432 Park-tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

View from the top of Empire skyscraper.

More than a year ago, in June 2013 in one of  my posts I wrote about  One57 - new  skyscraper  on West 57 in Midtown. A year ago One 57 was the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere.   Now   I have to update the  header of my post about One57 - a new building  has the title 'the tallest'.
Last week  few final feet were added to the building at 432 Park Ave.    The tower  that sits  between 56th and 57th streets, is now the tallest building in the city and the western hemisphere. Do you want to live on the 90th floor? ( I do not!)
The building is  28 feet taller than One World Trade Center– if you don’t count the   spire.  New York’s tallest buildings have always been its icons: the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center. I already wrote about two the most recent additions to the New York Sky line- One World Trade Center  (Freedom tower)  and One 57,that is just several blocks to the west from the new giant.
The 96-story on Park avenue condo offers 104 units, ranging in price from $16.95million to $95million. Windows  are  huge, at 10 x 10 feet,  each apartment has  12-foot ceilings and private elevators. You can buy a 6 bedroom condo on one of the top floors of the building for $82 million.

The developer of the building said:  “It’s almost like the Mona Lisa,  except instead of it looking at you, you’re looking at it wherever you are. You can’t escape it.”  On a clear day you can see the building from all five borough of the great New York. It changed the skyline of the city.
If you live on the lower floor you still have access to the view- there are huge windows  on the  resident-only observation deck.
There are  climate-controlled wine cellars, an outdoor terrace, a spa, a “massage therapy room,” and a pool in the building.
One of the most impressive things about 432 Park Avenue is its width to height ratio (slenderness ratio), 19:1, which makes it one of the thinnest skyscrapers in the world.  Slender towers require special measures, and sometimes considerable expense, to counteract the exaggerated forces of wind on the vertical cantilever. The most slender residential skyscraper in the world is Hong Kong's Highcliff, which rises 72 stories and 828 feet (252 meters) with an   slenderness ratio of 1:20.  The Skyscraper Museum at 39 Battery Place currently has an excellent exhibit in place called Sky-high & the Logic of Luxury that explains more details of super slender towers.

Real Estate site about the luxury buildings in NY published an intersecting picture some time ago. On this picture you can see  what the skyline will look like in 2020.   Of these five buildings, one  them - the 90-story One57 (second from the right) is complete. Four of the five buildings are  on the west side of Midtown Manhattan.
The market for  ultra-luxury apartments in New York City is booming.  The space is very limited and the buildings became slimmer and higher.  One57,  that was the tallest residential tower  before 432 park, sits on the 57th Street that earned  the nickname "Billionaires' Row."     57th Street is already known for its famous buildings, hotels, and restaurants.  


From left to right: 432 Park Ave., 111 West 57th St., 53 53rd St.,
One57, and Nordstrom Tower
http://www.llnyc.com
 

The   2-mile (3 km) street  is home to the Hearst Tower,   Carnegie Hall, and the Russian Tea Room.
 432Park is the tallest for now, but not for a long time- the plans for the   Nordstrom Tower on the Western end of 57 street are already approved. 

Before 432 Park there was  Drake hotel on this lot, the corner of  Park Avenue and 56 street. The hotel was built in 1926  and had  21 floors  with 495 rooms.
  Notable hotel  guests included Frank Sinatra and Muhammed Ali.  During their stay there in 1973, Led Zeppelin had $203,000 stolen from a safe deposit box at the hotel. The money was never recovered and the identity of the thief or thieves has never been discovered .

Citigroup Center, Part 2. The disaster that almost happened.

Citigroup Center (601 Lexington Avenue) was built in 1977. The building site is located on the east side of Lexington Avenue between Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Streets shared the block with St. Peter's Lutheran Church. On its completion the Citicorp building was the seventh-tallest building in the world. You can read the beginning of the story in my old post.

To reduce the building costs original design's welded joints were changed to bolted joints during construction. As designed, the building could sustain a direct, straight-on hit from hurricane-level winds. But if hurricane-speed winds hit two of the four outer walls simultaneously at a 45-degree angle there was the potential for failure due to the bolts shearing. Unfortunately, the construction company never tested it. If the building's tuned mass damper went offline, the necessary wind speeds were predicted to occur every 16 years.

The problem was found in June 1977 at the beginning of hurricane season. The building was in critical danger. The problem had to be corrected quickly. Having 59-story building in the middle of Manhattan which was at risk of such damage was a very big problem. The structural engineer LeMessurier did not publicly report the problem – he reported the problem directly to Citicorp. 

The engineer and Citicorp agreed to do the repairs after-hours, and not tell anyone. It took three months for the secret workmen to weld metal steel plates over the bolted-on brackets. Two-thousand Red Cross workers were also brought in to assist with the evacuation plan if needed.

"Ella" path

Two months after the secret job had been started  the strongest hurricane on record “Ella” was formed in Canadian waters. By September 1, Ella reached winds of 125 mph and reached Category 4 status. 

