BED IN THE CLOUDS
High life at city’s tallest apt. bldg.
To get this view, you’d better have big bucks — and no vertigo.
The public was allowed a glimpse Tuesday of how the other half — or at least 1 percent — lives during a ceremony for the topping-out of the new skyscraper at 217 W. 57th St. dubbed Central Park Tower.
For a price that can reach $100 million, people who move into the 1,550foot colossus on Billionaire’s Row will be able to look down on the smaller Empire State Building — which is only 1,454-feet high at its tip — as if it were just a random office building.
During the ceremony held Tuesday morning in a bare, concrete-walled unit on the 107th floor — which is 24 stories from the top — Gary Barnett, president of the site’s co-developer Extell, hailed the achievement.
“It’s now the tallest residential building in the world,” he gushed. “It’s going to be the best building in the City of New York.”
It will also be the second tallest overall, behind only 1 World Trade Center.
Central Park Tower’s 179 two- to eight-bedroom apartments, which went on sale last fall, start in the $6.9 million price range.
The most expensive unit currently available is a five-bedroom on the 112th floor asking $63 million, while the priciest condos — such as a 15,898square-foot three-floor penthouse — may sell for more than $100 million, according to an Extell rep.
“There are spectacular views of Central Park everyone covets and wants,” Barnett said. “Nobody is blocking our views. The views are truly epic.”
Residents will have access to Central Park Club, a 50,000-square-foot facility on the 100th floor with amenities that include an outdoor terrace with a pool, a wellness center that has an indoor pool, and a ballroom and cigar bar.
The building is so tall that residential units don’t even start until the 32nd floor. Seven stories at the base will house New York City’s first Nordstrom store, set to open Oct. 24.
The current tallest residential building in New York City (and the world) is 432 Park Ave. at 1,396 feet — 154 feet shy of Central Park Tower.
World One in Mumbai, India, will trump 432 Park when complete, with a planned height of 1,450 feet, still shorter than Central Park Tower.
“We started this project about 15 years ago,” Barnett said. “It’s been a long road.”