Central Park Tower Officially Tops Out 1,550 Feet Above Midtown, Becoming World’s Tallest Residential Building

Central Park Tower and Billionaire's Row. Photo by Michael Young

Central Park Tower, aka 217 West 57th Street, has finally reached its long-awaited milestone. Construction workers have reached top of the reinforced concrete structure, while work on the reflective glass curtain wall is closing in on the upper floors of what is now the tallest residential building in New York and the highest roof in the Western Hemisphere. The 1,550-foot tall reinforced concrete skyscraper is designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill and developed by Extell, which is expecting a $4 billion sellout. The Nordstrom retail component is getting ready for its debut next month.

YIMBY was given exclusive access to the skyscraper to take in its unrivaled vistas of the entire city.

Central Park. Photo by Michael Young

Midtown. Photo by Michael Young

Billionaires’ Row from above. Photo by Michael Young

Looking down Midtown toward Lower Manhattan. Photo by Michael Young

The Upper West Side. Photo by Michael Young

The views from over a quarter mile high show an unparalleled view of notable landmarks like the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, Hudson Yards, 111 West 57th Street, 432 Park Avenue, 53 West 53rd Street, One Manhattan Square, Central Park, and the surrounding landscapes of New Jersey, Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn, Jersey City, and beyond the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Whoever purchases the three-story penthouse will have the highest residential home in all of New York City, which will also come with a private outdoor terrace, a spiraling three-story staircase, and a ballroom that overlooks Central Park.

Looking east. Photo by Michael Young

Looking down at One57. Photo by Michael Young

Hearst Tower. Photo by Michael Young

Hudson Yards. Photo by Michael Young

The Empire State Building. Photo by Michael Young

The Chrysler Building, 383 Madison Avenue, and the MetLife Building. Photo by Michael Young

425 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young

The Pierre. Photo by Michael Young

111 West 57th Street and 432 Park Avenue. Photo by Michael Young

A close-up of the crown of 111 West 57th Street. Photo by Michael Young

Times Square. Photo by Michael Young

Views of the tower from a helicopter offer an even grander perspective of the supertall.

Looking east at Central Park Tower and Billionaires’ Row. Photo by Michael Young

Central Park Tower and Billionaires’ Row. Photo by Michael Young

Looking north. Photo by Michael Young

Looking south with the Empire State Building in the background. Photo by Michael Young

Central Park Tower’s height easily eclipses the empire State Building and the other supertalls on 57th Street. Photo by Michael Young

Central Park Tower is expected to be completed next year. The Nordstrom flagship will open on October 24, 2019.

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20 Comments on "Central Park Tower Officially Tops Out 1,550 Feet Above Midtown, Becoming World’s Tallest Residential Building"

  1. These views are absolutely amazing. Great shots Michael!

  2. Nice work YIMBY.

    57th St is exactly where the tall buildings should go. I’m not a fan of de Blasio’s burning of the zoning book and making a hash of some of the outer borough areas (they should be densified, but contextually) but I have zero problems with 100 story buildings all over Midtown Manhattan. Go for it.

  3. New York, at its new jaw-dropping finest!

  4. This is easily the worst of the new towers going up. I’m all for more towers, more height, but please create something worthy of Gotham!

  5. Wonder if they’re building a ‘secret spire’ that will appear a the last second like a few other great buildings of the past..

    • I think that in the beginning it was even designed to have a spire but they removed it, so maybe not that unlikely. Especially considering that Tower Fifth is planned to be a foot higher, they might want to keep the title of New York’s second tallest tower.

  6. Confused in St Louis | September 17, 2019 at 1:20 pm | Reply

    Wonderful photos. So the MoMA tower was shortened by 200 feet because it would have cast a shadow on Central Park? Would have been awesome at 1250′.

  7. John Emerson Staley | September 17, 2019 at 1:22 pm | Reply

    Hey Fellow Citizens. Let’s celebrate a new innovation in a great American art form-the skyscrapet-canvasses that penetrate the heavens. Welcome to our beautiful, creative world.

  8. It’s such a big boring bland generic glass tower. Including the slide outs on the side reminiscent of a travel trailer. To bad… it could have been something amazing
    .

  9. Central Park Tower looks to be a terrific building..111 West 57th..the ‘Steinway Building’, which you can see in many of these wonderful photos, looks to become a ‘once in a lifetime’ building!

  10. Whoever lives in the top three floors (hint: it will be no one) will have to deal, at that altitude and in that building, with approximately 1.4 meters of nearly constant sway due to wind. Its the little things they dont tell you about.

  11. Great. Another box built for the world’s billionaires to launder dirty money. Such buildings should be required to make HUGE financial commitments to improving the city’s infrastructure. Meanwhile NYC’s population is in decline because the city is increasingly unaffordable.

  12. One57 is an absolutely massive building…hard to believe just how much smaller it looks in that view.

  13. Robert E Janonis | September 22, 2019 at 1:29 am | Reply

    Congratulations to Bobby Andrews of Pinicle concrete. Your 15-D brother,Bobby J.

  14. Those views are like being up in a helicopter bird’s eye view all of the time, wow. Only thing to consider is as more of the same tall skinny buildings are constructed, the more obstructed and less open the views will become over time. They need to construct one of these buildings on the absolute border of central park where they can say the views will look like this over central park forever. Also, views are beautiful but no open outdoor space is allowed at such extreme heights in New York anymore. Seems that it would be a better investment to buy something in a shorter older building on central park where outdoor space is still allowed and still get the benefit of good enough forever views of central park. Another thing, how long does it took to get from your penthouse condo and then finally to your car? Seems like it would take an annoying long length of time.

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