It’s what Extell’s founder and chairman Gary Barnett calls “the very best you can buy on Central Park.” (Kevin Clayton of Clayton Homes is rumored to have snapped up a condo here for $11 million, though Extell cannot confirm or deny any of the residents). It comes with an exclusive private club called the Central Park Club featuring 50,000 square feet of luxury amenities across three floors, including a dining room and kitchen with Michelin-star chefs, a lounge, a screening room, and a private ballroom. The tower boasts a 100th floor club too, as part of its “highest private residential club in the world” status.
Inside the master bathroom on the 66th floor.
The structure also offers an outdoor terrace with a 60-foot swimming pool, a bar, and waiter service to your lounge chair. If that wasn’t enough to dull the noise of Midtown traffic, there will be a health and wellness center on the 16th floor with a fitness center, a basketball half-court, and a sauna. This lavish lifestyle is part of the latest flurry of high-end residencies bringing resort life to Manhattan.
The master bedroom on the 56th floor.
“Texture, palette, and material selections were made in order to address a softer, more sustainable and, hopefully, sophisticated expression,” Gill explains. “We do think of it as a contemporary modern language.” There are public elements too. Central Park Tower has retail on its ground floor, including a seven-story flagship Nordstrom department store designed by James Carpenter Design Associates, who created a façade in the shape of waves.
The building faces the southwestern tip of Central Park, overlooking the various ponds, lakes, and rolling hills that reach up to the horizon of Harlem. Gill is most excited about the views. “There are spectacular views of Manhattan,” he says. “They were achieved by carefully positioning the tower and incorporating large panels of glazing to capture the expansive views.”
A kitchen overlooks the Hudson River to the west.
But buildings that claim to be the “world’s tallest” will always see one-upmanship (it’s the second-tallest skyscraper in the U.S. after One World Trade Center and the 14th tallest in the world). So Gill is expecting competition. “There will always be a transformation of cities around the world that would invite solutions such as Central Park Tower,” he says. “These are very special buildings for very special cities.”