One57 penthouse price raised from $98.5 million to $110 million

Extell Development has raised condominium apartment prices at One57, its 1,004-foot-tall mixed-use development at 157 West 57th Street that is under construction now and is already several stories higher than Jumeriah Essex House and Hampshire House on Central Park South just to the north across 58th Street.

The mixed use tower has been designed by Christian de Portzamparc, who designed the LVMH tower on East 57th Street and the Riverside Center complex south of Riverside South.

The tower will partially obstruct many of the Central Park vistas from offices at Carnegie Hall Tower and apartments in the upper portion of the mixed-use towers at Metropolitan Tower at 150 West 57th Street and CitySpire at 150 West 56th Street. One57 will be about 200 feet taller than these towers and will dramatically change the Central Park South skyline as can be seen in the rendering at the left.

According to an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal by Josh Barbanel, the sales price of a 6-bedroom, 10,923-square-foot penthouse at One57 has been raised by Extell 12 percent to $110 million, according to documents filed with the New York State Attorney General.

The article attributed the increase in the apartment's price to the recent sale by Sanford I. Weill, the former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup Inc., of his penthouse in the shorter building at 15 Central Park West for $88 million.

"Now some brokers say the Weill sale may give a jolt to an already strong high-end market. Extell is betting that other buyers are willing to pay many millions more than previously thought for a chance to live in the clouds above Central Park," the article continued.

While apartments whose views are somewhat compromised by the new tower may suffer somewhat in value, other apartments with great and unobstructed views of Central Park may very well benefit with higher values.

There is, of course, no accurate sliding rule to gauge such values because of the multitude of factors involved such as quality of construction, ceiling heights, amenities, location, elevator service, number of apartments and walking distance to world-class groceries and boutiques and cineplexes.

For some, even unobstructed vistas pale beside those with something interesting in the foreground to add both scale and drama to the view. One very, very famous architect built a country house for his mother with spectacular views but he erected a fence with a hole in it for viewing to better focus, psychologically, the outlook.