A New York Penthouse 1,000 Feet Above Street Level Fetches $50 Million-Plus

A penthouse apartment at 111 West 57th Street, an under-construction ultra-skinny tower on New York’s Billionaires’ Row, has gone into contract for over $50 million, according to a person familiar with the transaction. The deal, signed in early November, is one of the priciest publicly disclosed contracts to have been signed in New York since the onset of the pandemic.

The development’s offering plan lists the unit’s asking price at $57 million. JDS Development’s Michael Stern, one of the building’s developers, confirmed the deal but declined to comment on the exact sale price or the identity of the buyer. In the spring, Mr. Stern said that contracts for two other units asking roughly $30 million had been signed at the condominium tower between March and June.

The deals are rare bright spots for Manhattan’s luxury market, which has struggled in 2020 amid an exodus of high-net-worth residents, many of whom decamped to places like the Hamptons and Palm Beach, Fla., amid the pandemic. In the third quarter, luxury home sales in Manhattan were down 46.7% compared with the same period in 2019, according to a report by Douglas Elliman.

The apartment that most recently went into contract is one of several “penthouses” at the building. Located at an elevation of about 1,000 feet, it is 7,103 square feet and has four bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms, according to the offering plan.

The terracotta-and-bronze tower, one of several new supertall spires on the south side of Central Park, is known locally as the Steinway Building because it incorporates the former Steinway & Sons piano store building into its design. It is being developed by JDS in partnership with Property Markets Group and Spruce Capital Partners. There are about 14 apartments inside the Steinway building and 46 units in the connected tower above. Douglas Elliman leads sales at the building.

By Katherine Clarke
December. 8, 2020
Read the full article on The Wall Street Journal