These Smaller NYC Boutique Luxury Buildings Offer Sweeping Views

by | Feb 1, 2018 | Business, Featured, Real Estate

Sure, New York is packed with residential towers with skyline views. But the reality is, not every buyer has a taste for the supertall life. Fortunately, there’s good news for buyers who don’t care for heights, as a number of smaller, boutique buildings also offer stunning vistas—without the altitude.

For example, SHoP Architects designed the Lower East Side building 242 Broome with a literal twist. When finished, the 14-story building will include 55 luxury residences, all situated on the fifth floor and above. These floors torque slightly westward, offering plenty of sunlight and dramatic views over the Lower East Side. Each successive floor is also set back to increase privacy.

We’ve rounded up some developments that aren’t skyscrapers but still boast epic vistas. Each building is less than 15 stories high but offers views that rival some of the city’s taller towers.

 

242 Broome

242 Broome

242 Broome is the first condominium within Essex Crossing, a planned mixed-use development comprising residential, office, retail, cultural and community space on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In order to maximize the views from the building, SHoP Architects designed 242 Broome with a literal twist. When finished, the 14-story building will include 55 luxury apartments, all situated on the fifth floor and above. These floors torque slightly westward, offering tons of sunlight and dramatic views over the Lower East Side. Each successive floor is also set back to increase privacy. In addition, 242 Broome features a landscaped and furnished rooftop that includes grills for outdoor dining and entertaining amid striking views of the Manhattan skyline and the Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Verrazano Bridges.

 

Jardim

Jardim

The Portuguese word for a garden—Jardim—is a fitting name for the first New York building by Isay Weinfeld, the world-renowned Brazilian architect and interior designer known for his hotels and high-end homes, including the Fasano Hotels and the forthcoming reincarnation of New York’s iconic Four Seasons restaurant. For this West Chelsea development, Weinfeld designed an ultra-private urban park that envelops its two 11-story towers. A canopy of native evergreens and flowering trees soars above clusters of indigenous shrubs, creating jungle-like vistas for each of the 36 one- to four-bedroom residences. In addition to these garden views, the apartments overlook the neighboring High Line and Manhattan skyline. To have these stunning gardens the process involves all kinds of diligent work, with specifically crafted equipment, from irrigation to paving to lighting, but the results are masterful. Amenities include a skylit swimming pool, a fitness center and a block-long tunnel that acts as a paparazzi-proof porte-cochère.

 

800 Union

Located in the heart of Brooklyn’s desirable Park Slope neighborhood, 800 Union is a new luxury rental development designed to offer a seamless living an amenity-rich lifestyle. The former parking garage was recently transformed into a six-story boutique building with a brick-and-metal panel façade that rises from a natural stone base. While the apartments on the lower floors overlook the neighborhood’s iconic streetscapes, the residences on the upper levels feature sweeping views over Brooklyn towards Manhattan. The landscaped rooftop includes a fireplace, barbecue stations, lounge areas and outdoor showers, as well as uninterrupted views of Prospect Park, New York Harbor, and the Manhattan skyline.

 

101 West 78th Street

When you gaze out the windows from 101 West 78th Street, you may feel as though you’re in a Nora Ephron movie. The ornate roofs and water tanks of the Upper West Side stretch out before you, as does the sprawling American Museum of Natural History right across the street. Completed in 1866, 101 West 78th Street has recently been converted into brand new, beautiful condominiums, with classic layouts and elegant finishes designed by Architectural Digest “AD 100” designer, Stephen Sills. 101 West 78th Street is not a tower—in fact, the pre-war building is only eight stories high—but it offers stellar views that will appeal to real New Yorkers who don’t want to be above the action and life of the city, but a part of it.

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