North Park Tower, 1399 Park Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 1399 Park Avenue by Carter Horsley

This handsome, 22-story apartment building at 1399 Park Avenue on the southeast corner at 104^th Street across from the Metro-North train viaduct in East Harlem is scheduled for completion in 2017.

It was originally planned to have 108 rental apartments but will now have 72 condominium units.

It is a development of Heritage Real Estate Partners of which Jeremy Markowitz and David Stein are founders.

Goldman, Hill, West is the architect.

Bottom Line

A major new residential landmark in East Harlem of a cast-stone-and-glass stack of staggered boxes on the other sides of the Park Avenue railroad viaduct from the Mt. Sinai hospital center complex on Fifth Avenue.

Description

According to the architects’ website, “the building resembles a series of nested cubes suspended from a solid vertical spine.”

“Large exposed columns,” it continued, “and a recessed amenity terrace at the 5th floor augment the impression of a hovering cube separated from other forms by voids all around.  Glass surfaces increase as the building rises to allow for views.  Private terraces wrap the building at multiple levels and capture spectacular views of a vibrant neighborhood including such hidden gems as the community garden to the south.”

The building rises through a “Mondrian-like” composition of interlocking cubes and volumes, it said.

The building’s massing closely resembles that of the 23-story David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care and CUNY/Hunter College School of Nursing and Research Facility now under construction facing the East River at East 74^th Street.  That project, however, has highly textured terra-cotta façades.

A September 9, 2015 article by Ondel Hylton at 6sqft.com noted that this 253-foot tall, glass and cast-stone tower is “expressed as a stack of variably-sized, staggered volumes creating numerous terraces.”  It noted that the developer “took three years to assemble and that he purchased air rights  from two neighboring lots” and that “the project overlooks New York Restoration Project’s 103^rd Street Community Garden, whose 2004 and 2011 renovation was sponsored by the Walt Disney Company.”

The article said that “a non-profit institution will occupy its first four levels.

Amenities

The building will have a library, a billiard lounge, a fitness center, a ball pit, a rock-climbing wall, a game room, a lounge and 54 parking spaces.

Apartments

Apartments have Bosch stacked washers and dryers, white oak floors, Athens Silver Cream marble kitchen countertops, Thermador ranges and ovens with hoods, and Bosch refrigerators and dishwashers.  Baths have blue Padua limestone vanities and shower walls.

Apartment 16A is a three-bedroom unit with 2,018 square feet of interior space and 650 square feet of exterior space with a long entry foyer that leads to an open, pass-through kitchen and a 28-foot-wide living room.

Apartment D on floors 14 and 15 is a three-bedroom unit with 1,633 square feet with a 23-foot-wide living and dining room.

Apartment 12D is a three-bedroom unit with 1,472 square feet of interior space and 663 square feet of exterior space with a 21-foot-wide living and dining room.

Apartment C on floors 6 through 11 is a two-bedroom unit with 964 square feet and an entry foyer next to the kitchen that leads to a 14-foot-wide living room.

Apartment B on floors 6 through 11 is a two-bedroom unit 1,031 square feet with a long entry foyer and an 18-foot-wide living/dining room with an open kitchen.

Apartment 8G is a studio unit with 524 square feet and a long open kitchen leading to a 13-foot-wide living area.