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The blue-gray buildings in this graphic represent supertalls, and ordinary skyscrapers, either under construction or proposed for New York City. Notice the cluster just south of Central Park, in the area known as Billionaire’s Row. / Courtesy, CITYREALTY
Billionaire’s Row The towers just south of Central Park are supertall and eye popping, but as sales taper off, and as opposition to them grows, a hush envelopes the design community.
quashed. The bill, initiated by Mayor Bill de Blasio for affordable housing, would have uncapped the floor area ratio, or FAR, that regulates the bulk and density of buildings in New York City. According to New York Sen. Liz Krueger, the bill needs “further vetting and amending to remove the potential for unchecked growth in the neighborhoods already strained by new luxury developments and towers.” But a few of the supertalls are already finished, and a few more – including 111 West 57th Street, set to be one of the tallest in the Western Hemisphere – “There are a lot of powers at work here, and by powers, I mean money, collaborative opportunity, and politics … none of the large NYC firms want to touch this [story] – I can’t blame them.”
By RICHARD MASSEY Managing Editor
A t least publicly, no one in the design world re- ally wants to talk about Billionaire’s Row, the band of supertalls in various stages of development on and around 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. For all the ingenuity and expertise that went into these buildings – 432 Park Avenue, for example, is only 93 feet wide but an astounding 1,393 feet tall – they are not necessarily welcome additions to one of the world’s great skylines. Instead, they are polarizing, caught in a soften- ing market, and for many observers, nothing more than outsized, de facto safety deposit boxes for the international super rich. Rising from the ashes of the Great Recession, in an era of tight credit and big cash, Billionaire’s Row is a trend in New York real estate that many would like to see fizzle out.
Jonathan Miller, Presi- dent and CEO, Miller Samuel Inc.
Indeed, in June, New York Assembly Bill 7807 was
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