The Heritage, 240 Riverside Boulevard: Review and Ratings

Review of 240 Riverside Boulevard by Carter Horsley

The Heritage is the very handsome, 31-story condominium apartment tower that was completed in 2005 as the northernmost building in Donald Trump's enormous redevelopment, known as Trump Place, of the former rail yards at the south end of Riverside Park. 

The tower, which has an address of 240 Riverside Boulevard, has 170 apartments and commanding views of the Hudson River and much of Upper Manhattan.

Designed by Costas Kondylis & Associates, the building is notable for its large, curved base.

Bottom Line

The Heritage arguably has the finest site facing the Hudson River on the Upper West Side as its tower looms nicely over the bottom end of Riverside Park and Riverside Drive. In addition, it is the closest of all the buildings along Riverside South and Trump Place to the express subway station at 72^nd Street, and it includes all the customary shiny Trump amenities.

Description

Like the Paterno and Colosseum apartment buildings at Riverside Drive and 116^th Street, the Heritage has a very handsome and very broad curve facing Riverside Park.  Unlike those two elegant buildings, however, the very clean-looking Heritage has a substantial rectilinear tower set back considerably on its base. The tower itself has a couple of setbacks.   

The Trump buildings along Riverside Boulevard/Riverside South come in a variety of sizes and massings but are generally related to those along Riverside Drive in terms of the cornice lines of their bases. 

The elevated West Side Highway passes by them but at 70^th Street a 750-foot-long pier with a scalloped south edge juts out into the Hudson River providing impressive vantage points to view the Riverside South skyline, which is cohesive if not captivating. 

This tower faces an exit ramp from the West Side Highway at 72nd Street that the city agreed in 2004 to close to facilitate the widening of Riverside Boulevard, the interior north/south road in the complex. 

Amtrak trains that run up along the Hudson River are in a tunnel at this site but the West Side Highway is elevated. The towers, however, are on a ridge so the highway's obstruction of views is minimized.

Amenities

The Heritage has spectacular views of the Hudson River and Riverside Drive, a 24-hour concierge, a doorman, a garage, a 15,000-square-foot health club with two pools, a children’s playroom, a screening room, an event/party room, basement storage, a landscaped courtyard and central air-conditioning.

Apartments

There is a wide variety of apartments at the Heritage.

The P line studio units on the 6^th through the 15^th floors have pass-through kitchens with views of the back of the curved portion of the base.

The D apartment on the 12^th floor is a one-bedroom apartment with a foyer and a large terrace. 

The two-bedroom O apartment on the 14^th floor has a 19-foot-long foyer that leads to an enclosed kitchen and a large living room with a balcony. 

A three-bedroom apartment on the tenth floor has a foyer that leads to a reception room that leads to a large living/dining room with a balcony and a gallery that leads to a very large, windowed kitchen with butler’s pantry. 

A two-bedroom apartment on the 10^th floor has a foyer that opens into a 36-foot-long living room and adjoining large dining room with a balcony. 

Penthouse 1A has east and west corner terraces and three bedrooms.

An article by Lois Weiss in the September 7, 2012 edition of The New York Post said that a very large, combined, fully furnished residence at The Heritage at Trump Place had been put on the market for $75 million. 

“A jellyfish tank, safe rooms, a rain fountain that doubles as a Jacuzzi and Baccarat chandeliers are just some of the ‘wow’ factors in an exquisitely designed” apartment, according to the article that said the unit was combined from six apartments and has a total of 11,000 square feet plus two separate staff and guest apartments for a total of $14,547 square feet.

The unit is in the “curved” base of the building and there is a ventilated cigar room, a billiards room, and several kitchens including one with an extra sushi prep spot.

History

As originally planned, Trump Place 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 between 59th and 72nd Streets south of Riverside Park.  After building the northern section of the site, Mr. Trump eventually sold off the southern section of the side to Extell Development, which completed several buildings planned by Mr. Trump as well as originating new plans for several more at the bottom part of the site. 

With the completion of the Heritage at 240 Riverside Boulevard in 2005, 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. 

For more on the history of Riverside South and Trump Place, see CityRealty.com's entry for 140 Riverside Boulevard.