Man in the Clouds Works on The Dakota Building: See It

By Gus Saltonstall

A man worked in the clouds Wednesday on the Upper West Side.

Or so it looked.

Multiple construction workers made their way on a crane to the top of The Dakota on the corner of West 72nd Street and Central Park West to perform fixes on one of the turrets of the iconic neighborhood building.

A small portion of the north side of West 72nd Street and Central Park West was cautioned off as a construction worker waved an orange flag to notify the many tourists walking by.

Video by Sam Gross. pic.twitter.com/SULj5VVeeX

— Gus Saltonstall (@GusSaltonstall) September 23, 2026

The Dakota, which was constructed between 1880 and 1884, is adorned with gargoyles, spires, and turrets.

An online search of renovation work at The Dakota uncovered this New York Times gem from 1974 — “The Dakota Finds Repairs to a Landmark Are Costly.”

In some ways, the article from 52 years ago is a lesson in how the more things change, the more they stay the same, as the piece describes The Dakota’s co-op board reluctantly coming to terms with the need for repairs, before going back and forth with the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission over the price of that work.

Then again, on the lack of change front, there was also this paragraph in the 1974 article.

“Living in such style is not, of course, cheap, though the Dakota is not the most expensive building in the city,” The Times wrote. “Last year, a seven‐room apartment for which maintenance charges are almost $1,100 a month was sold for $140,000. A larger unit brought $250,000 recently.”

A four-bedroom apartment at The Dakota hit the market this past March for $10 million.

The monthly maintenance fee on a two-bedroom apartment currently for sale at The Dakota? $11,356.

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