Everyone knows New York apartments are expensive. But this expensive? Real estate research firm CityRealty just released their ranking?of the priciest properties in the city. The company’s number-crunchers tallied the price-per-square-foot of closed sales, and there’s a new top dog in town.
We break down the top 10 and explain who lives (or lived) in each one, what amenities — from pet spas and climbing walls to five-star-hotel access and business centers — are on offer, and just how much it costs to move into one of these ritzy abodes.
Take note: while these buildings are NYC’s creme de la creme and attract their fair share of celebrities, its residents are, more often than not, a segment of the?1 percent that flies under most people’s?radar.
(By the way, presidential hopeful Donald Trump just missed CityRealty’s list, coming in at No. 11. His Trump International Tower at 1 Central Park West, near Columbus Circle, has an average-price-per-square-foot closing price of $3,527. Apartments currently on the market there range from $1.1 million to $14.77 million.)
Let’s start from the 10th spot and work our way up.
10) Millennium Tower
$3,585/square foot
On 67th Street between Columbus and Broadway on the Upper West Side, this building is 56 floors with 282 apartments — but only the ones on floors 44 to 56 are worthy of the Millennium moniker. A sale in April 2015 had one buyer purchasing two adjacent apartments on the 53rd floor (likely with the intent to combine them) for a total of $6.65 million. The building takes up the entire block. Residential amenities include a 24-hour doorman, a concierge, a special membership rate to the 117,000-square-foot gym (which has cardio and weight-training options, group exercise programs, two basketball courts, boxing, soccer, volleyball, a 25-yard pool, a rock-climbing wall, outdoor running track and rooftop lounge). There’s also an IMAX theater.
The Millennium’s high-profile residents have included Johnson & Johnson chairman William Weldon, financier Eyal Levy, Howard Stern, Regis Philbin and Alan Alda. No apartments are currently for sale, but there’s a two-bedroom for rent for $13,750/month.
9) 135 E. 79th St.
$3,777/square foot
This building on 79th Street between Lexington and Park avenues is new construction — it replaced a rather unattractive school of social work that got razed. Developed by the Brodsky Organization and designed by William Sofield, it looks deceptively like a prewar grande dame from eras past. Behind a stately gray limestone facade, with pear-tree ornamentation framing the entrance, lie 29 condo units that were snapped up quickly upon their launch in 2013.
Among its high-flying residents is (or has been) convenience-store-fortune heir Gerald Erickson Jr., Solar Capital CEO Michael Gross and video-game mogul Gregory Fischbach. Apartments that have sold are all over $8 million and go up to $23.41 million; there are no apartments currently available.
8) Baccarat Hotel & Residences
$3,841/square foot
The bling-filled West 53rd Street hotel of the eponymous crystal brand, which opened this year and where rooms go for $800/night, has gotten more hype than the 59 condos above. (It is, after all, the first hotel of its kind.) But residents of those apartments, designed by renowned architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and interior designer Tony Ingrao, can enjoy the best of the hotel’s common spaces. That’s probably why apartments are currently up for grabs starting at $5.15 million for a one-bedroom and topping out at $60 million for the penthouse.
Condo buyers score access to the Chevalier restaurant, the Baccarat Bar and a 10,000-square-foot wellness center featuring the first spa by La Mer in the United States and a 55-foot pool with private cabanas. There’s also a valet, doormen and multilingual concierge services available 24/7.
That’s useful for the new residents, since we get the sense that buyers are mostly foreigners. Most are also anonymous, shielded behind limited-liability corporations (LLCs) on public record. Evidence? The fact that two units worth a combined $13 million were reportedly sold via the Chinese messaging app WeChat. Further confirmation: Earlier this year, Chinese insurer Sunshine Insurance Group paid $230 million for the property, formerly owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide — which set a record for price per room.
7) The Plaza
$3,948/square foot
Home to Eloise, high tea and “Home Alone 2,” the Plaza was iconic as a hotel even before it was converted into apartments that were ready for move-in in 2008. Most of the luxe pads are used as pied-à-terre and are empty half the time. There are currently 31 apartments on the market; they start at $1.4 million and go all the way up to $75 million — the latter is Tommy Hilfiger’s artsy spread.
Boldface Plaza dwellers include Suze Orman, London developer Christian Candy, Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris and the president of Kazakhstan’s brother.
