th Street.

NYRR is looking to make their services “more accessible and convenient,” according to Weiller. Selling the property, Weiller continued, opens up the chance of establishing a bigger presence in the outer boroughs.

“We’ve outgrown it,” Weiller said. “This is an opportunity what to see what options are out there.”

The basement area way is surrounded by wrought-iron fences. The south-facing limestone façade has a vertical emphasis and a main entry that is complemented by tall, molded stone openings of the upper stories, according to Massey Knakal’s announcement of the sale.

Massey Knakal CEO Paul Massey Jr. and Thomas Gammino Jr. are the exclusive brokers on the transaction.

For some of the long-time Road Runners, selling the building might be an emotional moment.

“A sense of the building will stay with us forever,” Weiller said. But, he added, “everyone’s really excited about how this positions us for the future.”