Archinect - News

Central Park Tower penthouse lists for a record $250 million in Manhattan

2022-09-20T14:31:00-04:00

High rollers in the most expensive residential market in the country now have the chance to own its highest-elevated piece of real estate as the penthouse apartment in Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill's record-breaking Central Park Tower is now up for sale in Manhattan.

The asking price for the triplex unit occupying the 129th–131st floors is reportedly $250 million, easily doubling the $169 million listing price that the 96th floor unit in Rafael Viñoly’s troubled 432 Park Avenue tower commanded when it hit the market a year ago and surmounting the $238 million figure hedge funder Ken Griffin paid for his 220 Central Park South penthouse in 2019.

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

At 1,416 feet, the apartment is the world’s highest private residence and comes complete with 27-foot ceilings, a ballroom, grand salon, and two kitchens. It’s high enough that the curvature of the...

New York City surpasses San Francisco as the country's most expensive rental market

2021-08-31T19:11:00-04:00

New York City has surpassed San Francisco as the most expensive apartment rental market in the country.

According to August rental data from Zumper, an apartment listing company, San Francisco has fallen behind New York in median one-bedroom rent, with New York at $2,810 and San Francisco at $2,800.

Image: Zumper

“This was unthinkable even two years ago,” reads the report. “In early 2019, median one-bedroom rent in San Francisco was more than $800 more than New York’s, but a combination of rising rent in the Big Apple and falling rent in the Bay Area caused the spread between rent in the two cities to slowly dwindle. In January 2020, the spread had fallen to $520.”

As detailed by Zumper, San Francisco and New York were two of the most impacted cities at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Renters in both cities relocated, leading to increased apartment vacancies and plummeting rental prices. By January 2021, median one-bedroom rent had fallen 23.4 percent in San Francisco relative...

Jeff Bezos buys LA's most expensive property for record $165 million

2020-02-13T14:11:00-05:00

Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, has purchased a Beverly Hills mansion known as the Warner Estate from media mogul David Geffen for $165 million, a source familiar with the deal said on Wednesday.

The hefty price tag of the new abode for Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sánchez is believed to be the highest amount ever paid for a home in the Los Angeles area — even beating the recent record-setting transaction of Bel Air's Chartwell mansion which sold for a meager $150 million.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bezos also purchased three New York apartments earlier this year at an estimated value of $80 million.

In 2018, the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner also bought this historic 27,000-square-foot D.C. mansion and, according to Washingtonian, hired Barnes Vanze Architects to renovate the "25 bathrooms, 11 bedrooms, five living rooms/lounges, five staircases, three kitchens, two libraries/studies, two workout rooms, two elevators—and a huge ballroom."

Bezos won't be cash-strapped for too long after acquiring these 9.4 acres of prime Beverly Hills real estate. As The Verge calculated, his $131.9 billion net worth makes this purchase the equivalent of spending $75...

One Thousand Museum: Zaha Hadid's luxury condo tower opens in Miami

2019-07-09T15:35:00-04:00

One Thousand Museum Residences, the Zaha Hadid-designed skyscraper in downtown Miami, received its temporary certificate of occupancy and will begin closings as early as next week [...] Developers Louis Birdman, Gilberto Bomeny, Gregg Covin and Kevin Venger, along with the late Zaha Hadid, broke ground on the 62-story, 84-unit luxury condo tower at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard in December 2014.

The 216 m/709 ft tower with its recognizable external structure in Miami's Museum Park was the first and final residential project in the United States designed by the late Zaha Hadid. Vertical construction began in 2015.

Interior shot of a finished residence. Photo: Robin Hill, courtesy One Thousand Museum

The property, which just received its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Miami, hosts a number of swanky amenities, and apartments don't come cheap.

"Half-floor units start at $5.8 million and full-floor residences go up to more than $24 million," reports The Real Deal.

