It’s been a decade since Alexico Group began work at 56 Leonard, but a new time-lapse video released by the developer speeds up construction of the Jenga-like tower to just over a minute.
Recorded between March 2014 and December 2016, when the bulk of construction was completed, the video solidifies comparisons between the Tribeca condominium and the block-stacking game by broadcasting the floor-by-floor rise of its 60 stories. About halfway through the video, with the full 821-foot frame in place, orange construction netting comes down to make way for sheaths of glass that comprise the tower’s floor-to-ceiling windows.
What the video doesn’t show is Alexico’s arduous road to completing the 145-unit condo, where construction started in 2008 only to stall during the financial crisis. The firm, led by Izak Senbahar, brought on Hines as a partner in 2013. That year, the partners landed construction financing led by Bank of America and were able to re-start construction and launch sales.
According to sources, an anonymous buyer just paid $29 million for Penthouse 59, a full-floor unit with 5,852-square feet and two terraces totaling 900 square feet. The deal, which still hasn’t hit public records, works out to around $4,955 per square foot, slightly down from an asking price of $31.5 million. Penthouse 60, asking $47 million, is in contract, according to StreetEasy.
Closings at 56 Leonard began last year, and Alexico recently unveiled the building’s high-end amenity space, a 17,000-square-foot suite with a 75-foot pool and indoor-and-outdoor movie theater.
Earlier this year, an anonymous buyer paid more than $56 million to combine two full-floor condos on the 53rd and 54th floors into a massive 11,892-square-foot spread.
Others who’ve purchased in the building include Leon Shaulov, a former portfolio manager at the now-defunct Galleon Group, who paid $26.8 million for a penthouse.
According to the developer, 56 Leonard is nearly sold out with just two units remaining, a half-floor penthouse asking $17.75 million and one-bedroom priced at $3.175 million. So far, the developer has closed on 120 out of 145 condos at the building, where sales are being handled by Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.
A two-story steel sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor is set to be installed at the tower’s base this fall.