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...

Rowan Moore on the year that was in architecture

2021-12-30T13:00:00-05:00

What can be said of a world where one billionaire wants to build a giant tulip-shaped tower of little practical use and another wants to house thousands of students in windowless rooms in a block with all the charm of an Amazon distribution centre?

The Observer critic further continued his contrasting of Foster + Partner’s failed Tulip Tower with the Munger Hall development in California, claiming that each was the vanity project of a wayward billionaire.

“Both projects seem driven by ego, but in the wide space between the brutal functionalism of the latter and the redundant gesturing of the former, you might hope to find places where beauty is put in the service of the usual and unusual needs of human life.”

Moore also commended the push for more adaptive reuse projects in cities while recognizing the rise of mass timber as a step in the right direction. He didn’t share the same opinion, however, about biophilic design enhancements, which are increasingly perfunctory marketing gimmicks.

“The idea was to say something or other about the importance of having nature in cities, but any suspicion that these projects were, like the Tulip, a teeny bit gestural was resoundingly confirmed by the contrast between the lush landscape t...

AIA Los Angeles joins growing opposition to controversial UCSB Munger Residence Hall

2021-12-21T12:23:00-05:00

The AIA Los Angeles chapter has issued an open letter to the President of the University of California, voicing opposition to the proposed UCSB Munger Residence Hall. The project, which has gained an intense media spotlight both within and beyond architectural spheres, would see the construction of bedrooms for 4,500 students, 94% of which would not have access to natural light.

The letter, penned by AIA LA President Mitra Memari, describes the proposal as one which will “create harmful and unhealthy living conditions for its residents,” setting a “negative precedent, literally and symbolically, for generations to come.”

“We urge UCSB to follow best design practices supported by numerous studies, and not advance the Munger Hall project further,” the letter continues. “We recommend that UCSB reconvene its design review board to re-examine best pract...

Eight former UC campus architects pen letter in an effort to stop Munger Hall

2021-12-06T19:40:00-05:00

More architects are speaking out in the controversy surrounding the planned Munger Hall development at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Santa Barbara Independent is reporting that eight architects representing several different UC campuses sent administrators a letter dated November 17 which detailed their opposition to the unanimously approved multibillion-dollar dormitory building.

“We ask that you take a step back and embrace the values of a humane environment, one that fosters health, safety, and welfare, instead of one that may forever harm generations of young students,” a portion of the group letter read, according to the Independent. “A failed investment of this size is bound to ripple throughout the University system.”

Previously on Archinect: 'A jail masquerading as a dormitory': Architect resigns from UCSB over a ludicrous, Charles Munger-designed dorm

Their letter joins a previous document from the local AIA chapter in which President Tai Yeh and others e...

AIA Santa Barbara signs open letter against “inhumane” Charlie Munger-designed/funded student accommodation

2021-11-09T10:51:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara (AIASB) has sent an open letter to the Chancellor of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in opposition to the controversial Munger Hall student residence. The letter, delivered in email format, was led by AIASB President Tai Yeh and signed by 34 individuals, most of whom are affiliated with the AIA.

The open letter, dated November 5th, was first published by Edhat Santa Barbara and sets out the AIASB’s position that the “Munger Residence Hall as proposed, does not meet [health, safety, and welfare] requirements and that there is no justifiable reason to proceed with the project as proposed.”

“Our collective response to this proposal is not a critique of style, rather this is a critique of the unacceptable, inhumane living conditions that will no doubt have a psychological impact o...

UCSB officials release Q&A addressing Munger Hall controversy

2021-11-05T17:21:00-04:00

The swirling controversy over the University of California, Santa Barbara’s proposed plan to add billionaire real estate investor Charles Munger’s massive self-designed dormitory building to its exhausted stock of student housing has been addressed by the university in a campus-wide Q&A published yesterday in which it answered “misconceptions” about the project’s design features and doubled down on its reasoning and necessity overall.

