Extell Development and the Carlyle Group paid about $1.8 billion to acquire 20 acres between 59th and 65th Streets from Donald Trump and a consortium of investors from Hong Kong who have been developing properties to the north along Riverside Boulevard that ends at 72nd Street.

Extell and Carlyle are expected to erect a total of six buildings on their property that overlooks the West Side Highway and the Hudson River.

The Avery has been designed by Costas Kondylis and was completed in 2007.

The Avery has a residents' theater, a gaming room, a 24-hour library with wireless Internet access, an entertaining room, a children's playroom "outfitted with toys, books and soft mats," a fitness center, a garage and "Abigail Michaels' hotel-style concierge service."

It has also arranged with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to give the building's residents access to the concierge services of the center's patron desk, access that is available to individuals who contribute $2,500 to the center.

In addition, the developer has arranged with the center to have students from the Juilliard School at the center give monthly concerts in the building.

The building has a two-story-high lobby.

Kitchens have "ribbed" aluminum upper cabinets, and Sub-Zero and Miele kitchen appliances and Waterworks fixtures.

The project's marketing was launched with a large tent party on the site between 64th and 65th Streets with a performance by Seal, the singer.

Gary Barnett, the head of Extell, was quoted by Motoko Rich in a February 23, 2006 article in the New York Times as stating that the "launch" party was about "signaling that there's new ownership and we're doing things a bit differently."

Apartments range in size from 600-square-foot studios to 1,700-square-foot three-bedroom units and prices initially ranged from about $850,000 to more than $3 million.

Extell other developments include the Orion on West 42nd Street, the Ariel East and West on Broadway at 99th Street, Altair 18 and Altair 20 in Chelsea, 995 Fifth Avenue, and the W. Hotel in Times Square.

The 30-story Avery has been designed by Costas Kondylis and SCLE and has 274 apartments.