The United Nations Secretariat
building is visible from every floor of 50 UN Plaza, Arthur and
William Lie Zeckendorf’s latest Manhattan luxury-condominium
project. It’s also a potential source of buyers.
The development, a 44-story tower under construction on
First Avenue near 46th street, will be the Turtle Bay
neighborhood’s first new residential project in a dozen years
and is poised to set price records for the area. It’s located
across the street from the UN, which is built on land assembled
by the Zeckendorfs’ grandfather more than half a century ago.
“If you’re a UN ambassador posted here, you can’t get a
better location than this,” said Arthur Zeckendorf, standing in
a hard hat on what will be the 19th floor of the condo building.
The project is a departure for the Zeckendorf brothers,
whose dual limestone towers at 15 Central Park West set the
standard for trophy apartments favored by Wall Street bankers
and the rest of Manhattan’s local elite. At 50 UN Plaza, they
are seeking to lure some of the wealthy buyers from around the
world who are fueling demand and price increases at towers such
as One57 and 432 Park Ave.
The latest project’s look also will be different, trading
the signature style of Robert A.M. Stern — the New York
architect who designed 15 Central Park West and the Zeckendorfs’
18 Gramercy Park — for stainless steel and glass. For 50 UN
Plaza, the developers turned to Foster + Partners, the London-based firm run by Norman Foster, whose credits include the UK
capital’s city hall, Singapore’s Supreme Court and a terminal at
Beijing Airport that’s among the world’s biggest buildings. The
firm is also designing Bloomberg LP’s European headquarters in
London.
International Style
“It was definitely a decision to do a very modern,
international-style building, whereas 15 Central Park West and
18 Gramercy are Stern-designed, traditional Park Avenue, Fifth
Avenue-type buildings,” said Arthur Zeckendorf, 53. “That was
a major decision point: How to design the outside to appeal to
your buyer.”
On the exterior, bay windows are stacked on top of one
other, threaded together by a horizontal grid of stainless steel
and forming three columns that run the length of the building.
“Highly reflective” fritted, or textured, glass panels run
vertically between the bays, giving the tower a jewel-like
appearance, William Zeckendorf, 54, said during a tour of the
site in April.
The windows offer residents the “perfect architectural
angle” for viewing the UN Secretariat, his brother said as he
stood at the edge of one of the bay protrusions, shielded at the
time only by orange netting.
Five Bedrooms
The tower is Foster + Partners’ first residential project
in the U.S., William said.
Zeckendorf Development Co.’s plans call for 88 apartments,
with prices starting at $2.8 million for a one-bedroom unit,
according to documents filed with New York State Attorney
General Eric Schneiderman’s office, which reviews the details of
condominium projects. Two-bedroom units range from $3.6 million
to $9.4 million.
A 9,700-square-foot (900-square-meter) duplex penthouse
spanning the 43rd and 44th floors will be listed for $55
million. The property includes five bedrooms, two of which abut
the kitchen and are designed for staff, as well as a pool and
terrace on the top floor, according to preliminary plans.
Sales will begin in the third quarter, the developers said.
Price Records
As the Turtle Bay neighborhood’s first new residential
project since Trump World Tower was completed in 2001, 50 UN
Plaza would set price records in the area, with all deals
probably falling within the top 10 percent for Manhattan, said
Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based appraiser Miller
Samuel Inc.
The Zeckendorfs’ marketing is unique because “the other
buildings all seem to be downplaying international buyers,”
Miller said. “For them to say it, and embrace it, makes it
somewhat different.”
The project is a return to family roots for the
Zeckendorfs. Their paternal grandfather, William Sr., assembled
the land on which the UN complex was constructed with intentions
to build a Rockefeller Center-style “city within a city”
including an opera house, hotel, apartments and a convention
hall on an elevated platform, according to “Capital of the
World: The Race to Host the United Nations,” by Charlene Mires.
Their maternal grandfather, Trygve Lie, was the first UN
secretary general, from 1946 to 1952.
“They’d be very proud, very excited that we’re creating a
great building to go with what they created,” Arthur said.
City ‘Oasis’
The entrance to 50 UN Plaza’s 6,000-square-foot-lobby,
currently a tangle of cinderblocks, will feature a waterfall
that will cost as much as $1 million to design and construct,
William said.
“Fire and water are the elements of life,” Arthur said.
“You come in from the city and it’s an oasis.”
The developers are in talks with a “top restaurant
operator” to occupy a 2,000-square-foot venue at the base of
the tower, with an open-air terrace facing the UN. The
restaurant would provide room service and a private dining area
for residents, William said.
The Zeckendorfs are seeking to build “a perfect project”
as buyers have been paying unprecedented prices for New York
trophy condos. The current record for the most expensive
residence in Manhattan was set at 15 Central Park West in
February 2012, when former Citigroup Inc. Chairman Sanford Weill
sold his full-floor penthouse for $88 million. The apartment was
purchased for the daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.
One57 Penthouses
That benchmark is set to be topped next year when deals for
two penthouses at One57 are completed. Both units are under
contract for more than $90 million, according to Extell
Development Co., which is constructing the 90-story tower. Bill Ackman, the New York hedge-fund manager who founded Pershing
Square Capital Management LP, is part of an investment group
that purchased one of the apartments.
