140 Riverside Boulevard: Review and Ratings

Review of 140 Riverside Boulevard by Carter Horsley

This handsome rental apartment tower at 140 Riverside Boulevard between 66th and 67th Streets was completed in 2003 in Donald Trump’s enormous redevelopment, known as Trump Place that is now known as Riverside South, of the former rail yards at the south end of Riverside Park.

it is a modest, for Trump, 30 stories in height. It is, however, not all that small as it contains 288 apartments.

A November 15, 2016 article by Charles B. Bagli in The New York Times reported that Equity Residential is removing the "Trump Place" name on this  building and 160 and 180 Riverside Boulevard.  In October, 2016, hundreds of residents in these buildings signed a petition to "Dump the Trump Name" because of provocative statements made by the developer in this Presidential campaign. Mr. Trump was elected President of the United States in the 2016 election.

Equity Residential bought the three buildings in 2005 for $809 million.

Mr. Bagli's article quoted Sam Zell, the chairman of Equity Residential as stating in an interview that "the tenants had no role in this," adding that he and Mr. Trumphad discussed the change a year ago, adding "we didn't want anything to happen while the election was going on.""

Equity had entered a "use of name contract" with Mr. Trump, but it expired, according to the article, which added that a spokesman for the Trump Organization said that the name change "was mutually agreed upon."

Designed by Costas Kondylis & Partners and Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects.

It is located pretty much in the middle of the former Penn Yards property. Several taller residential towers were previously completed on the site by Mr. Trump to the north.

It is in the middle of Donald Trump's Trump Place redevelopment of the former railyards at the south end of Riverside Park. Trump Place subsequently became known as Riverside South, a $3 billion, 75-acre project that called for a total of about 5,700 apartments, about 140,000 square feet of retail space and a 21.5-acre park between 59th and 72nd Streets south of Riverside Park.

The entire site now has a major and impressive skyline along the Hudson River. As a group, the buildings are heavily influenced by the pre-war towers along Riverside Drive, which is not inappropriate.

Bottom Line

Centrally located in Riverside South, this tower offers great river views and is not far from the Lincoln Center for The Performing Arts.

Mr. Trump sold off much of his stake in the site in the mid-1990s to a group of investors from Hong Kong such as Henry Cheng, Vincent Lo, Charles Yeung, Edward Wong and David Chiu,- and the first building permit was not issued until 1997, slowly advancing from north to south.

Mr. Trump built 7 apartment towers and in mid-2005, Extell and the Carlyle Group bought the remaining property for $1.76 billion, though Mr. Trump later filed a lawsuit claiming his Hong Kong investors could have gotten a higher price. 

Extell built four more towers, all designed by Costas Kondylis in a style generally similar to Trump's towers and in 2011 proceeding with a five-tower plan for the last site.  Extell would sell three of its towers, all rentals, to Equity Residential in 2005.  Extell then commissioned French architect Christian de Portzamparc whose designs were quite angular and very different from the rest of the Riverside Boulevard developments.

Description

This symmetrical, gray-glass tower has one central setback and three setbacks on the north and south wings. It has a vaulted top.

The building has rounded corners and many corner windows but not balconies.

Amenities

It has a concierge, a doorman, a garage, a health club, basement storage and central air-conditioning.

This building, which has a health club and swimming pool, a sundeck and a garage, is only a few blocks west of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the many restaurants and boutiques in that district. There is cross-town bus service on 65th & 66th Streets.

Apartments

Apartment 1518 is a studio unit with a long entry foyer leading to a enclosed kitchen and a 16-foot-long living area.

Apartment 2103 is a two-bedroom unit with a foyer leading to a 21-foot-long living room adjacent to an open, 12-foot-long dining room with a curved window wall opening onto a 24-foot-long terrace.  The unit has an 8-foot-long enclosed kitchen.

Apartment 03-6-8 is a two-bedroom unit has a long foyer that leads past a pass-through kitchen to a 20-foot-long living/dining room.  The 14-foot-long master bedroom has a long curved window wall.

History

A century from now, it will be interesting to gauge the relative importance to the Upper West Side of the Dakota, the twin-towers of Central Park West, Robert Moses's creation of Riverside Park, the New York Coliseum, designation in the 1950s of the West Side Urban Renewal Project, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Time-Warner Center and Trump Place.

In New York City, nothing is inevitable, but a lot is possible.

In 2005, Extell sold its three rental buildings, including this one, to Equity Residential, for $816 million.