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Being the site of a murder isn’t typically a plus when it comes to selling real estate. But being the site of a fictitious killing – or three – on a highly rated television show? Well, that’s a different story entirely! Case in point? New York’s The Belnord, aka The Arconia from “Only Murders in the Building.” The famed Upper West Side property, which is currently undergoing a large-scale condo conversion project, has sold an incredible 20 units totaling $160 million since the breakout series first hit Hulu last year, with three $10 million-plus deals netted in the last three months alone! And now that the show’s highly-anticipated second season has finally premiered, the sales team will likely be working even more overtime!

The mystery-comedy series chronicles the unlikely friendship that develops between former actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), floundering Broadway producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and fledgling artist Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), who, in season one, banded together to start a real-time investigative podcast in the hopes of solving the murder of a fellow Arconia resident. This time around, the three find themselves at the center of (not to mention “persons of interest” in) yet another murder – the stabbing death of The Arconia’s curmudgeonly Board President, Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell). While the subject matter may sound dark and macabre, “Only Murders” is anything but! Instead, the series is witty, heartwarming and fun – some might even say “cozy.”

And standing at the forefront of it all is The Belnord. Though the narration that opens the second episode of season two states that the handsome structure was designed by “architect and infamous playboy Archibald Carter,” in truth, the building was the work of H. Hobart Weekes of the Hiss & Weeks firm. Taking up an entire city block at 225 W. 86th St., The Belnord is used for all exterior and courtyard scenes involving The Arconia. (Interiors are filmed on sets built at Silvercup Studios North in the Bronx and the grand lobby scenes are captured at 270 Riverside Dr.)

Of securing the landmark 1908 property for the shoot, John Hoffman, who co-created “Only Murders” with Steve Martin, told The New York Times, “I was obsessed. I knew we could make something as elevated as that amazing building. It’s a cliché to say that the building itself is a character, but I like the challenge of getting beyond that cliché a bit. What pulls us out of our apartments to meet people? How well do you know your neighbors? Do you only connect when it’s necessary? The ways in which we get pulled together when we live in these spaces is what’s really interesting.” Cliché or not, The Arconia indeed functions as a main character on the show, acting as both a central presence in Mabel, Charles and Oliver’s lives, as well as a gorgeous backdrop to the scintillating storyline.

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