240 Park Avenue South: Review and Ratings

Review of 240 Park Avenue South by Carter Horsley

The 17-story residential condominium building at 240 Park Avenue South on the northwest corner at 19^th Street was developed by Linjan Associates, of which Yitzchak Tessler is a principal. 

Gwathmey Siegel was the architect for the building, which was completed in 2009 and is notable for the rounded corner of its base. 

The building, which is also known as 49-55 East 19^th Street, has 51 apartments. 

Bottom Line

Spare the window and hang the art! 

"Unlike typical glass structures prevalent today," the 17-story residential condominium building at 240 Park Avenue South on the northwest corner at 19th Street was designed, according to one of its press releases, to have "wide spaces between windows that allow for displaying artwork and other decorative elements." 

Those were fighting, but quite sensible, words in the new apartment building construction market in which it was built where many projects had expansive and huge stretches of windows.

Description

"We wanted to create a high-profile building that would blend with the context of the Park Avenue South neighborhood," Charles Gwathmey, the building's architect, is quoted as stating in the press release that contained new details about the project, adding that "it is a contemporary version of a masonry building using pre-cast stone elements" and is highlighted by "distinctive, curved corner elements in glass." 

The building, which is convenient to Union Square Park, Gramercy Park and the Flatiron District, has a lobby with perforated leather walls, "milk glass wall accents and Pompignon limestone floors that are echoed throughout all public spaces."

Amenities

The building has 24-hour doorman and concierge service, an entertainment library suite with daily Continental breakfast, a landscaped terrace for outdoor entertainment and a 1,500-square-foot fitness center. 

The building has a swimming pool, a spa/sauna and fitness center, a group function room, and a library. 

It has no sidewalk landscaping, no garage and no balconies.

Apartments

Apartments have ceilings that range from 10 to 11 feet. One- to three-bedroom apartments range in size from about 805 to 2,700 square feet. There are two full-floor "penthouses" and the top floor penthouse offered "the rare and usual option of adding a private, free-form, roof-top swimming pool," according to the press release.

Kitchens will have Jet Mist granite countertops with aluminum frame kitchen cabinets with white opaque glass and under-cabinet halogen lighting, Sub-Zero refrigerators, Kuepperbusch cook tops with grill, built-in wall ovens, Miele dishwashers, and wine coolers. 

Bathrooms will have a Rositano carved stone sink, Dornbracht fixtures, cast iron tub, Toto water closet and statuary white marble tiled walls and Jet Mist granite floors. 

Penthouse B is a two-bedroom unit with a 21-foot-long living/dining room with a 13-foot-wide open kitchen with an island and a very long terrace. 

Apartment 15A is a three-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past an 21-foot-wide open kitchen with an island to a 35-foot-long living/dining room with a fireplace and the entrance to a very large terrace to wraps around the units east and south sides. 

Apartment 11A is a two-bedroom unit that has a 10-foot-wide entrance gallery that opens onto a 32-foot-long living/dining room with a very large curved bay window wall and a 13-foot-wide open kitchen with an island. 

Apartment 11B had an entry foyer that leads to a 23-foot-long living/dining room with a 14-foot-long pass-through kitchen.  The apartment also has a 14-foot-long den and two bedrooms. 

History

Mr. Tessler was a co-developer with Max Capital of the nearby conversion to residential condominiums of the two commercial buildings formerly owned by the United Federation of Teachers that are now known as 260 Park Avenue South. Mr. Tessler was also involved in the current conversion of the former Helmsley Windsor Hotel on the southeast corner of 58th Street and the Avenue of the Americas, a project on which Charles Gwathmey, the architect, worked.