How Gary Barnett assembled the Central Park Tower

A blow-by-blow account of Extell's 10-year, 11-deal odyssey

Gary Barnett Central Park Tower
From left: Gary Barnett and a rendering of the Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street in Midtown (rendering credit: New York YIMBY)

From the October Issue: “Our strength is assembling land,” Extell Development’s Gary Barnett told an Israeli TV station late last year as he gave a reporter a tour of his condo tower One57. “On that, we’re Number 1.”

It’s hard to deny the accuracy of Barnett’s assessment. While Barnett was chatting with that reporter, construction crews were clearing the site for his next supertall tower just one block west at 217 West 57th.

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That tower — which was unofficially known as Nordstrom Tower, but has now been officially dubbed Central Park Tower — will top out at 1,550 feet tall when it opens in 2019. [more]