Construction is now fully complete on 220 Central Park South, a 950-foot-tall residential skyscraper in Midtown and number nine on our annual end-of-year countdown. The 67-story, $1.4 billion tower is designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects and developed by Vornado Realty Trust, which is projecting a $3.4 billion sellout and has already closed on 118 condominium units. SLCE Architects is the executive architect and Thierry W. Despont is the interior designer of the homes, which span around 593,000 square feet. The site is nestled between Seventh Avenue and Columbus Circle.
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South seen from Sheep Meadow. Photo by Michael Young
The motor courtyard to the property is found on East 58th Street, where a large cantilevering metal and glass canopy adorns the entrance, overhanging the hand-laid stone surface. Nearby are several trees decorated with Christmas lights, surrounding the ground-floor exterior for the 18-story annex, called “The Villas.” Tall ornamental lights hang on the warm-colored stone walls along the sidewalks bearing the building’s address.
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
220 Central Park South has already brought in $1 billion in sales with the largest contributor being Ken Griffin’s $238 million purchase of a four-story, 24,000-square-foot home on floors 50 through 53. The most expensive home ever sold in the United States, it reportedly has 16 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, five balconies, and an outdoor terrace facing Central Park. He then later bought two abutting units on the 20th floor for just under $4 million. Other notable residents include Sting, who purchased a $65.7 million penthouse, and heiress Renata de Camargo Nascimento. Residents have exclusive access to a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant on the lower floors.
220 Central Park South. Photo by Michael Young
And once again, the residence made a worthy title for itself for having the most expensive residence sold in the city this year, which was for a $99.9 million four-bedroom, five-bathroom duplex on the 76th and 77th floors that closed in late July. The cheapest apartment sold at the address was for a $53.6 million four-bedroom unit on the 63rd floor.
Robert A. M. Stern’s other nearby residential tower, 15 Central Park West, has also garnered similar high praise and has enjoyed an ongoing and eminent reputation in the real estate market since it opened in 2008. However, 220 Central Park South seems to have surpassed all expectations and has raised the bar for condominium developments.
15 Central Park West. Photo by Michael Young
The location of the building in front of the 57th Street Billionaires’ Row skyline creates an interesting juxtaposition in design, with its classic New York styling contrasting with its sleek glass-clad neighbors. Though it’s far from the tallest new structure to rise in the city in recent years, its record-setting home sale will help secure its place in the history of New York’s massive construction boom of the past decade.
220 Central Park South (right). Photo by Michael Young
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Very handsome. I hate CPT, and I hate how close it is to 220 CPS — it detracts from it.
I really like Central Park Tower, and I think it kind of looks nice next to 220 Central Park South. It always has.
Hate is a four-letter word that is appropriate for topics like Hitler and Nazism but for a personal opinion on one building’s juxtaposition with another? Hardly.
Agreed mate
A true New York masterpiece for sick wealth. Many people won’t realize this is a new tower. The dumpy old building poking through the motor court is a wonderful reality check.
220 Central Park South truly is one of the best new NYC buildings there is. It’s structure is nothing short of pure beauty and elegance. With this, I think 220 CPS will be a welly known and praised skyscraper for many years to come. I wouldn’t even be surprised if in many decades it’ll become an official New York City landmark. 220 Central Park South is definitely one of my favorite new buildings for the City.
It does seems really odd to me though that 220 wasn’t technically finished until now. Also, come on–a 16 bedroom, 17 bathroom, five balcony, and one giant terrace facing Central Park, condominium? No wonder it was so expensive. It’s also funnny how the cheapest so far was $53.6 million. 220 Central Park South really is the most luxurious skyscraper of all.
Absolutely beautiful…on my must see list for next visit!
I feel it ADDS to the skyline like it’s predecessor 15 CPW, and deserves all the praise it gets for showing architects how to design a luxury high-rise tower with architectural detailing acknowledging the past, without
becoming just another generic glass box fighting for the title of the tallest, such as CPT!
Given a choice, I would live at 220 with a real Central Park view, versus living at CPT, with view of the sky!
To RAM Stern Architects…
“More Please”!
As the glass and steel supertalls pull the skyline ever upward, it is a great joy to see such limestone beauty rising up with them. It insures that the New York skyline maintains its unique character.
Beautifully executed, well crafted details, handsome building.
I agree with all of the positive comments. 220 CPS is truly NYC’s premier address, and rightly so. Thank God for RAMS’s creations in this era of exaggerated steel and glass. I’d gladly live at 220 CPS but my heart still flutters for Hampshire House (especially the soon-to-be developed penthouse).
It truly is a remarkably beautiful building. So sad it stands next to that monstrosity Central Park Tower with this trailer like “slide outs” protruding from the east side of the building. hopefully when they finish pulling the film off the windows it will become more transparent and just disappear.
While it is a handsome / Beautiful building, I do wish they had actually increased the number of apartments. It seems a shame that the old buildings actually provided more housing than the newer larger one.
Personally I like both CPT and 220. 220 finishes look beautiful and the building is pretty elegant. Not a huge fan of the windows RAMSA has chosen, they look out of proportion with the ceiling heights, especially from the inside. Hate the way they appear to open. Love the outdoor space many units have. What’s up with the lot line on the south wall?
CPT amenity spaces look amazing. Also walls of windows must be stellar at those heights. Finishes look a little tacky IMO, although I’m sure they’re expensive.
Entryways to apartments are weird in both buildings. Layouts not exactly perfect by any stretch.
sad to say that 220 is beginning to look…exhausted.
RAMS skill just couldn’t stretch to keep up with the program this time; while admiring aspects of the building during construction, the result, overall, is disappointing. the canon of classically detailed limestone, the pattern and proportion of the fenestration, the massing of base, shaft, and crown, were not able to pull together to create a final harmonic composition. had there been an additional sixty feet in width, or a reduction of twenty five floors, it could have been splendid. in spite of handsome details, and attractive passages, this is at its completion, a building which is worth less than the sum of its parts.
to prove an old adage: 220 has risen to the level of its incompetence.
and, a small point:
isn’t it time to retire that rendering in an imaginary landscape?
might as well show it as oceanfront; CPT is a fact.
I agree completely.
You can’t just stretch classicism at-will to wrap a building program formed by financial concerns; the site allowed for a tall slender tower the proportion of which is completely at odds with the classical vernacular. It’s certain that this was an issue at RAMSA during the design process, but obviously they thought that 220 CPS would be too big to fail.
It is sad that the result is an empty-hearted, busy, jumbled, pomposity.
It’s big & it’s a beauty
Fantastic
Waiting for Stern’s next project
Very nice entry courtyard for such a mega tower. This is a building that addresses both the pedestrian and the skyline.
And, I am a modernist.
It’s a very premium tower to the NYC skyline.