Park West Village, 792 Columbus Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 792 Columbus Avenue by Carter Horsley

The red-brick slab apartment tower at 792 Columbus Avenue is the northernmost of the three, 16-story Park West Village buildings that run north to south on the western side of the Columbus Square development along Columbus Avenue between 97^th and 100^th Streets. 

Park West Village also includes four slightly larger and taller, attractive, red-brick, slab apartment towers to the west of the Columbus Square project, which run east to west around a large central green that opens to Central Park.

This building, which is also known as110-144 West 100^th Street, is just to the north and slightly to the east of 788 Columbus Avenue. The third building in this group, 784 Columbus Avenue, is on 97^th Street is just to the south and slightly to the east of 788 Columbus Avenue.

This trio of towers, which each have 287 apartments, is west of the Whole Foods store and 29-story apartment tower at 808 Columbus Avenue that are part of the Columbus Square development by Joseph Chetrit and Lawrence Gluck who had acquired Park West Village in 2000. The Columbus Square development also includes smaller towers that were completed in 2011.

The Park West Village development, which was built in 1960, was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, while the Columbus Square buildings were designed by Costas Kondylis.

Park West Village was a controversial urban renewal project and was known initially as Manhattantown and then West Park Apartments.

It was built by Webb & Knapp, the development company of William Zeckendorf, and the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). It took more than a decade to complete as scandals relating to its development led to a major reconsideration of “slum clearance” programs.

The recent renaissance of the Upper West Side north of 86^th Street has made the enclave much more popular and desirable.

For an extensive recap about the building and the development’s history, see CityRealty.com’s entry for The Olmsted at 382 Central Park West.