Carter's Review

Casa 74 is a 30-story, residential condominium building at 255 East 74^th Street on the northwest corner of Second Avenue. 

It has been developed by the World-Wide Holdings Corporation. 

H3 Architects, of which Hugh Hardy is a principal, and SLCE Architects designed the building, which has 87 apartments. 

Coffiner Ku Design did the interior design. 

It was completed in 2009. 

Victor Elmaleh, a well-known artist and squash player, is chairman of World-Wide, which involved in the development of another residential project on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and 57^th Street, has in recent years been involved in numerous residential conversion projects including the Steiner Building in Chelsea and 50 Murray Street, 53 Park Place, 88 Greenwich Street and 71 Broadway in Lower Manhattan and 137 Reade Street in TriBeCa.

Bottom Line

This handsome glass tower has a central Upper East Side location that is convenient to many restaurants and Lenox Hill Hospital and Sotheby’s, the auction house.

Description

The building is attractively clad in glass and metal panels and the shaft of its tower is nicely modulated with small angular “incisions." 

The lower floors have loft-like duplex units and several units will have “in-residence playrooms just for the kiddies.”  “These residences are custom designed for both empty nesters as well as growing families who need more space and crave a wide range of kid and adult-oriented amenities,” according to Richard Lebow, director of marketing and sales for the World-Wide Group. 

The building’s lobby has a white wall and its ceiling is divided by white line.

Amenities

The building will have a 24-hour doorman, valet/concierge services, cold storage, a live-in superintendent, a roof deck and a private outdoor garden. 

The building, which replaced several low-rise buildings that had popular restaurants, will have a 42,000-square-foot Equinox facility on the ground and second floors.  It will also have more than 2,400 square feet of facilities for “tots, tweens and teenagers, such as a toddler room with a cruising wall, a climbing tree house, a play zone for crafts and a reading area” and a game room “designed for tweens and teens will include an arcade with pin ball machines, extreme dance and basketball arcade games, as well as foosball, air hockey and table tennis” and a “1,500-square-foot outdoor ‘Tot Lot’ and indoor lounge, kitchenette and party room will also be available.”

Apartments

Lower floors have loft-like duplex one-bedroom apartments with den spaces. 

Above the 26^th floors, many units have fireplaces. 

Three penthouses have terraces. 

Apartments have Sub-Zero refrigerators and Miele appliances and 10-foot ceilings.  Baths have Toto toilets, frosted glass shower stalls, Crema Marfil marble floors and radiant heating in the master bath floors. 

The top floor will have three penthouses and a common roof deck.  

Apartment 3D has a 20-foot-long living room/sleeping area. 

Apartment 16C is three-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a 29-foot-long living/dining room with a 106-square-foot balcony, and 14-foot-long kitchen with a 10-foot-long breakfast nook. 

Apartment 19A is a four-bedroom unit with a long entrance foyer that leads to a 27-foot-long corner living/dining room next to a 12-foot-long kitchen with a 9-foot-long windowed breakfast nook. The apartment also has a 12-foot-long den. 

Apartment 7C is a three-bedroom unit with an 18-foot-long entrance gallery that leads past a 25-foot-long, enclosed, windowed, eat-in-kitchen to a 25-foot-long living/dining room that has a triangular east terrace as well as a 69-foot-long north-facing terrace.