The 182 apartments have a separate entrance from the smaller hotel condos, as well as share a private garden. Some have terraces and Juliet balconies. The floors were specially designed to evoke the mosaiclike patterns found in the Plaza’s original lobby. Amenities include some of the greatest assets of the former hotel: the Palm Court, the Oak Room & Bar, the Edwardian Room and Grand Ballroom, plus your standard doorman and concierge, nanny service, limo service, turn-down service, and a private butler.
6) One Beacon Court
$4,176/square foot
This is the condo tower that rises above Bloomberg HQ and Le Cirque, just south of Bloomingdale’s, on Lexington Avenue and 58th Street. The extras here aren’t as luxe as others on this list — a gym, a barre exercise room, a massage room, a business center and a kids’ playroom — but that hasn’t stopped some pretty big names from buying in since the building opened in 2001.
Past residents include business types like Rock Creek Capital founder James Dahl and Berkshire Hathaway’s Ajit Jain, athletic types like former outfielder Bobby Abreu and baseball hunk Johnny Damon, globe-trotters like Italian playboy Flavio Briatore, Fendi heir Luca Formilli Fendi, and fashion mogul Giancarlo Giammetti. Movie producer Joe Roth, polo team owner Victor Vargas and Tina Knowles — better known as Beyoncé’s mom — have also lived at One Beacon Court.
Available apartments go from $7.08 million to $79 million — and financier/hedge funder/billionaire Steven A. Cohen is the owner of the most expensive unit for sale. But at least be thankful he’s not asking the $115 million he once did for the 9,000-square-foot duplex penthouse. For another “bargain,” there are rentals from $15,500 to $45,000 per month.
5) Walker Tower
$4,668/square foot
A 1929-built art deco building in Chelsea that was, for many years, occupied by Verizon, has been converted into a stunning 47-unit apartment building that’s commanded record prices for downtown Manhattan. A Walker Tower penthouse set a record last year as the most expensive apartment sold south of 42nd Street when British-born entrepreneur and CEO of global restaurant-nightclub brand Hakkasan, Neil Moffitt, shelled out $50.91 million. (He’s since put it back on the market, asking $70 million.) It’s the most expensive condo available there, where the cheapest unit to buy is asking $15.65 million, and there’s one four-bedroom for rent at $75,000 a month.
Of course, there’s a roster of amenities to lure such deep-pocketed buyers: a 24-hour doorman, a concierge, a library lounge with pantry and bar, a children’s playroom, a fitness center with a yoga room and a sauna, and a landscaped common roof deck with a dining area, sun lawn, observation area and covered cabana room.
Other notable buyers include Cameron Diaz, financier Prescott Ashe and Mike Thorne, a music industry veteran who basically discovered the Sex Pistols (along with other recording artists like Kate Bush and Wire). Jennifer Lopez looked here before settling on the Madison Square Park-facing penthouse of the Whitman.
4) Time Warner Center
$5,248/square foot
The tall shiny buildings on top of Columbus Circle? Yup, that’s this one. The southern tower is at 25 Columbus Circle, while the northern tower is 80 Columbus Circle and goes by The Residences at the Mandarin Oriental. The two buildings are most often?referenced?together, but CityRealty split them up for the purposes of their ranking, so?they come in at Nos. 2 and 4.
Time Warner Center earned some notoriety this year when the Times published a five-part series exploring the building and its many foreign buyers, some of whom purchased their pricey pads behind the shield of identity-hiding LLCs.
Residents past and present include Russian billionaire Andrey Vavilov, who just sold his penthouse for $50.9 million, Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross, financier and Tony-winning play producer Roy Furman, documented “husband-hunter” Cheryl Mercuris, billionaire socialite Anna Anisimova (daughter of aluminum and iron magnate Vasily Anisimov), Russian billionaire/lawmaker Vitaly Malkin, and Israeli-born New York City developer Michael Shvo. Other notable names who have graced TWC with their presence? Tom Brady, Kelly Ripa, Jimmy Buffett and Ricky Martin.
25 and 80 Columbus Circle are connected by a?ground-level atrium, which includes a Whole Foods along with top-shelf restaurants like Per Se. The sister buildings share some pretty bonkers amenities (outlined below). Available apartments start at $5 million and go up to $24.75 million, with rentals from $13,700 to $80,000 per month.
