Carter's Review

This stepped-plan condominium tower at 235 East 40^th Street between Third and Second avenues is tucked away rather discreetly despite its large size. 

A 40-story tower with 370 apartments, it offers a location that is very convenient to the Grand Central district and is the best situated in terms of convenience and proximity to Midtown compared to the cluster of "full-service" high-rise apartment towers that sprang up around the Manhattan entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. 

It was designed by Frank Williams & Associates for William Zeckendorf, Worldwide Realty, and Ernest S. Alson and completed in 1986. It is not pet-friendly.

The building offers a parking garage with direct elevator access, a central laundry room, and a complimentary Health Club featuring a double-level gym overlooking a 70-foot swimming pool, a whirlpool Jacuzzi, multiple sauna rooms, a racquetball/half-basketball court, and a recreational area. 

Bottom Line

A through-block high-rise with many wrap-around balconies and corner windows, the Vanderbilt is set back in a quite handsome plaza on 40^th Street and rises like a giant megazipper to the glories of the city’s skyline. 

It is convenient to not only Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler Building, but also the Ford Foundation, Tudor City and the United Nations.

Description

The building has about 10 apartments per floor and a very lush and large landscaped plaza with attractive 8-globe light stanchions on 40^th Street. 

Many of the apartments on the south side of the building have balconies or corner windows.

Amenities

The building has a health club with a 75-foot-long swimming pool, sauna and Jacuzzi, a half-size basketball court, a squash court and table tennis. The pet-friendly building also has 24-hour doormen and concierges, a live-in superintendent, a garage that be accessed from within the building and a package room. 

The building, which is also known as 240 East 41^st Street, has a through-block driveway.

Apartments

Some apartments have high ceilings. 

The Vanderbilt has some studio apartments with 7-foot-long enclosed kitchens and a 15-foot-wide living space. 

Apartment 33F is a one-bedroom unit with a 10-foot-long entry foyer, an 8-foot-wide enclosed kitchen and a 19-foot-long living room. 

Apartment 29A is a two-bedroom unit with a 22-foot-long entrance gallery that leads pasts a 12-foot-wide, pass-through kitchen to a 20-foot-living room with sliding doors to a wrap-around balcony and is adjacent to a 17-foot-wide dining room.