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New York’s newest supertall just redrew the skyline over Central Park.
At 1,550 feet, Central Park Tower now looks down on every other residential building on Earth. The skyscraper at 217–225 West 57th Street, right on Billionaires’ Row, topped out in late 2019 and immediately became the tallest residential building in the world and the tallest building by roof height anywhere in the United States. The B1M’s July 2020 video, “Building New York’s $200M Apartment,” goes inside the numbers behind it — and the triplex penthouse near the summit that could set a new price record for the city.
- Central Park Tower rises 1,550 feet (472 meters) across 98 above-ground floors, with marketing floor numbers stretching up to 136, and cost roughly $3 billion to build.
- The tower was developed by Extell Development Company with Shanghai Municipal Investment Group, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture with AAI Architects as architect-of-record, and built by general contractor Lendlease.
- The crowning triplex penthouse spans floors 129 to 131 — more than 17,000 square feet with an observatory, private ballroom, gym, library and terrace — with pricing expected to reach as high as $200 million.
An Engineering Problem Solved With a Cantilever
Building a supertall directly on 57th Street meant the tower’s footprint didn’t naturally line up with Central Park a block away. Extell’s design team resolved that with a major cantilever on the building’s eastern elevation, angling the structure so the best units get unobstructed views straight up the park rather than a side glance at it. It’s the kind of structural workaround that separates a merely tall building from one engineered specifically to sell views — and on Billionaires’ Row, the view is the product.
Retail on the Ground, Residences Starting on 32
The lower seven floors of Central Park Tower aren’t residential at all — they house New York City’s first flagship Nordstrom department store, anchoring the base of the tower in the middle of the retail corridor around 57th Street. The 179 ultra-luxury condominiums don’t begin until the 32nd floor, stacking the entire retail operation and mechanical infrastructure beneath the point where the living space and the views actually start.
Amenities Built for a Vertical City
Central Park Tower’s amenity package reads like its own building within the building. A 60-foot outdoor terrace pool sits on the 14th floor, paired with an indoor lap pool, a full fitness and spa center, and private entertainment spaces for residents. At the top of the amenity chain is the 100th-floor Central Park Club, a private space reserved exclusively for the tower’s owners — putting a literal ceiling on who gets access, 100 stories above the sidewalk.
The triplex penthouse across floors 129 to 131 spans more than 17,000 square feet, with pricing expected to reach up to $200 million.
The $200 Million Penthouse
Everything about the tower’s design funnels toward the crown: the triplex penthouse occupying floors 129 through 131. It includes its own observatory, a private ballroom, a dedicated gym, a library and a private terrace — effectively a standalone mansion stacked more than 1,300 feet in the air. At an anticipated price up to $200 million, it’s positioned to eclipse earlier Manhattan sales records outright, turning a single unit into the most expensive residential listing the city has ever produced.
Extell still has to actually close a sale at that number to make it official, and Manhattan’s ultra-luxury market in mid-2020 wasn’t exactly moving fast. But the infrastructure for the record is built and sitting 1,550 feet up — floors 129 to 131, waiting on a buyer with $200 million and a taste for the highest view in New York residential real estate. For more on how the city’s wealthiest buyers are building at ground level too, see this sprawling 8-level Manhattan townhouse, or compare the price tag to this $65 million Beverly Hills mega mansion on the other coast.
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