3) Residences at the Mandarin Oriental
$5,629/square foot
Located at 80 Columbus Circle, this is the 66-unit north tower of the two-tower development atop the Time Warner Center. Jay Z once rented here!
The apartments, many of which have unusual floor plans and expansive Central Park views, are located above the swanky hotel, and amenities include a 24-hour concierge, valet and doorman, plus a 40,000-square-foot fitness facility, 75-foot enclosed swimming pool and access to the Mandarin Spa.
Currently available apartments range from $11.5 million to $50 million, with rentals from $16,750 to $20,000.
2) 15 Central Park West
$5,679/square foot
The runner-up in this race remains one of the city’s most coveted apartment buildings. Facing the park just north of Columbus Circle, 15 Central Park West is such a celebrity magnet that upper-crust real estate chronicler Michael Gross wrote a whole book about its colorful inner life. Currently, apartments available range from $6.5 million to $59.5 million, or, for rent, they go for $15,000 to $125,000 per month.
With prices that high, the amenities have to deliver. Beyond a doorman and concierge service, 15 CPW offers a residents-only restaurant with butler service and al fresco seating, a 14,000-square-foot gym, a pool, conference rooms, a screening room, a library, a billiards room, a kids’ playroom, parking, and wine storage.
Past and present celebrity residents are many: steel magnate Leroy Schecter, fashion designer Elie Tahari, Robert De Niro, A-Rod, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, hospitality heiress Andrea Kerzner, former CEO of Barclays Bob Diamond, former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill, hedge-fund manager Daniel Loeb, Sting, Denzel Washington, sportscaster Bob Costas and Vera Bradkey co-founder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard.
The biggest sale there was to Russian fertilizer billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who reportedly bought the $88 million apartment for his teenage daughter. It was the most expensive residential sale in the city until two at One57 (keep reading) unseated it.
1) One57
$5,860/square foot
Meet the new most expensive building in New York City. Located at 157 W. 57th St., but best known as One57, it’s the tallest occupied residential building in the Western Hemisphere — the brainchild of development giant Extell and French architect Christian de Portzamparc. It’s home to NYC’s two most expensive residential property sales ever: a penthouse that sold to an anonymous buyer for $100.5 early this year, and then the $91.5 million sale of another unit to billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman, who plans to flip the condo rather than live there. The building’s rise and opening last year gave 57th Street its nickname, Billionaires’ Row — and for good reason.
The bummer is that many of the building’s foreign buyers are anonymous. Take the “Hong Kong businessman” who just picked up a $25M three-bedroom, or “Platinum Hideaway LLC,” which bagged a $22 million unit, or a “Chinese investor,” who shelled out $30M for a coveted condo. (There are currently 19 units on the market, ranging from $4.95 million to $58.5 million.)
There are a few residents, however, who have used their real names. The ex-wife of Texas millionaire and former San Diego Padres owner John Moores, Rebecca Moores, has bought there, as has the co-founder of China’s largest private airline company, Hainan, Chen Guoqing. There’s Brazilian billionaire Edson Bueno, commercial real estate investment firm Heritage Realty Services’ chief George Constantin, apparel maker Herman Kay Company’s CEO Richard Kringstein, linen manufacturer Town & Country Living’s chairman David Beyda, and Hong Kong tycoon Silas Chou, who spearheaded the Michael Kors IPO with Canadian fashion tycoon Lawrence Stroll — who also bought an apartment in One57. A lot of fashion folks, no?
One buyer who attracted attention worldwide was an anonymous Chinese woman who purchased in One57 for her daughter, whom she hoped would one day attend an Ivy League school in the US. At the time, her daughter was 2 years old.
The building’s Central Park views sure help, but there are also luxurious amenities: a 24-hour doorman and concierge, a private dining and function room with a full catering kitchen, a library with billiards table and 24-foot aquarium, an arts and crafts atelier, a screening and performance room, a private fitness center and yoga studio, a discreet additional 58th Street entry, valet parking, a pet washroom, and bike storage. The Park Hyatt hotel occupies the bottom floors of the building, and residents also have access to its gym, pool, spa, steam room, room service, catering, housekeeping, laundry and dry cleaning, ballroom and meeting room access, business center, and bar and restaurant.