Hudson Yards and Stern-designed towers dominate NYC's ultraluxury real estate sales

2019-06-11T14:03:00-04:00

Manhattan’s latest crop of new luxury developments continues to attract a steady stream of buyers. At the ultra-pricey 220 Central Park South in Midtown, the grand limestone skyscraper designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, four more units officially sold, including New York City’s most expensive closing in May: a three-bedroom aerie for nearly $26.5 million.

The NYT's Vivian Marino provides an update on the biggest recent luxury real estate transactions in New York City with notably pricey purchases at Robert A.M. Stern's 220 Central Park South and 250 West 81st Street towers and also at the newly opened Hudson Yards mammoth development.

"Philip I. Kent, the former chief executive of Turner Broadcasting System, was one of the many buyers at 15 Hudson Yards, the megaproject’s first residential tower. (Oh, and the architect who helped design that building also bought an apartment — in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)," writes Marino.

Form follows finance: NYC's pencil towers for the ultrawealthy

2019-02-07T14:28:00-05:00

Any visitor to New York over the past few years will have witnessed this curious new breed of pencil-thin tower. Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense. They stand like naked elevator shafts awaiting their floors, raw extrusions of capital piled up until it hits the clouds.

In his latest long-form piece, The Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright shows how the advent of the new 'pencil tower' building type is rapidly transforming New York City's skyline, digs in the history of zoning laws, and explains how "air rights" allow (an abundance of) cash to buy a piece of the Manhattan sky.

Photo: Maciek Lulko/Flickr

"Like leggy plants given too much fertiliser, these buildings are a symptom of a city irrigated with too much money," writes Wainwright. "The world’s population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, a super-elite with assets of at least $30m, has now mushroomed beyond 250,000 people, all in need of somewhere to store their wealth. More than a third of them are based in North America, while those from riskier economic climes favour New York real estate as one of the safest places to park their cash."

Megapenthouse at Stern-designed 220 Central Park South sells for $238M, now the most expensive home sold in the U.S.

2019-01-25T15:45:00-05:00

Hedge funder Ken Griffin has closed on a massive penthouse at 220 Central Park South, paying a record-shattering $238 million, according to sources familiar with the deal. The Citadel founder has long been rumored as the buyer of the condominium’s most lavish spread — a 23,000-square-foot quadplex encompassing the 50th through 53rd floors of the limestone tower, developed by Vornado Realty Trust and designed by Robert A.M. Stern. The asking price was $250 million.

After Ken Griffin dropped a sweet quarter billion on his new NYC digs, he didn't appear entirely penniless and recently secured a few other neat places to crash when traveling to London, Chicago, or Miami. "Earlier this week, he reportedly scooped up a house in London for around $122 million," reports The Real Deal. "In 2017, he shelled out $58.75 million for several floors of No. 9 Walton, a condominium in Chicago, and in 2015, set a record in Miami be shelling out $60 million for a penthouse at Faena House."

'Ultra-prime' real estate market with $25M+ properties shows no sign of slowing

2018-12-12T13:48:00-05:00

A new report by real estate agency Knight Frank finds that 153 properties in six cities’ “ultra-prime” category sold for a combined total of $6.6 billion in the last year, or an average of $43 million per house. Hong Kong led the world in sales over $25 million, followed by New York, then London.

Market slowdown? What market slowdown? While the real estate sector in the U.S. and certain global regions (looking at you, Brexit-y London) is seeing signs of cooling, including the upper-scale segment, there has been no significant impact on the uppest-scale cream slice of the industry with ultra-luxury properties worth $25 million and up, according to the new study The Global Ultra-Prime Market 2019 from real estate consulting firm Knight Frank.

"Bailey’s team identified 129,730 people on the planet with more than $50 million in investable assets in 2017," reports Bloomberg. "They saw consistent participation from those individuals in the ultra-prime market in just 17 geographic sales areas."

