The New Poshest Street in New York

With its cloud-piercing super high-rises and equally stratospheric sales prices, 57th Street — a.k.a. “Billionaires’ Row” — has become one of New York’s most buzzed-about residential spots.

Just a few blocks south, though, another Midtown thoroughfare is also making its mark.

Fifty-third Street might not be as heavily hyped as its cousin to the north, but with more than half a dozen buildings and over 1,000 new units slated to arrive in the next two years, the stretch qualifies as its own kind of boomlet.

And while 57th is famously aimed at the nine-zero set, 53rd offers access to many of the same amenities but at considerably more modest prices. Millionaires’ row, anyone?

“It’s a terrific value for the area,” says Douglas Elliman broker Reid Price, who represents HFZ Capital’s 252-unit condo building Fifty Third and Eighth, where one-bedrooms start at $975,000 and three-bedrooms are available for under $2 million.

“You look at the pricing of [57th Street buildings] 432 Park and One57 and they are so vastly more expensive,” he says. “But [on 53rd] you are just a few blocks away from those sites and Central Park. We have the bells and whistles like a doorman, concierge, fitness center, lounge area. So people can spend $1 million or $2 million and still have a really nice one- or two- or three-bedroom.”

“You’re close to all the [Midtown] tourist destinations, the shopping, and the venues, but at a much lower price point,” agreed Janice Chang, also of Douglas Elliman, who represents 135W52, a 109-unit condo building from the Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity (prices from $1.5 million to $15 million), tucked between 52nd and 53rd.

Which is not to say the street doesn’t have its glitzier elements. Take, for instance, the Baccarat Hotel & Residences at 20 W. 53rd. Condos at the 60-unit building start at $5.15 million for a one-bedroom and go up to $60 million for the five-bedroom, 7,381-square-foot penthouse.

And then there is the corridor’s arguable epicenter, the much-anticipated, Jean Nouvel-designed 53W53. One of the first of the Midtown super high-rises, the 1,050-foot condo tower features 139 units priced from $3.17 million to more than $70 million.

The building’s amenities include a 17,000-square-foot wellness center with vertical gardens by botanist Patrick Blanc and in-home private dining provided by an onsite restaurant. Additionally, each of the Thierry Despont-designed apartments comes with a Benefactor membership to the nearby Museum of Modern Art, which is adding three new galleries on the building’s second, fourth and fifth floors.

Particularly between Sixth and Lexington avenues, MoMA serves as a key anchor for 53rd Street’s development, said Corcoran’s Hayim Nommaz, adding that between 53W53 and the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed Baccarat, the “corridor is quickly becoming an architectural force to be reckoned with.”

Read More….http://nypost.com/2015/10/21/the-new-poshest-street-in-new-york/

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