Central Park Place
Central Park Place | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Residential |
Location | 301 West 57th Street, Manhattan, New York |
Coordinates | 40°46′02″N 73°58′59″W / 40.7671°N 73.9830°W |
Construction started | December 1985 |
Completed | 1988 |
Height | |
Roof | 628 ft (191 m) |
Top floor | 585 ft (178 m) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 56 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Davis Brody Bond |
Developer | William Zeckendorf Jr. |
Main contractor | HRH Construction |
Central Park Place is a residential
Central Park Place was developed by William Zeckendorf Jr., who started acquiring land for the building in 1982. Initially, the tower was planned as a mixed-use development with office space and 310 apartments. After construction costs increased, Zeckendorf changed the plans to modify the number of apartments in the development, and split off the office component into another project. There were several controversies during the tower's construction, including an incident in which a pedestrian was killed by debris. Central Park Place was completed in 1988, and within two years, was almost fully occupied.
Site
Central Park Place is on the border of the
Architecture
Central Park Place is 628 feet (191 m) tall with 56 stories.[4][5] It was designed by Davis, Brody & Associates, with Rosenwasser/Grossman Consulting Engineers as structural engineer.[5] The tower was built by HRH Construction.[6] The lowest six stories occupy the whole lot, while the upper stories are smaller.[7]
Facade
Central Park Place's facade is made of gray-green glass and aluminum panels. The color of the facade is intended to associate the building with the nearby Central Park.[8][9] Most apartments have bay windows that extend nearly the full height of the floor.[8] The windows measure 16 by 9 feet (4.9 by 2.7 m) and project from the facade, creating three-sided windows. There are several cantilevers from the facade, giving views of Central Park to some of the side apartments.[9] Architecture critic Carter Horsley said of the facade, "The pale green probably looked great in pastel renderings, but in reality, it is a bit weak-looking."[7]
Features
Central Park Place has 300 condominium apartments, which range from studio apartments to two-bedroom units.[7][10][11] When the building opened, the apartments ranged from $200,000 to $4 million.[8][10] There are four penthouses, the largest of which is a 4,200-square-foot (390 m2) unit on the 53rd floor.[12] The tower contains a swimming pool, a residents' health and fitness club, a party room, a residents' dining room, and four rooms for residents' guests.[7][8]
Judith Stockman and Associates was hired to design the lobby. The tower's developer
History
Development
Zeckendorf started assembling the site on Eighth Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets in 1982. A
The project encountered delays after the city government enacted an 18-month moratorium on demolishing single room occupancy residential structures in 1985.[16][17] Zeckendorf and his partners wanted to commence construction on the residential tower, Central Park Place, as soon as possible.[18] Accordingly, the group paid the city $2.29 million to demolish the Alpine Hotel, a building they already owned.[19] The residential tower and office components were split into separate projects to speed up development of the former project. More two-bedroom apartments were added to the residential tower, and the brick facade of the original design was changed to a glass and aluminum facade.[8] The developers allocated most of the site's development rights to the residential tower, now Central Park Place.[18] The office component at 4 Columbus Circle, immediately to the north of Central Park Place, was completed in 1989 with 104,000 square feet (9,700 m2) of space, becoming one of Manhattan's smallest office buildings.[16]
Work on Central Park Place had started by December 1985, but the project soon encountered controversy. During the next one and a half years, the city government cited builder HRH Construction for sixteen building-code violations, and issued six stop-work orders due to unsafe construction conditions.[6] In June 1987, a piece of lumber was dislodged from one of the higher floors during a wind storm. The lumber hit a pedestrian on Eighth Avenue, who later died.[20][21] In a December 1987 protest against government policies on homelessness, New York Civil Liberties Union director Norman Siegel said of Central Park Place, "When we build those buildings, we pay a high price because large developments result in the displacement of poor people."[22] Furthermore, recording studio Mediasound filed a lawsuit against Zeckendorf in January 1988, claiming that several clients had been driven away by the construction of Central Park Place.[21]
Use
Sales at the building started in September 1987. More than 200 units were sold, with one-fifth of these units going to foreign buyers.[8] At the time of the building's completion in 1988, the surrounding neighborhood was still considered desolate. The segment of Eighth Avenue south of 57th Street was considered shabby,[5][7] but this was changing quickly.[23] Units at Central Park Place attracted several high-value sales; in one week in May 1989, Zeckendorf earned $8 million from selling three apartments, all of which were purchased for over a million dollars.[24]
By mid-1990, ninety-nine percent of the 300 units had been sold.[11] One such unit, on the 27th story, was raided in 1993 when the New York City Police Department conducted its largest-ever heroin seizure there, confiscating $240 million worth of heroin.[25] The narcotics, divided into 562 packets containing one-third of a kilogram (about 12 ounces) of heroin each, were being stored in five black suitcases in the apartment.[25]
Residents of Central Park Place have included Turner Broadcasting System executive Philip I. Kent,[26] as well as celebrities such as Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Gene Hackman, and Al Pacino.[10]
References
- New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Archivedfrom the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ "301 West 57 Street, 10019". New York City Department of City Planning. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- ^ "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Midtown" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
- ^ "Central Park Place – The Skyscraper Center". Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. April 7, 2016. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ a b c "Central Park Place". Emporis. Archived from the original on May 5, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Horsley, Carter. "Central Park Place, 301 West 57th Street". CityRealty. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ a b c "Views From The Top". New York Magazine: 10A. March 30, 1987. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4516-6620-5. Archivedfrom the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ Sherman, Gabriel (April 5, 2004). "Molly's Lofty Pursuit". Observer. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ Smith, Liz (September 16, 1984). "Dream girls 'n' boys (and real babies)". New York Daily News. p. 204. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2020 – via newspapers.com .
- from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ from the original on December 21, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ Moritz, Owen (February 21, 1985). "Builders to scrape more sky". New York Daily News. p. 91. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2020 – via newspapers.com .
- ^ from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- from the original on November 10, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ ProQuest 277863906. Retrieved December 28, 2020 – via ProQuest.
- from the original on November 3, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- ^ "Realty Notes; The Market". New York Daily News. May 19, 1989. p. 645. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2020 – via newspapers.com .
- ^ from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
- from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
External links
- Central Park Place from CityRealty