After covering 220 Central Park South and 111 West 57th Street, it’s time we cover the tallest of the three skyscrapers under construction on Midtown’s “Billionaire’s Row”. 217 West 57th Street, aka Central Park Tower, is currently on track to reach 1,550 feet above the ground. Once complete, Extell’s new supertall will be the tallest residential building in the country, and second overall, ranked by absolute pinnacle.
217 West 57th Street behind 220 Central Park South, by Andrew Campbell Nelson
The tower has not yet climbed above its immediate 950-foot-tall neighbor, which appears just nine floors higher when looking from across Sheep Meadow. If construction continues at its current pace, 220 CPS won’t be eclipsing the Central Park Tower for much longer. The building added about five floors between mid-February and mid-March, meaning we can expect to see the unencumbered higher floors of Central Park Tower by late May or early June.
Installation of the façade has remained nearly stagnant since we last checked in December, now encasing ten mid-level floors. The glass still has its protective plastic cover while extensive work continues, which is why the facade has a bright-blue appearance. Once complete, renderings show a somewhat similar but substantially less pixelated facade compared to One57, Extell’s first Manhattan supertall, which stands one block to the east.
217 West 57th Street from below, by Andrew Campbell Nelson
The building will house Nordstrom’s Manhattan flagship within its first seven floors. Above that, the tower will create 183 new condominiums, with the highest penthouse, a triplex on floors 129-131, expected to yield 17,000 square feet, including a 2,000 square foot terrace and an outdoor pool.
This comes close to the record for highest pool in a freestanding structure, which is 1,600 feet above street level in Hong Kong’s Ritz Carlton Hotel. The building boasts many spacious condos, private elevators, and a ballroom on the 100th floor, all of which culminates in a total projected sellout of $4 billion.
217 West 57th Street (right) and 220 Central Park South (left), image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
The building has also been in the news recently after Extell’s Gary Barnett sold $107 million worth of preferred shares for the tower, according to The Real Deal. The sale includes 17% of Class B shares, which do not include voting rights.
Completion is expected by 2019, which appears ambitious, but possible.
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Please pardon me for using your space: Big bright on the tower, according to Andrew captured.
Another abomination despoiling W 57th Street, which has already been utterly destroyed by landlord greed and developer avarice. We don’t need any more ugly monstrosities for billionaire leeches, crooked international oligarchs, and oil sheiks. We need decent affordable housing for New Yorkers. Greed is killing this city.
Can’t really build affordable housing on land that costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
Need to upzone the whole city to eight stories first, that alone would provide a lot more space.
Truly a striking building, for better or worse, but I cannot imagine living that high up, period. It would be terrifying.
If the display of extreme wealth is really to be fully celebrated, bring back the spire and have it reach 2001 feet to commemorate 9/11 when America and the world changed forever. The Tallest Building in the Western Hemisphere can be forgiven for only being able to see Central Park, mostly.
The skyine is sobbing….
UTTERLY DISGUSTING the blah blah blah whiners over tall buildings! NOTHING YOU CAN EVER DO ABOUT IT!! Get a life! Native Texas (Texas SUCKS)who is NEW YORK city’s biggest fan!! No one could love NYC more than me… have been 10 times…148 days total.