By: Henry Liebman
Mega-priced condos continue to sell – albeit slowly – in Manhattan.
As chronicled by the New York Times, one of them was at 53 West 53, located close to the Museum of Modern Art. An apartment on the 59th floor recently sold for close to $12.8 million. It was one of about a dozen apartments sold in the last month or so.
Other notable addresses that saw major closings in the last few weeks are 620 Park Avenue, where a penthouse apartment went for the asking price of $32 million; 220 Central Park South, where a 56th floor unit went for $28 million; and 45 East 22nd Street, where another penthouse carried a price tag of $24.8 million.
These properties offer more than just space; each building offers Gotham-style panache.
For example, 53 West 53, also known as the MoMA Expansion Tower and 53 West 53rd Street, and formerly known as Tower Verre, is a supertall skyscraper constructed by the real estate companies Hines, Pontiac Land Group and Goldman Sachs, located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City adjacent to The Museum of Modern Art, according to Wikipedia. The building had been in development since 2006, and construction began in late 2014. It was officially topped out in August 2018, and completed in 2019. As of November 2019, 53 West 53 is the seventh-tallest completed building in the city.
620 Park Avenue is a luxury apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Park Avenue between East 65th and 66th Streets. It was designed by J.E.R. Carpenter, who also designed 625 Park Avenue across the avenue; and constructed by Starrett Brothers construction in 1924. It features a limestone facade on the two lowest floors and a brick exterior for the upper 13 floors. It is a 15-story building featuring just 15 units each composed of a full floor. In recent years, it has become known for its conservative and often exclusionary co-op board and is known to avoid famous or notorious residents.
220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper along Central Park South in Midtown Manhattan, designed by the firm of the 2011 Driehaus Prize winner Robert A.M. Stern Architects with interiors by Thierry Despont. The tower has 70 floors and 116 units. The tower is the 17th tallest building in New York City, and neighbors the Central Park Tower.
“The month’s most expensive transaction, at 610 Park Avenue, formerly the Mayfair Regent Hotel, was for a sprawling duplex once owned by David Chu, the founder of the Nautica apparel brand, and his wife, Gina Chu. The limited liability company 610 Park acquired it from the couple in 2011 for $23.7 million, and sold it to another entity, 16EF Apartment LLC,” reported the Times. The apartment has five bedrooms, five and a half baths and around 7,700 square feet, along with a roof terrace, according to StreetEasy.
