277 Fifth Avenue from the northwest courtesy of FieldCondition
Over the past year, we’ve watched 277 Fifth Avenue quietly climb into the Manhattan skyline to take its place as the loftiest edifice in all of NoMad. The sales team has now announced that the 55-story building is now topped out, reaching its pinnacling height of 663 feet. Designed by Rafael Vinoly, the building presents a dapper, understated façade of striped masonry bands juxtaposed with full-height tinted windows. Though we admit the tower isn't very imaginative and its proportions somewhat awkward, a bit of dynamism is introduced through four open-air clerestories offering their buyers some of highest private outdoor spaces in Manhattan.
By Manhattan standards, 277 Fifth is not very tall — It’s less than half the height of Vinoly’s previous New York skyscraper, 432 Park — and is only the 79th tallest rooftop in the city and likely won't be in the top 100 in four years’ time. But its modest stature is made up for by its central Fifth Avenue location, poised between Midtown and downtown at the center of the island. Like the Empire State Building, its site lends it plenty of dignified isolation, granting its residents wide-angle views across the skyline and beyond.
In this article:
277 Fifth Avenue in the distance looking down West 29th Street (CityRealty)
To celebrate this new marker on the skyline and its topping out, the team allowed popular photoblogger Field Condition to venture inside its concrete frame to capture the much-ballyhooed views. To complement the fantastic photoset, here's a brief run-down of 277 Fifth Ave's history and also a look at what’s on tap for the residences and amenities still to come.
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2012
KRE led by Jon Kushner, cousin of Jared Kushner, in partnership with Ironstate Development acquired three buildings at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 30th Street with the hopes of erecting a 40-story high-end condo designed by HWKN Architects.
$99 million, or $750 per buildable square foot
According to the WSJ, in 2014 KRE and Ironstate agreed to sell the assemblage to Victor Group for $99 million, or $750 per buildable square foot — one of the highest rates paid for a residential site in Manhattan at the time. Victory Group, who opened the 20-story condo at 241 Fifth Avenue in 2013, later adds to the assemblage by acquiring 273 and 275 Fifth Avenue for $50.3 million
$400 million Project
In 2014, Crain's New York reports that construction firm Lend Lease had become a partner in the $400 million project. At the time, the 52-story building would have stood 705 feet tall with 141 condominiums units, and amenities spread across more than 260,000 square feet of space.
View looking south to downtown (Field Condition)
663 feet tall
The building is the second tallest on Fifth Avenue, one-foot shy of Trump Tower some 25 blocks north in Midtown. At just 67-feet-wide, its Fifth Avenue side the building has a slenderness ratio approaching 1:10, making it among the most slender towers in the city. The building is now the tallest in NoMad (for the time being) and in the general area, only the Metropolitan Life Tower and Ian Bruce Eichner's Madison Square Park Tower surpass its height.
(Field Condition)
Second NYC Tower by Rafael Viñoly
277 Fifth Avenue is the follow-up skyscraper of the hard-to-miss supertower 432 Park Avenue. While less than half the height of its lofty big sister, 277 Fifth employs a similar perimeter tube structural system that allows for open and flexible layouts. Floor-heights increase as the building rises and there will generally be two to four homes per floor with exception to the eighth, 49th and 50th stories that are grand floor-throughs. The tower will also be crowned by three penthouses with ceiling heights of more than 13 feet high.
(Field Condition)
View west (Field Condition)
Four Loggias
While much of the exterior maintains a staid and dapper striped façade, a quartet of double-height, open-air loggias are carved out of the building’s corners, “spiraling downward around the building from upper floors.” Vinoly says, “They are an interesting typology of open space and terracing that has not been seriously explored before.”
$2,700 a Foot
Sales prices in the building average around $2,700 a foot. Currently, there are nine spreads listed where 848-square-foot one-bedrooms are priced from $1.925 million, 1,343-square-foot two-bedrooms from $2.87 million, and a 2,333-square-foot three-bedroom is listed for $9.2 million. Interiors will be finished in warm, natural materials, and its distinctive perimeter columns provide ample wall space for displaying art.
Open kitchens have Calacatta Saccheli polished marble slab center islands, countertops, and backsplash, a full suite of Miele appliances and cabinets are finished in pale-oak with upper cabinets provided in two options. Master baths have full height San Nicola marble walls, heated Bianco Dolomiti marble flooring, walnut cabinets with Bianco Dolomiti marble slab countertop.
Open kitchens have Calacatta Saccheli polished marble slab center islands, countertops, and backsplash, a full suite of Miele appliances and cabinets are finished in pale-oak with upper cabinets provided in two options. Master baths have full height San Nicola marble walls, heated Bianco Dolomiti marble flooring, walnut cabinets with Bianco Dolomiti marble slab countertop.
(Field Condition)
Two floors of amenities
Spanning two floors, 277 Fifth’s suite of amenities are designed by acclaimed residential and hospitality designers Jeffrey Beers International. Included is a lobby library with aa double-height bookcase wall, an entertainment suite featuring a bar and private dining room with catering pantry, a fitness club opening onto the furnished Fifth Avenue Terrace, a games lounge, and a kids' club.
(FieldCondition)
Would you like to tour any of these properties?
New Developments Editor
Ondel Hylton
Ondel is a lifelong New Yorker and comprehensive assessor of the city's dynamic urban landscape.
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