Central Park West is one of New York’s most exclusive residential streets. On the elegant boulevard, walking along the west side of the park, some of the most beautiful old apartment buildings of the whole city are standing.
For example, the Dakota Building, where John Lennon spent his New York years, Kenilworth, in which Michael Douglas lives (or lived with Catherine Zeta-Jones, if one believes the gossip press and may live again), or the San Remo, in the Dustin Hoffman is at home.
Most imposing buildings arose in half the century between 1885 and 1935. Since the 1950s, nothing has been built here, which can be architectural with these old splendor buildings. To finally, the real estate entrepreneurs and brothers William and Robert Zeckendorf came to the idea for a new residential building, which should be based in the classic residential buildings of the neighborhood.
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The world-class architect Robert A.M. Star designed 15 Central Park West should consist of two buildings with a total of 201 apartments, a 43-storey “Tower” with a terrific view of the city and the “House” with 20 floors. The 3,000 plates used for the façade should be from the same limestone used to build the Empire State Buildings in 1931. Especially for this, the quarry was reactivated. Of the further 80,000 stone elements were 50,000 measured in accordance with the plan. Another design element was the two atria with Rotunda and Fountain based on the Renaissance, which separated “Tower” and “House” – such courtyards are an absolute rarity in the manhattan seat.
In 2004, it started right. The Zeckendorfs bought the country for $ 400 million from the shipping company Dynasty Goulandri. The far-sighted Goulandris had bought the country for amounts in the 1970s when the city was in bad shape was bought, which could not even call spotting prices today. The strategy was then easy to wait until market conditions would make purchases profitable. The bill went fully. In 2004 they were in the unique situation to own an undeveloped property at Central Park, which was big enough for a new residential complex. They achieved a price, which was twice as high as the allertext building land at this time.
Credit – Dan Molster
There was a problem yet. One of the buildings that had to be demolished, the Mayflower Hotel, had four inhabitants who lived there for decades and enjoyed strong tenant protections. Three of them were the Zeckendorfs with compensation of approximately 1 million dollars each and a new apartment. The fourth of them, Herbert Sukenik, refused to go until the Zeckendorf bought him an apartment for $ 2 million and paid him the highest severance pay in New York real estate history (experts think they relieved $ 17 million).
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From a business perspective, the project had something of gambling. The construction costs were immense, not only because of the horrendous plot costs but also because instead of raising another glass tower, a complex retro design should be realized here. In order to achieve profit, the apartments had to be sold – even for New York ratios – at extremely high prices.
The prices were unique, but the sales team could also offer unique. The extraordinary design in conjunction with the fact that in the foreseeable future nothing similar would come to the market. The equipment of the building is unique in its entirety. Inside there are noble materials such as wood and marble, which also remember the glamor of yesteryear times. The residents can use their own cinema and swim in their own 25-meter pool. There is also an elegant library in Altenglish style, and it has even thought of a private waiting room for chauffeurs (here is a TV wherever the weather channel is shown). Who does not want the house staff or nanny living in the apartment, can also acquire one of the 29 small apartments for service staff. Wine connoisseurs are offered 30 special wine rooms for sale. There is a dining room where it is de facto a restaurant, open fireplaces in some of the corridors, and of course a sports studio, which can also be used for yoga and pilates.
The risk appetite paid. When 15 CPW 2008 was completed, the building quickly became a gigantic success at the New York elite and beyond. Rock musician sting bought an apartment for $ 27 million, actor Denzel Washington suggested for $ 12 million. The allertain apartments went to buyers of the high finances. The 1,000 square meter penthouse went for $ 45 million at Daniel Loeb, founder of the HedFashion Third Point. The racing driver Jeff Gordon (in the USA a great celebrity) and Les Wexner, the founder of the lingerie Empire Victoria’s Secret, live here.
740 Park Avenue is probably the most exclusive apartment building for “Old Money” in New York. The author Michael Gross has written a whole book about it: “740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building”. He sees a parallel between the 1929 built building and 15 cpw. The New York newspaper “Daily News” said: “15 CPW is the contemporary version of 740 Park. An apartment here is a trophy that shows that you managed. “
The Russian Billionaire Dmitri Rybolowlew, which in March, has also included an apartment in the building for $ 88 million for his daughter Ekaterina of ex-Citibank boss Sanford “Sandy” Weill.
For Weighl and other residential owners, 15 CPW was an excellent investment. He had the apartment in 2007 before the completion of 15 CPW “pre-ordered”, for the price of 43.7 million dollars, so quite just half. Weill wants the 88 million – the highest price paid for an apartment in New York – for charitable purposes donate. Other owners also used the value increases. Financing George Logothetis bought an apartment here for nearly $ 13 million in 2008, selling it for 24 million a few years later. The anesthesiologist Dr. Anna Sokolova has one apartment that she bought in 2008 for 5.9 million, in March 2015 for 29.2 on the market. Experts expect that they came pretty close to the required price. Sting currently offers its apparent, for that he has paid 27 million in 2008, for 56 million.
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Of course, most people can only dream of here. However, they do not have to stay outside – one of the two courtyards is accessible to the public, a wonderful place to operate a bit “people watching” the more exclusive way.
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