Is 15 Central Park West New York's Most Expensive Building?

Is 15 Central Park West New York's Most Expensive Building?

Whether its ambition or recession that set the pace for the steady rise of prices per square foot, it would be too difficult to find 15 Central Park West a competition for the title “the most expensive building in New York”.

With 85,000 panels covering 290,000 square feet of Indiana Limestone gleaming beneath the sun on the building's facade and soaring ceilings, carvings and expansive windows from the inside, who could possibly resist a room in either of the two highly esteemed buildings of Manhattan? Well, probably those who could not afford it. But for the rich and famous, the mighty and notorious who feel they have had their fair share of the bitter pill and the battles that make up the first half of an individual’s life, an eight digit pent house would be deemed much deserved and fitting.

Moreover, as if the impeccable interior were not enough, 15 Central Park West offers the rustle and bustle of the city while giving moderate doses of stunningly vibrant colors and sunshine through a 360-degree view of New York Central Park.

The construction of the said building began in 2006, spearheaded by developers Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf and architect Robert A.M. Stern. They began by deciding what materials would fit their vision of the place.  And because limestone was used in the most important buildings, like for example the Empire State, they chose the Indiana limestone for its unique white color which, at times, would seem a pale shade of grey. Limestone also matches, even accentuates other building materials like glass and metal. Hence the long and dreary travel of each block began from their quarry to a new home in Manhattan.

From an apartment at 25 Central Park West, another glorious Central Park coop, a woman watched from their balcony as construction began on 15 Central Park West. “We watched every stone go up,” she said. Her name is Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, a co-founder of Vera Bradley, a label of hand bags in vibrant colors valued at $1B. Last November, she moved from her apartment at 25 Central Park West into a $17M corner apartment in “the house”, the smaller of the two 15 Central Park West buildings. 

In 2007, 15 Central Park West opened, offering an average of $2,500 per square feet. Within months of combined ego and recession, prices went up to at least $4,500 per square feet. As of the latest wave of insanity, around $7,000 per square feet when Sanford Weill put their 6,744-square-foot pent house in the market and sold for $88M, which is almost twice the amount they put out for it in 2007.

When 15 Central Park West opened in 2007, the titans of finance and celebrities were quickly enchanted into choosing the residence as a temple of sorts. Building residents included Denzel Washington, Sting, Norman Lear, Bob Costas and Daniel Loeb. When the net worth of the building’s residents was computed in 2009, it came to a shocking $50B.

So, who’s to say 15 Central Park West is not, in fact and undeniably, New York’s most expensive building?