At 432 Park Ave., which Harry Macklowe and CIM Group are
building, buyers have come from around the world, including
South America, the Middle East, China and Russia, the developers
said. The tower is slated for completion in 2015.
New York is No. 1 on a list of “cities that matter” to
high-net-worth individuals, according to the 2013 “Wealth
Report” by Knight Frank LLP, a London-based real estate
consulting firm. The city’s real estate has come “to epitomize
the so-called safe-haven market, with overseas buyers looking to
escape currency, economic, political and security crises by
putting equity into tangible assets,” according to the report.
Reviving Projects
New York’s appeal to global investors has been helped by
the “growing availability of high-quality new-build
developments,” according to Knight Frank. “This contrasts with
the dearth of stock in the years after the financial crisis.”
Proposals for new Manhattan condos plunged 79 percent in
2009 from the prior year as developers waited for a glut of new
and unsold units to clear the market following the recession.
Builders revived projects in 2011, filing plans to to sell 2,267
new condos in the borough, more than the previous two years
combined, according to the attorney general’s office. They added
plans for 1,695 units in 2012.
The Zeckendorfs acquired the 50 UN Plaza site in 2007 for
$152 million and delayed plans for development as credit markets
began to freeze later that year. They revived the project in
December, obtaining a $280 million loan from HSBC Holdings Plc.
Israeli financier Eyal Ofer is also backing the project.
Gramercy Park
Builders throughout Manhattan have been raising prices on
their unbuilt condos as demand intensifies. At the Zeckendorfs’
almost-completed 18 Gramercy Park, for example, the combined
value of all units for sale climbed 5 percent since they went on
the market in May 2012, documents filed with the attorney
general show. A 4,500-square-foot second-floor apartment
originally listed for $15.5 million was increased to $16.2
million a few months later.
Closings began last month at the building, where the
residential units have at least four bedrooms. Owners will get a
key to the private, gated Gramercy Park and must pay $6,000 a
year to the trust that holds title to it. Other amenities
include a pet grooming area and artwork in the lobby by Damien Hirst, according to the offering plan.
As of June 3, half of the 16 condos were under contract to
be sold, including the penthouse for $42 million, developers
said. None of the buyers so far are from outside the U.S.
Uptown, at the UN site, the Zeckendorfs see interest coming
not just from overseas but from across the street. Standing in
their not-yet-finished project, Arthur looked north to Trump
World Tower at 845 UN Plaza, and the twin cooperative buildings
that his grandfather conceived at 860 and 870 UN Plaza.
“There will be some buyers from all of them,” he said.
“We want to be the trade-up building in any given submarket.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Oshrat Carmiel in New York at
ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kara Wetzel at
kwetzel@bloomberg.net
Manhattan’s Zeckendorfs Embrace Global Buyers With New UN Condos
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
The 50 UN Plaza building stands under construction in New York during April 2013.
The 50 UN Plaza building stands under construction in New York during April 2013. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
June 6 (Bloomberg) — Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, the developers of Manhattan’s 15 Central Park West luxury condominium building, discuss their 50 UN Plaza development, a 44-story tower under construction on First Avenue near 46th street. The iconic UN Secretariat building is visible from every floor.
The brothers also discuss their family’s connections to the UN Secretariat and their decision to hire Foster + Partners, Ltd. to design 50 UN Plaza. (Source: Bloomberg)
William Lie Zeckendorf Arthur Zeckendorf
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
William Lie Zeckendorf, co-chairman of real estate firm Terra Holdings LLC, left, and Arthur Zeckendorf, co-chairman of Brown Harris Stevens Inc., walk through the 50 UN Plaza apartment building under construction in New York.
William Lie Zeckendorf, co-chairman of real estate firm Terra Holdings LLC, left, and Arthur Zeckendorf, co-chairman of Brown Harris Stevens Inc., walk through the 50 UN Plaza apartment building under construction in New York. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
Manhattan’s Zeckendorfs Embrace Global Buyers With New UN Condos
Foster + Partners via Bloomberg
The exterior’s stainless steel and “highly reflective” fritted, or textured, glass give the tower a jewel-like appearance, Co-Chairman of Terra Holdings LLC William Lie Zeckendorf said during a tour of the site in April.
The exterior’s stainless steel and “highly reflective” fritted, or textured, glass give the tower a jewel-like appearance, Co-Chairman of Terra Holdings LLC William Lie Zeckendorf said during a tour of the site in April. Source: Foster + Partners via Bloomberg
William Lie Zeckendorf Arthur Zeckendorf
Scott Eells/Bloomberg
William Lie Zeckendorf, co-chairman of real estate firm Terra Holdings LLC, left, and Arthur Zeckendorf, co-chairman of Brown Harris Stevens Inc., stand for a photograph in New York.
William Lie Zeckendorf, co-chairman of real estate firm Terra Holdings LLC, left, and Arthur Zeckendorf, co-chairman of Brown Harris Stevens Inc., stand for a photograph in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
NYC"s Zeckendorfs Embrace Global Buyers With UN Condos
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