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Recent sales at Central Park Tower close below their asking prices reflecting falling values at Billionaires' Row residences

2021-11-02T19:30:00-04:00

The supertall Central Park Tower, the latest addition by Extell Development to Midtown Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row, had more recorded sales in October, including two full-floor aeries. But both of them, like other recent transactions in the new building, closed well below their asking price.

Of all the recent sales at Central Park Tower, just one was made around the asking price. At the Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed luxury skyscraper, which boasts the highest roof in the Western Hemisphere, The New York Times reports three recent apartment sales well below their listed prices. An apartment listed for $78.1 million sold for $48 million; a similar-sized unit listed for $63 million sold for $40.8 million; and another listed for $14.7 million sold for $12.3 million.

This trend according to appraiser Jonathan J. Miller of Miller Samuel is present in other Billionaires’ Row residences, noting that resales at other luxury skyscrapers have not held their value. “Prices in general for Billionaires’ Row peaked in 2015-2016, and since then, they have fallen 25 to 50 percent, depending on the building.”

At the nearby RAMSA-designed 220 Central Park South, however, which sits just outside Billionaires' Row, The New York Times reports a $66 million sale, approximately $15.6 mi...

RAMSA's 950-foot-tall Central Park tower heads toward the finish line

2020-04-30T17:19:00-04:00

A buff stone-clad supertall tower designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) in New York City is nearing the final stages of construction.

The 950-foot-tall building, 220 Central Park South, rises from a site directly opposite Central Park's southern edge as a relatively modest 18-story "villa" apartment complex overlooked from behind by a massive, skinny tower.

Construction on the site has been ongoing since 2013 and is finally heading toward completion. The tower is marked by a traditional arrangement of punched widows and protruding balconies that interrupt otherwise monolithic stone facades. As the tower rises, it steps back slightly as it rises toward a more dramatically stepped top.

A massive 23,000-square-foot penthouse suite located within the tower sold last year for $230 million, making the unit the most expensive home in the United States at the time.

New York YIMBY reports that SLCE Architects is the executive architect and that Thierry W. Despont is providing i...

World's tallest residential building tops out in New York City

2019-09-17T13:15:00-04:00

The Central Park Tower, Adrain Smith + Gordon Gill's 1,550-foot supertall tower in New York City, has topped out.

The 131-floor, 179-unit complex, created for developer Extell, now reigns as the tallest residential building in the world, New York Yimby reports. Wrapped in rippled floor-to-ceiling blue-glass curtain walls, the tower is one of several new supertall structures currently under construction at the southern end of Central Park.

Ground-level view of 217 West 57th Street. Image courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill.

Neighbors include KPF's 1,401-foot One Vanderbilt tower, the SHoP Architects-designed 1,066-foot 111 West 57th tower, and Jean Nouvel's 1,050-foot 53W53 tower.

When completed, the Central Park Tower will include a triplex penthouse totaling more than 17,000-square-feet in size. The base of the building will be occupied by a 320,000-square-foot Nordstrom flagship store that will occupy seven levels. Floors eight through eighteen of the tower will house the bui...

Cable-supported cylindrical supertall tower may come to Midtown Manhattan site

2019-09-03T14:30:00-04:00

Plans for a site located at 265 West 45th Street in New York City's Midtown district are beginning to take shape as developer Extell moves forward with a potential project there. New York YIMBY reports that the developer recently filed demolition permits for a series of four-story masonry structures at the address that will be cleared to make way for the development.

Diagram showing the tower's steel cable structural system. Image courtesy of RB Systems.

According to New York YIMBY, architects RB Systems have proposed a 101-story, 1,312-foot-tall cylindrical tower for the site. The speculative tower proposal came to light in 2018 and is one of several potential buildings that has been proposed for the site.

Image courtesy of RB Systems.

The slender tower is remarkable in that its structural system is made up of steel cables, rather than columns, that tie into the building's foundations and core. At the top of the structure, a computer-controlled, ring-shaped damper will continuously...

FDNY Union says no to oversized mechanical spaces

2019-06-14T19:45:00-04:00

"It is difficult enough for Firefighters operating inside of high-rise buildings. Access to the fire area and to whatever is on fire is paramount to save lives and to protect Firefighters operating at these fires... While we acknowledge and accept the risks of our profession, we strongly oppose construction methods that are inherently dangerous that for no valid reason increase the threat to the lives of the public and our members."

The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York has come out in strong support of state-level legislation aimed at limiting the ability of real estate developers to use "mechanical void spaces" to game zoning codes into allowing them to construct taller buildings.

In a strongly-worded memo, circulated by the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts group, the Fire Department of New York union says, "Void spaces, often entire floors in buildings put hazardous equipment such as High Voltage Air Conditioning and heating equipment in the middle of buildings, many floors above street level. These void floors bring fire hazards into areas of a building where it is most difficult for Firefighters to fight these types of equipment fires."

New York City's "Accidental Skyline," Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Chris O.

Two legislative proposals, Senate Bill S3820A and Assembly Bill A5026A, aim to fine-tune how municipalities define a project's floor area.

Under recent gui...