The Platinum, 247 West 46th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 247 West 46th Street by Carter Horsley

The Platinum is a very sleek, 42-story, 220-unit residential condominium tower at 247 West 46^th Street at Eighth Avenue that was completed in 2008 and was the first project to use transferable air-rights created in the Theater District in 1988.

It was designed by Costas Kondylis & Partners for SJP Residential Properties of Parsippany, N.J., of which Stephen J. Pozycki and Allen F. Goldman are principals.

It is notable for its reflective-glass façades with “abs,” a distinctive way of adding a few balconies in the middle of the tower.

Bottom Line

This very handsome tower significantly upgraded the Eighth Avenue corridor in the Theater District and is very convenient to many restaurants and public transportation.

Description

This tower has a very stunning and impressive reflective glass façade highlight by "abs" that bulge slightly from the middle of a few floors about two-thirds of the way up the tower.

The lobby has a 26-foot-long fireplace and a moat of moving water and plasma screens that play “mood-enhancing” videos.

Amenities

The building has a 24/7 doorman and concierge service, a roof deck, a garage, and private storage.

The building also has a full floor dedicated to amenities known as “The Zone.”  It includes the Recovery Zone, a Fitness Center, indoor/outdoor Yoga studios, spa treatment rooms, a waterfall, a golf simulation room and there is the Social Sauna and landscaped terrace with a stone fireplace.

The building, which is pet friendly with an outdoor secure dog run, has card-access security systems.

Apartments

Apartments have floor-to-ceiling windows.

Bathrooms have free-standing soaking tubs and Dornbracht and TOTO fixtures and limestone walls and flooring.

Kitchens have 24-bottle wine refrigerators, Bosch washers and dryers, and Thermador stainless steel appliances.

Apartment 304 is long entrance foyer that leads to a large living area with an open kitchen.

Apartment 303 is a two-bedroom unit that has a entry foyer that leads diagonally to a 23-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen with an island.

Apartment 3701 is a three-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long living and an 18-foot-long dining room adjacent to an open kitchen and an enclosed butler’s pantry.

History

The building’s site was formerly occupied by McHale’s Restaurant, a popular Theater District hangout.

The developer initially planned a 38-story tower but sought and got a zoning text change to permit the transfer of air rights from the St. James Theater on 47^th Street to enlarge the building by several floors.  As part of the special district’s air-rights transfer requirements, the developer has to contribute $10 a square foot of transferred air rights to a special theater district fund and also provide about 3,500 square feet of office space on Eighth Avenue  at below-market rents for use by a few small theatrical companies.

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the additional transfer of air rights from the Al Hirschfeld Theater (formerly the Martin Beck Theater) on West 45^th Street and the Brooks Atkinson Theater on West 47^th Street to this site, which is also known as 750 Eighth Avenue.

The Martin Beck Theater opened in 1924.  In 1934, Katherine Cornell and Basil Rathbone starred in “Romeo and Juliet” there and the next year Burgess Meredith appeared in “Winterset.”  In 1940, Paul Lukas starred in “Watch on the Rhine” and two years later Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine starred in “The Pirate.”  In 1946, the theater hosted “The Iceman Cometh,” and in 1948 Robert Morley starred in “Edward My Son.”  Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach performed in “The Rose Tattoo” in 1951,  The next year, David Wayne and John Forsythe starred in “The Teahouse of the August Moon” and in 1956 Charles Laughton directed himself and Cornelia Otis Skinner in “Major Barbara” and in 1959 Paul Newman, Geraldine Page and Bruce Dern performed in “Sweet Bird of Youth” and in 1965 Glenda Jackson was the star of “The Persecution and Prosecution of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.”

SJP Properties also developed a condominium apartment building at 45 Park Avenue and an office building on the southeast corner of 42^nd Street and Eighth Avenue.