#one57

One57, 157 W 57TH ST , 87

Arrive at a private elevator landing and enter this sprawling full floor, 4 bedroom, 5 and a half bathroom home through a gracious foyer that opens onto the living-dining room. The great room boasts ceilings of approximately 11'8 and 57 ft' of unparalleled views of Central Park through floor to ceiling windows. From the great room the views include the Hudson River, well past the George Washington Bridge and to the west, and the East River to the Atlantic Ocean and beyond.

A windowed eat-in kitchen by Smallbone of Devizes features custom cabinetry, double Sub-Zero and Miele appliances and custom designed Macassar ebony kitchen island stools that fully integrate into the island.

An elegant gallery leads to the master suite as well as the 3 additional bedrooms, each with an en-suite bath fully clad in onyx, marble or travertine, radiant floor heating and Dornbracht fixtures. The master suite includes a massive dressing room and en-suite bathroom with dual vanities, dual water closets and dual showers in Italian Statuario marble and complete with Dornbracht fixtures. The master bath also features a wet room with a custom carved marble Waterworks soaking tub and steam shower. The master bedroom has northern, southern and eastern exposures that offer amazing views all day.

Hardwood floors, custom door hardware, central HVAC system, custom designed perimeter heating and electrical pathways provided for motorized window shades complete this amazing home.

Heralded as New York's most luxurious residence, One57 defines the ultimate in luxury living. Residents enjoy the unprecedented services of the flagship Park Hyatt located in the building through a separate fully attended lobby. With multilingual concierge services, health club with pool and spa, restaurant, library, screening room, pet wash room and attended parking, every whim will be expertly satisfied. Located steps from Central Park, Columbus Circle and Fifth Avenue, the location is unparalleled and offers the best in dining, shopping and entertainment.

One57, New York,

Billionaire's Row - New York

Billionaire's Row is a selection of ultra-luxury residential skyscrapers in Midtown Manhattan, with living spaces owned by some of the richest people on the planet. Some of these skyscrapers are still under construction, such as Central Park Tower, which will have the highest roof height of any building outside of Asia when completed, and 111 West 57th Street, with an astonishing width to height ratio of 1:24.

From left to right, the skyscrapers in this Lego model are: 220 Central Park South, Central Park Tower, One57, 111 West 57th Street, 53W53, 432 Park Avenue, 520 Park Avenue, and 252 East 57th Street.

THE $238 MILLION PENTHOUSE:  The new “gilded age”

The news media has been abuzz about the recent purchase of the most expensive home in America so far, a $238 penthouse at 220 Central Park South -- an area now called “Billionaires Row.”

Manhattan has seen dizzying prices for luxury high-rises in recent years. In 2012, a Russian oligarch bought a penthouse on Central Park West for $88 million. Then, in 2015, a mysterious buyer purchased a duplex penthouse atop One57 in Midtown for $100,471,452. 

Now hedge-fund financier Kenneth Griffin purchased the penthouse under construction on Central Park South for $238 million. Previously, the site was occupied by a nondescript 20-floor building full of rent-stabilized apartments. That building opened in 1954 and disappeared in 2013.

New York state law gives landlords the right to displace tenants of rent-stabilized apartments to demolish and redevelop a site. Residents received their first eviction notices in 2006. Tenant holdouts from the “Save Our Homes” Association eventually settled for undisclosed amounts.

New York City has a long history of redeveloping property for higher, more profitable uses. But this saga points to the growing crisis of affordable housing in the city as a result of such speculative ventures. 

At present, some 79,000 people are homeless in New York City. The city’s public housing authority struggles to maintain an aging complex of buildings, where repairs often take months or years to be completed. Still, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the waiting list for public housing.

Meanwhile, NYC Mayor de Blasio struggles to promote affordable housing in a city of such extremes of wealth and poverty. Truly, a tale of the new “gilded age.”

Manhattan skyscrapers

Anyone who says that money can't buy happiness has never shared a one-bedroom apartment with three other ramen-chomping millennials. They've never had to empty their bank account to replace a 30-day MetroCard that fell onto the subway tracks. And they've almost certainly never been forced to choose between eating and paying rent. But even though financial stability brings a certain level comfort and happiness, studies show that joy and elation peaks when people hit a certain level of income. A new study from Gallup and Time shows that the chances of experiencing positive emotions (happiness, enjoyment and smiling/laughter) increase with household income, but those chances reach a limit depending on where you live and how much you make. In the New York metropolitan area, Gallup found that residents reached peak happiness with an income of $105,000 per year. Any income made on top of that only serves to distract them from the fact that their life is insignificant and nothing they do with their time on Earth matters in the grand scheme of the universe. So if you find yourself wandering about the city at night, wondering why you haven't found joy in life, it could be because you're not raking in a six-figure income...