Not Quite As Good as it Gets
Brown Harris Stevens recently gained exclusive on the third floor at 857 Fifth Avenue. A 9-room apartment that requires some upgrading, it presents a rare opportunity in a most desireable location. According to brokers Elizabeth K. Logue and Wolf Jakubowski, a specialist in West Side townhouses, the property is an exceptional value at $11,250, 000. “This is currently the best priced 9-room apartment with direct Central Park Views available on Fifth Avenue” – an assertion we could not let fly.
857 Fifth Avenue, at the north-east corner of 67th street, was built in 1963 and is one of the spectacular post war eye-sores on the avenue. While there are some individual design elements of note, such as the bay windows and striking water-tank enclosure that crown the facade, the overall effect is a hodge podge of white brick. That said, the layouts hearken back to prewar apartments in the vicinity, and have vast entertainment spaces with spectacular views of Central Park.
A notable design element at the unattractive building
A combination apartment 8AB9A at 1045 Fifth Avenue, also a Brown Harris Stevens exclusive, is priced at $5,950,000 and undoubtedly presents a superior value. 1045 Fifth Avenue is nestled between what is now the Neue gallery, an exuberant Georgian style mansion designed by Carere and Hastings, and Rosario Candela’s swank limestone cooperative at 1040 Fifth Avenue. It is probably the least offensive postwar residential cooperative on the avenue and makes a compelling contrast with its neighbors. The space on offer, which will require customization, has over 62 feet of floor to ceiling windows on Fifth Avenue, and is both larger and better positioned over Central Park than the listing at 857.
A view from the expansive entertainment area of apartment 8AB
Though farther north, 1120 Fifth Avenue is one of the most distinguished limestone cooperatives in Carnegie Hill. Apartment 4A, available through Douglas Elliman, is a 12-room park facing apartment in mint-condition, asking $12,900,000. With monthly carrying costs almost $4,000 less than the unit at 857 Fifth Avenue, and a position in a virtually undisturbed and scenic stretch of prewar apartment houses, we believe this listing should also be considered a superior value. The cache of living in a prewar building remains unassailable.
While the offering at 857 Fifth Avenue is a private floor occupying a desireable and central corner, it does not yet represent a significant value- particularly in light of these and other comparable offerings currently on the market.
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