Apartments on Central Park South still have a prestigious address, and it’s often reflected in multi-million-dollar prices.
While bookended by the gleaming new Time Warner Center on the west and the newly renovated Plaza Hotel on the east, many of the buildings on Central Park South date back to the 1960s and do not offer the latest amenities. Compared to new construction, some of those Central Park South apartments also have dated décor and layouts.
A survey of apartments on the south end of the park includes many units that brokers might market as “easy to renovate,” rather than “ready to move into.”
Certainly, grand-scale renovations are probably in store for prospective buyers of Leona Helmsley’s 1971 Park Lane Hotel, now selling for $800 million. But except for the Ritz-Carlton and the Jumeirah Essex House, both renovated in the last few years, many Central Park South buildings have not had recent makeovers.
Still, brokers said that units on the stretch are competing well with the newer luxury apartment buildings because they offer something different. Prospective buyers noted that the age of a building is secondary to its proximity to the park and the Theater District. The location, they said, is worth walking to a gym and knocking down a wall or two. For their part, brokers noted that many individual units are renovated.
At a recent open house at 200 Central Park South and Seventh Avenue, a 14th-floor co-op apartment was on
the market for $1.29 million with monthly maintenance of $1,474.
The 35-story building, which was built in 1963, has a lobby that was renovated just a few years ago, three elevator men, a doorman and a concierge. But the apartment itself was a contender for some upgrades.
“Many of these walls can come down,” said broker Anne Graber of Prudential Douglas Elliman. “These walls aren’t load-bearing and would open the place up.”
The bright one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom
unit measured 1,100 square feet. It had a small kitchen with older appliances, and a 200-square-foot terrace that faces east.
Graber said the unit — which has floor-to-ceiling windows facing east and views of the southern tip of the park and the very ornate Alwyn Court building — had been on the market for less than two months.
One woman was there looking for a place to move into with her husband.
Note: Correction appended.
The woman, an opera singer from London who has been in the United States for about three years, said one of her friends has an apartment in the same building on the eighth floor.
“I am living in a small apartment right near here
on Central Park South and Sixth Avenue,” she said. “My
husband and I want a bigger place, and this is a nice size
for a couple. Also, we like to be near Lincoln Center and the park. It gives us privacy.”
Also at the open house was Howard Stark, a doctor based in Georgetown who said he also owned property in South Beach, Fla. Stark and his partner, Rene Rodriguez, an architect, said they would replace the windows.
“Newer windows would block out the sound,” said Stark, 53, who used to live in New York City. He added, “We visit throughout the year, and we need a place in Manhattan. We want to be near all the activities like Lincoln Center and the Theater District.”
Stark said he wasn’t interested in living in luxury apartment towers offering white glove services and amenities.
“I think they even have too many elevator men in this building,” he said about 200 Central Park South.
For his part, Rodriguez was thinking about which walls to tear down to open the apartment up.
“We’re used to doing construction,” he said. “We renovated our Florida apartment and it didn’t work, so we tore it down and started over.”
Rog Tarie, who is in the import/export business and lives on 56th Street in a rental, was also at 200 Central Park South looking to buy.
He asked Graber if the co-op board was strict about making changes to the apartments. “This is a good location, and I like the neighborhood,” he said. “But the apartment needs a lot of work.”
Graber assured him the board was reasonable about such matters.
Nancy Candib, senior vice president and managing director at Brown Harris Stevens, is selling a 2,800-square-foot penthouse at the newly renovated Essex House at 160 Central Park South that needs some updating. The duplex, with park views from all the major rooms, “is selling for $9.5 million, and [in new construction] you can’t get near what this apartment has to offer for the price,” Candib said, comparing it to a 2,300-square-foot apartment at 15 Central Park West — which is “in a brand new building and is selling for $14 million.”
Candib said her clients have no problem considering a building without the latest bells and whistles. “I can get people past having a gym. They can go to the Equinox at the Time Warner Building, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel or the Essex House [hotel]. If they want glitzy, they pay double.”
Even considering the amenity differentials, the older buildings, she said, “because of the space and the views, are much better values.”
At 116 Central Park South, a third-floor condo with monthly maintenance of $740 was on the market for $899,000.
The unit, located in an 18-floor building constructed in 1962, was just over 600 square feet, with a large private
terrace that spanned another 300 square feet. Ready Group broker Janet Resino said the apartment had been on the market for about three weeks.
Off the “L-shaped” living and dining area, a double
bed just fit into a small curtained alcove. This was
adjacent to a combination dressing room and closet and adjoining bathroom.
“This apartment is really a loft, not a studio. It can be made into a junior one,” said Resino, noting that the
current tenant renovated the apartment four years ago when she moved in.
The kitchen, which included a stainless-steel Miele dishwasher and a Sub-Zero refrigerator, has a pass-thru out to the living room and dining room.
Anthony Surratt, who is moving to New York from Atlanta, was on hand checking it out.
Surratt, 40, said he wanted an apartment close to his job at Century Cable in the Time Warner Center. He was joined by his partner, Todd Harrington, 45, who is in nursing school.
“We have two dogs, and we want to be near the park,” said Surratt. Harrington said they preferred an older building without fancy amenities. “We can get things like a health club somewhere else,” he said.
Resino said there was a small gym in the basement along with a laundry room and a bike storage room.
Meanwhile, a luxury co-op at 210 Central Park South
was on the market for $2.4 million — a price drop of $200,000 — with monthly maintenance of $2,034. A few weeks after this open house, the price was dropped again to $2.35 million.
The two-bedroom, two-bath unit had major renovations 10 years ago, when the current owner turned the second bedroom into a dining room/library.
The kitchen includes granite countertops and custom mahogany cabinetry; most of the floors in the unit are cherry wood. The views from both the north and south sides of the apartment overlook the park and the Manhattan skyline.
“This is not really a residential area,” said Sotheby’s agent Reginald Fairchild, who was hosting the open house. “It’s really for tourists who want a pied-à-terre.”
Traffic to see the apartment was light. Fairchild said most people viewing an apartment this exclusive wanted private appointments.
The building had recently made many capital improvements, such as re-pointing the exterior and adding a
courtyard. There is a 24-hour doorman, elevator attendant and garage.
Fairchild said the value of the apartments would go up because the building next door, 220 Central Park South, was being torn down and a new tower was going up with a circular driveway.
“That means that the west side of this building will open up, and people can put in more windows,” he said. “It will change this building dramatically, and it will be worth much more: about $5,000 to $6,000 per square foot.”