Last week’s revelation that architect Dennis McFadden had resigned in early October after a university planning meeting resulted in a heated letter to the design review committee, making waves on our discussion board, and even landing UCSB in national news outlets in part over Munger’s deep connections with billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

University officials failed to address McFadden’s indignation over its questionable contingent approval process but were able to issue a defense of sorts in the form of a self-prompted answer sheet that claimed...

'A jail masquerading as a dormitory': Architect resigns from UCSB over a ludicrous, Charles Munger-designed dorm

2021-10-29T16:01:00-04:00

A key architect has resigned his committee membership at the University of California, Santa Barbara following its proposal of a monolithic new dormitory building that purportedly fails to provide windows for some 94% of its single-occupancy residences.

After fifteen years sitting on UCSB’s Design Review Committee, architect Dennis McFadden resigned in protest over its decision to select financier-cum-ametuer architect Charles Munger’s plan for a 1.68 million-square-foot structure that will also bear his name following a $200 million gift to the university. Munger had allegedly stipulated that his plan be followed without alteration as part of the gift. McFadden referred to the design as “unsupportable from my perspective as an architect, a parent, and a human being” in an angry letter sent to the university on October 25th.

“The building is a social and psychological experiment with an unknown impact on the lives and personal development of the undergraduates the university serves...

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."

Up to 50% of all renting London households are living in poverty

2015-10-02T05:26:00-04:00

According to an insight study performed by the think tank New London Architecture, the dimensions of the London housing crisis are spectacularly bad: 80 percent of all new homes are only affordable to 20 percent of residents, while a near majority of all renting households are living in poverty. The study predicts that the city will add 70,000 residents per year, resulting in a total population of 11 million by 2050 (an increase of 2.4 million from this year's population of 8.6 million).

Billionaire investors aren't helping the housing shortage: 61 percent of all new homes are bought as investments, without any intention of being occupied by the owners. However, not all is lost: London's relatively low urban density makes it an ideal place for increased housing development, provided that the housing can actually be afforded by the people who intend to live in it.

Crowded skies: Sunlight as the new amenity for the super rich

2015-05-14T18:37:00-04:00

[...] shadows even turn light into another medium of inequality. Light becomes a resource that can be bought by the wealthy, eclipsed for the poor. [...] multimillion-dollar apartments in the sky will darken parts of the park a mile away. Enjoyment of the park in the park – a notably free activity in a high-cost city – will be dimmed a little to give billionaires views of it from above.

New Renderings Revealed for 217 West 57th Street, the Will-Be Tallest Residential Building in the World

2015-04-20T16:37:00-04:00

With its spire the Nordstrom Tower will be just one foot shorter than One World Trade Center, but its elevation will make it the tallest point in New York, as its site is 100 feet above sea level, compared to One World Trade’s 12- foot elevation.

New renderings have been released for Extell Development's Nordstrom Tower at 217 West 57th Street. When completed, the 92-story, 1,775-foot supertall that will take the title of tallest residential building in the world, surpassing Mumbai’s World One Tower by 29 feet. The images show how the tower, designed by architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, will dominate the skyline, as well as close-up views of the façade and a peek into one of the penthouses.

Who pays for the new private museums after the death of their aging founders?

2015-01-08T15:16:00-05:00

From the opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in October to the construction of The Broad in Los Angeles now set to open this autumn, the model of the single-donor museum is thriving. [...] what will happen to these new institutions on the death of the founder or the decline in their collecting activity. [...] To what extent have these museum founders made plans to ensure the vitality and flexibility of their prized institutions beyond their own lifetimes?

This is not just hyperbole

2014-11-17T21:53:00-05:00

"The pied-à-terre tax is seen by New York’s wealthiest 1 percent as a question of fairness" - James Parrott, the chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute

New data from the Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey, confirms the high vacancy rate in certain "billionaire buildings" and neighborhoods of Manhattan. Some are making the case that an additional tax should be levied for these pieds-à-terres.