Cielo, 450 East 83rd Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 450 East 83rd Street by Carter Horsley

The Cielo, a sleek, 27-story condominium apartment building at 450 East 83^rd Street on the southwest corner at York Avenue, opened in 2006 and has 128 units. 

It was developed by the J. D. Carlisle Development Corporation, of which Jules Demchick is the principal, and Perkins Eastman was the architect. 

J. D. Carlisle’s other developments include Morton Square and the Centria.

Bottom Line

One of the most attractive new buildings near Carl Schurz Park, the Cielo offers high ceilings and a Richard Haas photorealistic mural across the street as a nostalgic reminder of the Germanic history of the Yorkville neighborhood.

Description

The building’s tower is setback on a five-story base and it has many corner windows and its verticality is highlighted by piers. 

The building has a large lobby with paintings by Betsy Eby commissioned by the building's interior designer, Philip Koether, and buyers were given free memberships to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The building's marketing also highlighted its "art concierge." 

In 2005, Mr. Demchick extended the building's "artistic" purview across 83rd Street by commissioning Richard Haas, the famous photorealist muralist of urban scenes, to create a 77-foot-wide trompe l'oeil mural on the graffiti-laden wall of a tenement building. 

Mr. Demchick made an agreement with George Papoutsis, the owner of the tenement building directly across 83rd Street, to permit the mural, which was completed at an estimated cost of about $200,000. 

The mural consists of a painted glockenspiel, or animated clock, flanked by New York City police officers. The glockenspiel was intended as a nostalgic flourish to the Germanic history of the Yorkville neighborhood. 

Mr. Haas is perhaps best known for his mural of the original New York Times Building at the south end of Times Square that was painted across 42nd Street from that building that had undergone several drastic façade transformations. That mural was lost when that site was redeveloped for an office tower.

Amenities

The light-colored tower has a 24-hour doorman, a fitness center, a 44-car garage, a children's playroom, a stroller room, a bicycle room, cold storage, a live-in superintendent and about 4,000 square feet of medical office space. 

The 307-foot-tall building is three blocks south of the 86th Street cross-town bus and one block west of Carl Schurz Park.

Apartments

Apartments have 10- and 11-foot-high ceilings.

Apartments have Bulthaup kitchens with Pietra Cardosa countertops and SubZero, Wolf and Miele appliances. Bathrooms have Villefort limestone floors and custom ebonized black walnut cabinetry and double Kohler sinks with Waterworks fixtures. 

The three-bedroom penthouse has a 20-foot-long entry gallery that leads to a 32-foot-long living/dining room next to a 15-foot-long, eat-in, windowed kitchen and a 22-foot-long terrace. 

Apartment 12CD is a three-bedroom unit with a 17-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 21-foot-long hall and a 23-foot-long living room next to a 16-foot-long, open kitchen with an island.  The apartment also has a 14-foot-long family/dining room next to a 12-foot-long office. 

Apartment 11E is a two-bedroom unit that has a 26-foot-long entrance gallery that leads to a 20-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen with an island. 

Apartment 6C is a one-bedroom unit with a small entry foyer that leads to a 20-foot-long living/dining room with a 9-foot-long open kitchen and a 29-foot-wide terrace. 

Apartment 11C is a one-bedroom unit that has a 20-foot-long living/dining room adjacent to an open kitchen.