California cities have nation's highest density of homes worth over $1M

2018-07-03T14:19:00-04:00

Perhaps it’s not a surprise in a city where residential prices can reach into the stratosphere, but in Los Angeles, more than 17 percent of all homes are valued at over $1 million. What may be more shocking is that L.A. doesn’t have the highest share of million-dollar homes. [...] San Jose and San Francisco were No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. In San Jose, homes valued over $1 million made up 53 percent of the market. San Francisco’s million-dollar-share was at 40 percent.

Other major cities ranked in the new LendingTree survey are New York (4th place with 12 percent market share), Miami (9th, 4 percent), and Chicago (18th, 1.3 percent).

Estimated cost for L.A.'s football stadium project climbs to $5 billion

2018-03-28T14:19:00-04:00

The cost of Stan Kroenke's stadium in Inglewood is climbing [...]. Owners approved raising the debt waiver to $4.963 billion for the first phase of the project, which includes the football stadium where the Rams and Chargers will play, the neighboring 6,000-seat performance venue, the 200,000 square feet of office space for NFL Media, the parking lots surrounding the stadium, and the cost of the entire 300-acre parcel.

The price tag for the stadium itself was originally estimated at $2.6 billion but is now closer to $3 billion — eye-wateringly higher than the most expensive NFL venues to date: MetLife Stadium, the shared home of the New York Giants and Jets, and the Atlanta Falcons' Mercedes-Benz Stadium, both clocking in at 'only' $1.6 billion.

The half-billion-dollar Bel Air giga-mansion is still looking for a buyer

2018-03-05T14:14:00-05:00

The construction of this and other so-called giga-mansions underscores a new gilded age in the United States and especially in LA. [...] The splurge comes amid a housing shortage that has fuelled a homelessness crisis, with 57,000 people without permanent shelter in LA county [...]. The Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez compared the city’s hilltop mansions to giant tombstones marking the death of humility.

The Guardian takes a peek into the world of ultra-luxury real estate developer Niles Niami whose latest endeavor—the sprawling Bel Air hilltop giga-mansion with its four swimming pools, 20 bedrooms, movie theater, and nightly club aptly called The One—frequently makes the news for being America's priciest home. Clocking in at $500m, the property is still waiting for a billionaire buyer.

Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles dominate list of most expensive homes sold in 2017

2017-12-21T15:40:00-05:00

After 2016 smashed records for the planet’s biggest deals, this year was not far behind. There was a noticeable flurry of activity in the aptly named Golden State of California where the rich and famous – and we’re talking the likes of Beyoncé and Jay Z – flocked to snap up a piece of prime LA luxury. But three of the most expensive homes were all inside one development in Hong Kong.

The new billion-dollar U.S. embassy in London doesn't want to look like a fortress

2017-12-14T14:26:00-05:00

At $1 billion, it is the most expensive embassy ever constructed. But its designers say the new American chancery on the Thames River marks a paradigm shift: The U.S. Embassy here will exude openness while hiding all the clever ways it defends itself from attack. After decades of building American embassies that look brutalist or bland, like obvious fortresses, the soon-to-be-opened chancery in London is a crystalline cube, plopped down in the middle of a public park, without visible walls.

Image via the U.S. Embassy in London's Twitter

The KieranTimberlake-designed U.S. Embassy in London is preparing for its grand opening on January 16, and the building pleasantly departs from the increasingly common drab 'fortress' chic that American chanceries in cities with heightened risk of terror attacks have adopted.

Image via the U.S. Embassy in London's Twitter

Pulling off a seemingly transparent and welcoming look while still employing state-of-the-art defensive strategies and gadgetry (it even has a pseudo-moat) isn't cheap though — the crystalline 'sugar cube' comes with a hefty $1-billion price tag and takes the title of the most expensive embassy ever built.

The era of aspirational pricing is over

2016-07-11T01:39:00-04:00

Brokers say the very top of the market — consisting of eight- and nine-figure homes — is faring the worst as slowing economies overseas and volatile stock markets have spooked buyers. The supply of homes for the rich exploded as builders aimed at the high end after the financial crisis.

Robert Frank highlights a worrisome pileup in the overinflated; luxury housing, megamansions and penthouse market.

