The Most Expensive Penthouses In
America 2005
Is it lonely at the top? Maybe. But one thing is for sure: it's
more costly to live among the clouds.
We are talking about penthouses, those crowning apartments that are synonymous
with glamorous metropolitan living and dramatic views. Today, for many buyers,
they are literally--and figuratively--the apex of real estate.
However, that wasn't always the case.
Until the 1920s, when elevators finally became common features in apartment buildings,
the top floors were the least-desirable places to live. These were the attics
and garrets, home to nurseries, servants, starving artists, pigeons and the terminally
strapped for cash.
It took a while for some developers to appreciate the aesthetic and financial
advantages afforded by penthouses. According to Carol Maryan, a New York City
architect whose own sunny penthouse on the Upper West Side was created from former
servants' quarters on the roof, in some older buildings, the elevator doesn't
even reach the penthouse. "It was considered more the service part of the
building. Now, it's obviously the most sought-out place. Isn't it funny? Next
it'll be the basement."
As anyone who has gazed down from the rarefied heights of a penthouse at the
antlike pedestrians below can attest, there's little commonplace about today's
top floors. It would be difficult to find a better example of their desirability
than the opulent triplex penthouse in The Pierre hotel, with broad views over
Manhattan's Fifth Avenue and the wide acres of Central Park. Financier and author
Martin Zweig has it on the market for $70 million, making it the most expensive
apartment listing ever in New York City.
"The allure of a penthouse is being on the top," says Elizabeth Lee
Sample, a broker for Brown Harris Stevens who has the listing.
While you can find pricey penthouses in other cities, including Las Vegas, Chicago
and Los Angeles, Manhattan is still penthouse central. In the 1920s, New York
was one of the cities where architects such as James E.R. Carpenter and Rosario
Candela created a new paradigm for luxury-apartment living. Candela developed
terraced setbacks, resulting in the wedding-cake-like buildings that narrow as
they extend up from the street, and providing desirable outdoor space.
In fact, New York's abundance of penthouses--and the prices they demand in this
super-active market--is the reason we decided to rank the top penthouses by city.
Otherwise, they would all have been in Manhattan, where buyers are willing to
pay anywhere from 10% to 20% more per square foot for a property at the top,
brokers say.
"With the word 'penthouse' in the specific address, it's a premium, as opposed
to 16H," says Nancy Lee, a real estate broker with The Corcoran Group who
recently had a single-female client who would settle for nothing less than the
topmost floor. "Everybody that wants a penthouse is usually at a point in
their career that they want that 'wow,' breathtaking property."
Penthouses have cachet, but they are more than status symbols. The top-floor
apartments often come with spectacular views, great light, outdoor space and
unique layouts. Located just below--or sometimes on top of--the roof, it's possible
to have wood-burning fireplaces, skylights and higher ceilings. And speaking
of ceilings, another appeal is the lack of upstairs neighbors to clomp around
doing God-knows-what at three o'clock in the morning--a common complaint, even
in the best apartment buildings.
But, some developers are a bit ambiguous when defining what makes an apartment
a penthouse.. "If you look at all these new condos and coops that are going
up, they will squeeze in as many 'penthouses' as they can," Maryan says.
Manhattan's Millennium Tower, for example, has several floors of penthouses,
points out Sample, who sold a unit to radio-talk-show host Howard Stern, who
was 23rd on Forbes' 2004 list of the 100 Top Celebrities.
"It's very much a trend right now," Sample says. "Though to me,
a penthouse is really the top floor."
This trend is also very much in evidence in Miami, a city we added to our list
this year because of all of the high-priced towers that have sprouted in South
Beach. In Miami, every new building has a penthouse that is vastly grander than
the other units--perhaps with an outdoor pool or elaborate garden. But large,
luxurious apartments on lower floors may also be billed as "penthouses," says
Mark Zilbert, a broker with EWM Realtors.
"It doesn't matter how expensive or how large you make the apartments, they
sell very quickly," Zilbert explained. "There's a shortage in South
Beach. Other than Manhattan, it's probably the only place where you could have
a penthouse-housing crisis."
The moral of the story? Life is good when you're on top.
