180 Riverside Boulevard: Review and Ratings

Review of 180 Riverside Boulevard by Carter Horsley

This attractive, 40-story rental apartment tower at 180 Riverside Boulevard between 68^th and 69^th Streets was built in 1999 and has 516 units.

It was designed by Costas Kondylis & Associates and is in the middle of Donald Trump’s Trump Place redevelopment of the former railyards at the south end of Riverside Park. 

Trump Place, which subsequently became known as Riverside South, was 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 to be completed by about 2012 between 59th and 72nd Streets south of Riverside Park. 

Trump Place 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. 

Mr. Trump sold off much of his stake in the mid-1990s to a group of investors from Hong Kong - and the first building permit was not issued until 1997, slowly advancing from north to south. 

Equity Residential bought this and several other Trump Place buildings in 2005.

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."

Bottom Line

It is the fourth tower from the northernmost of the Trump buildings along Riverside Boulevard and it has a three-story center limestone base facing the river.

Description

This brown-brick tower has four slight setbacks symmetrically around its central tower and many corner windows.

It has a distinctive, windowless top highlighted by indented vertical ridges. 

Amenities

The building has a 24-hour concierge, a doorman, a health club, a lounge, a children’s playroom, a spa, a dog spa, and on-site supermarket. Many apartments in the three-setback tower have corner windows. It has commanding views of the Hudson River and a 210-car garage. 

All of the Trump towers here have handsome and lavish lobbies and good amenities even if the apartments themselves are relatively routine.

Apartments

A two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath apartment on the 26th floor with a dining area was initially marketed at 180 Riverside Boulevard at about at $6,020 a month. 

Apartment T517 is a one-bedroom unit that has a small entry foyer that opens past an enclosed kitchen onto a 22-foot-long living room. 

Apartment 412 has a small entry foyer that opens past an enclosed kitchen to a 10-foot-long dining area and a 15-foot-long living room.  It has two bedrooms, one with an angled wall. 

Apartment 2236 is a one-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer that opens onto a 17-foot-long living room that opens onto a 10-foot-long angled dining room adjacent to an enclosed kitchen. 

Apartment G18 is a two-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer that opens onto a 26-foot-long living room that opens onto a 93-foot-long angled terrace and also opens onto a 9-foot-long angled dining area next to a large kitchen.

History

There is a very handsome pier that extends, with sinuous curves, about 750 feet into the river close to this building. 

There is an express subway station at 72nd Street and Broadway and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is nearby to the project’s southern end.