Many television shows have duped us into thinking glamorous homes are actually attainable on an average salary. Who hasn’t salivated over Carrie Bradshaw’s New York City apartment in Sex and the City, only to discover that it would be impossible to afford with a normal paycheck? And then there are the Friends apartments, which are spacious and enviable. It was a rude awakening when we realized that most of those characters wouldn’t actually have been able to cover the rent in reality. New York is an incredibly expensive place to live, so it’s definitely a little unrealistic to imagine that these characters could live comfortably without landing rent-controlled digs. There is one other show that has us questioning what the actual cost would be as a resident, and that’s the Arconia in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.

The ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Crew Have Been Living It Up in NYC

We first meet Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin) as residents of the Arconia, a building on the Upper West Side in New York City. The unlikely trio end up starting a podcast, major hijinks ensue, and they find themselves solving multiple murders that occur at the Arconia over the course of four seasons. They experience all kinds of adventures (including seeing their story get turned into a movie), but they’re always consistently drawn back to the events taking place at the Arconia.

In Only Murders in the Building, the Arconia serves as another character, bringing the awe and opulence of New York to the screen. Although you’d think the homicides would be a little off-putting to its tenants, the building offers other impressive amenities, like a lush courtyard and a loyal doorman (who just might be the focus of Season 5). Of course, all of this looks good within the confines of the show, but would it be possible for Mabel, Oliver, and Charles to actually afford to live there in real life?

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The series stars Martin Short and Steve Martin.

The Arconia Would Be Pretty Pricey in ‘Only Murders in the Building’

In actuality, there is no Arconia building in New York City. Most of the interior shots are filmed on a studio set. However, the exterior of the Arconia is filmed at the Belnord, located at 225 W. 86th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. The extravagant building was constructed in 1908 and takes up an entire city block. The 13-story building has more than 200 units, which is more than enough space to feature a lobby with a doorman, a fitness center, and a lounge. Plus, the Belnord is well-known for its courtyard and garden (a little respite from the rest of the concrete jungle), which is featured so frequently in Only Murders in the Building.

With all of those desirable attributes, it’s easy to see why the Belnord would be super expensive to live in. If we’re going to use numbers from the Belnord as stand-ins for the Arconia, buying an apartment would cost someone as much as $12 million. Here’s the breakdown: Oliver’s apartment would likely be the most pricey. He has a four or five-bedroom unit, with a dining room, that probably runs about 4,800 square feet in total. The list price would be approximately $2,700 per square foot, or a cool $12.9 million to purchase. In the first few seasons, Mabel’s apartment was in its original condition (since she was supposed to be renovating it for her aunt). Her unit would have been the largest at 5,000 to 6,000 square feet. Before Mabel put some work into the apartment, it would probably have been $2,200 per square foot, which would equal about $11 million. We don’t know exactly what Mabel did to renovate the space, but those updates would increase the cost even more. Charles’ apartment is the smallest of the trio, with probably just three bedrooms. At approximately 3,600 square feet, it would most likely be listed at $3,000 a foot, or about $9.7 million.

Could the ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Gang Actually Afford the Arconia?

We’re going off the premise that these three residents own their apartments and aren’t renting. But it’s not just the initial cost or rent that would drain your bank account. Monthly HOA fees and taxes at a building like the Arconia would run residents an additional $5,000 to $7,000 a month (for just a two-bedroom unit). The Belnord also offers a package of additional amenities that would add to those astronomically high costs. For renovated units, rent would cost at least $16,000 a month. When you add in the extra fees, living in this building would cost a pretty penny. At the end of Season 4, Mabel is living in one of the rent-controlled apartments left by a previous tenant for just $200 a month, so she’s definitely winning in this arrangement.

Although Only Murders in the Building is a fictional show, it is a bit hard to believe that these specific people could afford to live in the Arconia. Sure, Oliver is a well-known Broadway director, but he hasn’t been successful in a long time, and likely wouldn’t have made so much money prior to this that he could afford to live in the Arconia forever. Then there’s Charles, who is also a bit of a has-been, living off his famous television role from decades ago. Mabel gets by with the help of her aunt and other people who let her squat in their apartments. The trio also have their podcast, which has been a hit, but before they landed the movie project, paying rent or just paying the Arconia fees alone would have been tough. There’s always the possibility that Oliver and Charles also somehow managed to snag a rent-controlled unit back in the day, but the add-on fees alone would still be a nightmare to pay every month.

Perhaps rent and those pesky HOA fees have been lowered since all of these murders keep happening at the Arconia. Management wouldn’t want to be left with no tenants if they all fled from the continuous homicides, but otherwise, it’s a bit difficult to see how our favorite podcasters would be able to live in the Arconia in a city that has a wildly high cost of living. It was just announced that Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building will premiere in the fall. That’s great news, since we’ll get even more chances to marvel at the majesty of the Arconia, without us having to pay rent ourselves.

Seasons 1-4 of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. The first three episodes of Season 5 will drop on September 9.