StreetEasy Goes to the Top of 432 Park

The ever-changing Manhattan Skyline

(Source: Doc Searls via Flickr Creative Commons)

On a particularly hot summer afternoon this week, several members of the StreetEasy team ventured where few New Yorkers before them have gone and chances are where few New Yorkers after them will ever go. Unless that is they happen to have $90+ million to invest in real estate.

Yes, this week, we had the rare opportunity of going to the top of 432 Park Avenue, the 104-unit tower between 56th and 57th Streets in Midtown. At 1,396 feet and 96 stories, it is the tallest residential tower in the Western hemisphere and by some standards the tallest building in the city. One World Trade Center beats out 432 Park with its spire, but the actual building itself is shorter.

The view of 432 Park over the Queensboro Bridge

(source: Nick Normal via Flickr Creative Commons)

Technicalities aside, 432 Park is a sight to behold and has changed the city’s skyline. You can see its slender tower just about everywhere you go. From the bridges and the BQE, from the lawns of Central Park and from the city’s high points in Washington Heights and Prospect Heights, there it is – gleaming in all its multi-million dollar glory.

432 Park as seen from Sheepsmeadow in Central Park

(source: Shinya Suzuki via Flickr Creative Commons)

And while just about every New Yorker sees 432 Park at some point during their day, few actually get to see the reverse – that is, the view the building offers from its top, but a lucky few from our team did.

The group took the construction lift on the exterior of the building all the way up to the top. The ride to the top was slow (over ten minutes!) and jerky, involving the occasional and unexpected stomach-dropping downward jolt. Although the ride up felt more like the something from the Tower of Terror, as one StreetEasy team member joked/lamented, the vertigo-inducing ride was well worth it.

“The craziest part was stepping off of the lift and looking down the 6 inch gap between the lift and the building. You could see over 1,000 feet straight down.” says Billy LaPerch, an account manager at StreetEasy, “It made me dizzy for a second,” he admits.

“You seriously feel like you’re on top of the world.” says Michael Botefuhr, a sales manager at StreetEasy. “It’s hard to imagine waking up in the morning having spent $90 million and looking out the window at that view.”

Back in 2013, when the building was only 10 stories tall, the most-expensive penthouse sold for $95 million, as Botefuhr mentions, but there are still several penthouses available for those who seek them including a five-bedroom listed for a mere $76.5 million dollars and a six-bedroom listed for an even $82 million.

If you’re not quite sure the investment is worth it, scroll through the images below (taken by the StreetEasy team) to gauge the view. It’s quite impressive to say the least, but if it doesn’t meet your standards for eight-figure real estate, perhaps you better try condos over at One57, just down the block, where one penthouse sold for $100 million. It’s impossible to say which building has the better view, but if the StreetEasy team gets inside access to the top of One57 we’ll be sure to let you know!

See below for images from the top of 432 Park Avenue