It's official: $250M mega penthouse in Stern-designed 220 Central Park South tower is now NYC's priciest address

2016-05-05T17:32:00-04:00

It has been whispered about for months, but now it’s official: Vornado Realty Trust is offering up a palatial four-floor apartment at 220 Central Park South that is priced at a record-smashing $250 million. The massive condominium will encompass floors 50 through 53 of the Robert A.M. Stern-designed limestone tower, and it will span some 23,000 square feet [...]. The asking price works out to nearly $11,000 per square foot.

Previously on Archinect: This $250M mega penthouse might become New York's priciest home

Leaky gutter at unfinished Vikings stadium adds $3M - $4M to cost overruns

2016-02-22T13:18:00-05:00

Mortenson Construction Vice President John Wood said stadium designers and builders will cover the cost, so it won’t be added to the overall budget or cost taxpayers or the team any money. [...] the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority tentatively agreed to pay Mortenson $16 million for cost overruns even though the final figures are still being tallied. The authority is overseeing construction of the $1.1 billion stadium and approved the payment to resolve a mediation claim by Mortensen.

Related on Archinect:

Berlin's $6 billion airport drama

2015-07-28T15:22:00-04:00

The architecture and engineering teams fought to keep up. As the terminal ballooned from 200,000 to 340,000 square meters (dwarfing Frankfurt’s 240,000 and just shy of Heathrow Terminal 5’s 353,000), they parceled out the work to seven contractors. That soon grew to 35, and they brought in hundreds of subcontractors, says Delius. [...] At the very moment Merkel and her allies are hectoring the Greeks about their profligacy, the airport’s cost, borne by taxpayers, has tripled to €5.4 billion.

This $250M mega penthouse might become New York's priciest home

2015-06-17T15:55:00-04:00

Vornado's super luxury tower at 220 Central Park South isn't even out of the ground yet, but billionaire buyers seemingly can't wait to stash their stacks of cash in the 950-foot-tall tower. The Real Deal hears rumblings that a Qatari investor is eyeing a monstrous spread that would cost around $250 million, making it easily the most expensive home in New York City. It would completely obliterate the current record, the $100 million sale at One57.

Robert A.M. Stern's NYC condo towers have a habit of attracting record bids (previously: NYC’s Most Expensive Condo to Be Listed at $130 Million).

1 WTC tops the list of most expensive skyscrapers

2014-12-03T11:05:00-05:00

One World Trade Center is by far the world's most expensive building, coming in at $3.9B, nearly double the second-most expensive buildings, Vegas' Palazzo casino and London's The Shard, which both cost $1.9B to build. Perhaps even more surprising, Dubai's dizzying Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building, comes in at number five

NYC’s Most Expensive Condo to Be Listed at $130 Million

2014-09-23T19:01:00-04:00

A triplex penthouse at Zeckendorf Development Co.’s tower under construction on Manhattan’s Upper East Side will be offered for sale at $130 million, making it New York’s most expensive apartment listing. The 12,394-square-foot (1,151-square-meter) property will span the top three floors at 520 Park Ave., where sales will begin the first quarter of next year, Arthur Zeckendorf said in an interview today.

Heatherwick chosen to create potentially world's most expensive public art piece for New York

2013-10-29T18:20:00-04:00

It isn't clear what the artwork will look like, though a person familiar with the matter said it would have a "gathering" theme. But it will be expensive: Mr. Ross, chairman of builder Related Cos., has told friends and associates the company intends to spend as much as $75 million on the centerpiece and surrounding public space.

Hong Kong's Skyline Prepares for an Addition by Frank Gehry

2011-09-15T13:43:00-04:00

The Opus Hong Kong is located at 53 Stubbs Rd. in the city’s Peak area, one of its most expensive neighborhoods. The cost of renting one of the 6,000-square-foot apartments in the 12-story, 12-unit apartment building has not been set yet, but Swire Properties has “every expectation it will break records,” Chief Executive Martin Cubbon said.