Bring on the sales at 220 Central Park South!
Vornado Realty Trust’s long-delayed luxury condominium got the green light on Wednesday from the New York Attorney General’s office, The Real Deal has learned. The Robert A.M. Stern-designed building will have a total of 118 units, split between a 69-story limestone tower and an adjacent 14-story villa.
But while the offering plan reviewed by TRD describes a sellout of $2.4 billion, the plan does not include six penthouse units that sources familiar with the project said will be the priciest in the building. The most expensive penthouse, sources said, will ask between $150 million and $175 million.
Vornado “has not yet determined the Purchase Prices for the Designated Units,” the offering plan states. “At such time that the Purchase Prices are finalized, the Sponsor will file a price change amendment reflecting same and offering the Designated Units for sale.”
The floor plan for Penthouse 76 at 220 Park South (Click to enlarge | Credit: E.B. Solomont)
Of the units that are listed on the plan, the average price per square foot is $7,374. Condos in the tower portion of the building, which has 83 units, start at $11.95 million for a two-bedroom unit that measures just under 2,400 square feet. In the villa portion, which has 10 units, prices start at $32 million for a three-bedroom home measuring just under 4,000 square feet.
The building’s priciest condo currently on offer, is a 49th-floor, 6,591-square-foot pad asking $60 million. A duplex on the 50th and 51st floors, which is one of the mystery units not yet on offer, will measure 11,090 square feet with an 812-square-foot terrace. Brokers active in the area speculated it could ask north of $10,000 per square foot, or more than $110 million.
Vornado tapped Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group to handle sales, according to the offering plan. In addition to Stern’s building design, the architect of record is SLCE Architects. Rose Associates is the managing agent for the property.
Representatives for Vornado didn’t respond to requests for comment by press time.
The floor plan for the 50th floor unit at 220 Central Park South (Click to enlarge | Credit: E.B. Solomont)
Building amenities include wine cellars, a fitness center, swimming pool and a residents’ dining room. Some units will have wood or natural gas-burning fireplaces.
Vornado is also selling licenses for 67 storage units, 44 wine cellar units and 24 parking spaces, according to the offering plan.
Storage units start at $111,000 for 44 square feet and go up to $211,000 for 84 square feet. Wine cellars start at $133,000 for 38 square feet and go up to $287,000 for a more expansive 82 square feet. Parking spaces will cost $750,000 a pop.
Buyers will also be able to purchase 25 “suite units” that range from 388 square feet to 1,449 square feet. Prices for these units weren’t disclosed on the offering plan. Unit 18C, a 1,340-square-foot condo with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, is reserved for the building’s resident manager, and will be sold to the condo board for $5.3 million.
The floor plan for the 49th floor unit at 220 Central Park South (Click to enlarge | Credit: E.B. Solomont)
The offering plan is perhaps the most anticipated one in years, and some well-heeled buyers have been shunning Extell Development’s One57 and Macklowe Properties’ 432 Park Avenue, in anticipation of Vornado’s tower, brokers said.
Vornado paid $131.5 million for the property back in 2005 and subsequently agreed to buy out the property’s rent-regulated tenants for $40 million. In 2012, the REIT applied to demolish the existing buildings in order to construct a new, 920-foot tower.
But that’s when Vornado encountered the bigger obstacle. Gary Barnett’s Extell, which is developing a mixed-use tower at a neighboring site at 225 West 57th Street, refused to end its lease for the parking garage beneath 220 Central Park South.
The developers ultimately buried the hatchet in October 2013, when Vornado announced it completed assembling the land and air rights with the $194 million purchase of 137,000 buildable square feet. Extell said it sold Vornado the lot and development rights at 225 West 58th Street. By May 2014, excavation work for 220 Central Park South was underway.
The cost of the project will be about $1 billion, according to a Vornado earnings report. Last year, the REIT secured a $600 million loan from Bank of China, as well as a $500 million mezzanine loan to cover development costs.
The city’s priciest upcoming listing is a $150 million penthouse at the Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity’s 550 Madison Avenue, also known as the Sony Building. The city’s priciest closed sale is a $100.5 penthouse at Extell Development’s One57.