Waiting for co-op conversions pays off

Back in 1971, N. Anthony Rolfe and a group of investors turned an Upper East Side rental building, the Imperial House at 150 East 69th Street, into a co-op. By 1980, 213 of 378 apartments were sold, but Rolfe took losses every year paying maintenance charges on units he still owned. Today, 85-year-old Rolfe is still waiting for the last seven tenants to give up their apartments. But the apartments’ values have appreciated so much that he makes plenty of profit off each apartment he sells. A six-room apartment that listed for $96,700 in 1971 was listed in May for $3.35 million.