A s late as 2007, 740 Park Avenue was the city’s most glamorous apartment building (even inspiring a full-length book by Michael Gross). One housing cycle later, 740 has arguably been supplanted by 15 Central Park West, whose traditional limestone façade envelops every modern amenity (and no co-op board!). Who lives better?
| 15 Central Park West | 740 Park Avenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Apartments | 202 | 32 |
| Largest Apartment | 6,617 square feet | 20,000 square feet (approx.) |
| Biggest Sale | $45.8 million | $32 million |
| Notable Residents | Sting, Denzel Washington, Bob Costas, Jeff Gordon, Sanford Weill, Alex Rodriguez, Lloyd Blankfein, Norman Lear | Vera Wang, Kent Swig, Courtney Ross, John Thain, Jackie Kennedy Onassis (as a child). |
Provenance 
| Designed by modern traditionalist Robert A. M. Stern and built by developers William and Arthur Zeckendorf. (Coincidentally, their grandfather, also William Zeckendorf, owned 740 Park back in the fifties.) | Designed by early-twentieth-century starchitect Rosario Candela and Arthur Harmon, and developed by Jacqueline Kennedy’s grandfather, James T. Lee. Jackie grew up there, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. called it home. |
Debut 
| Finished at the frothiest point of a bubbly market, with nearly all apartments presold despite nineteen price hikes. Buyers who bought early were able, after the building was finished, to flip for double what they’d paid. |
Construction began weeks before the 1929 stock-market crash. Press reports pegged its costs at an extravagant $2.225 million. When it debuted right into the Depression, sales stumbled. |
Apartments 
| Apartments here have unusual grace notes not usually found in condominiums (wide hallways, grand entrances), especially in the larger units. | They don’t make them like this anymore: sprawling duplexes with elliptical staircases, parquet floors, lengthy galleries, walnut-paneled rooms, and windows precisely placed to make the most of the sun. As one luxury real-estate broker puts it: “You can’t replicate patina.” |
Sales History 
| Hedge-funder Daniel Loeb paid $45.8 million for a 10,674-square-foot, five- bedroom combination of two apartment units when the building had just begun sales in 2005. Ex–Citigroup head Sanford Weill paid $42.4 million for his four-bedroom—a then-record $6,288 per square foot. Even during the recent down cycle, sellers were still able to command top prices. In early August, a 2,500-square-foot two-bedroom, bought for $6.8 million a year before Lehman Brothers went bust, was snapped up for $11.5 million. |
Has broken price records time and again. A 21-room triplex fetched $25 million in 2004, surpassing $3,000 per square foot, and in 2000, a fourth-and-fifth-floor duplex closed for $32 million. More recently, though, apartment 4/5C, a 6,700-square-foot four-bedroom, has stayed on the market for two years. Even after a $9 million price cut, it’s still available, at less per square foot than some units at 15 Central Park West. | Exclusivity 
| No interview required, but buyers must submit financials and exhaustive background information, and the board does have the right of first refusal. There are 202 units in the building, so a handful of them are available to buy or rent at any given time, except for the largest of the full-floors and duplexes. Exclusivity comes mostly from the sheer expense of buying in. | Legendarily rigorous co-op board, presided over by hedge-funder Charles Stevenson Jr. (He’s married to New York Times writer Alex Kuczynski.) Applicants are reportedly expected to have at least a few hundred million dollars in the bank, and need to be able to afford not just the asking price but the potential five-figure monthly maintenance. (A special assessment for façade work in 1990 cost each shareholder $258,000.) There are only 32 units in the building. |
Perks 
| Absolutely everything. A 14,000-square-foot fitness center in the basement with a pool that sits under a glass fountain in the courtyard; an entertainment floor that can be used for private parties; a screening room; a library; and a private dining room serving lunch and dinner that offers room service. |
A famously attentive staff that caters to a resident’s every whim. There’s a small fitness center in the basement. | Privacy 
| Boldface names can purchase apartments under corporate cover. If they’re trying to skirt paparazzi, they can disembark from their cars in the private driveway or inside the building’s parking garage. |
Board screening process gives neighbors a complete accounting of a buyer’s financial holdings. Buyers here cannot hide behind LLCs; sales are matters of public record, so anyone can find out who bought in the building and for exactly how much. | Vibe  
| Jeans and Hermès loafers; the building hosts an annual Thanksgiving Day–parade breakfast. | Formal, well-heeled, somewhat stuffy. |
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