The hurricane became stationary for about 24 hours, and later fortunately turned to the northeast away from the coast. The press was on strike at that time, so news of the repairs did not broadcast to the public. The reinforcements were completed in September of 1978, the  entire structure was re-evaluated for safety and building was found to be one of the most sturdy skyscrapers in the world.

The crisis was kept hidden from the public for almost 20 years. It was publicized in a lengthy article in "The New Yorker" in 1995. 

The article entitled "The Fifty-Nine Story Crisis" focuses on the ethical and moral obligations of individuals and companies involved in the construction of a skyscraper.

In 2002, one of the columns was reinforced with blast resistant shields of steel and copper as well as steel bracing to protect the building due to the possibility of a terrorist attack.

In 2009 after 30 years of being known simply as the "Citigroup Center,"  the building was renamed : "601 Lexington Ave." The bank with the headquarters at 399 Park Avenue, occupies just three floors in the 59-story building, the same building where I work now.

Citigroup Center, Part 1. Theater beneath the church and 7- story Atrium.

601 Lexington Avenue (Citigroup Center) is the 4th tallest in the city and 3rd tallest in Midtown. The building has a unique slopped roof and is one of the most recognizable skyscrapers on the New York City skyline. 

At the base of the building there is a large sunken plaza and the 7- story Atrium with several restaurants, Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles  bookstore and 24/7 Fitness. There are tables in the center of the atrium where you can just take a sit, relax and listen to the music - there is live pianist noon to 2 pm weekdays.

In summer there is music every Thursday in the sunken plaza. This atrium is among the best privately owned public spaces in the city to spend several hours when it is too cold or rainy outside.  If you are a member of the gym you can easily spend a whole day without going outside. 24/7 Fitness works 24 hours a day and has a pool, sauna and a steam room. The women’s restroom is located underneath the East 54th Street through block arcade entry; the men’s under the East 53rd Street entry.

 There is even a small gallery owned by POP International Galleries.

Old Church Building

The northwest corner (one third of a city block ) of the lot was occupied by St. Peter's Lutheran Church. The Gothic-style old church building was built on the corner at 54th and Lexington Avenue in 1903. In the 1960s the church faced financial problems and wanted to sell its property.

In 1970, the First National City Bank (later known as Citibank), located just across the street, purchased the property for $9 million. The church agreed to sell the property only if the new St. Peter's church, to be built by Citigroup, had to be a distinctive building, not incorporated in the office tower. The columns were placed at the tower's base center of each side rather than at the corners. This design opened enough space and allowed the northwest corner of the building to cantilever 72 feet (22 m) over the new church.

  

St. Peter's supports an extensive music program: an excellent choir, a Bach festival, a series of weekly jazz and classical music concerts, and a Jazz ministry. The main sanctuary of the church and offices are situated below street level with an off-Broadway theater seating 178 lying underneath that. 

This winter the theater lovers have a chance (January 31  and    February 1  only)  to  see the show “Dragons” based on  Yevgeny Schwartz’s play, The Dragon.   The   Classical Concert Series on Tuesday’s  night at 8 PM are free and open to the public.  The church in partnership with the Midtown Arts Common, hosts   jazz concerts on  Wednesday’s at 1:00 P.M.

After the purchase of the property of the St. Peter's church, five more years were needed for Citibank to buy the rest of the block.

Construction on the building began in 1974 and completed in 1977 at the total cost of just under $200 million. On its completion the Citicorp building was the seventh-tallest building in the world.

The roof of Citigroup Center slopes at a 45-degree angle because it was originally intended to contain solar panels to provide energy. However, this idea was dropped because the solar panels would not face the sun directly. 

The building has a double-deck elevators  - a  lift   with two cars attached together, one on top of the other.

TMD ( from Wiki)

To help stabilize the building and reduce the amplitude of mechanical vibrations, a computer driven harmonic absorber (tuned mass damper- TMD) with weigh of 400 tons was placed in the mechanical space at its top. The Citigroup was the second skyscraper in US that used TMD. The first one was John Hancock Tower in Boston.

Less than one year later  fatal flaw of the Citicorp building was discovered by the structural engineer himself, William J. LeMessurier. You will read about the ’59 story crisis’ (a title of the article from  ‘The New Yorker ’ ) in my next post.

14 Wall street, St Mark's Campanile and fertilizer tycoon

 

14 Wall Street 

Gillender Building

     14 Wall Street   skyscraper (29 floors) sits across Broad Street from Federal Hall.   It is not the first skyscraper occupying this lot.  The first one was a 20-story Gillender Building, named after millionaire Eccles Gillender.  The building was  completed 1897 and was one of the  eighth tallest structures in New York.  It was named "one of the wonders of the city"    and was demolished in 13 years, in 1910.    Gillender Building  was the  first skyscraper wrecked to make way for a taller skyscraper. But it was not the last one.  For instance, Singer Building, a 47-story office building completed in 1908, was demolished  in 1960 and  1 Liberty plaza with 60 floors was built.

Architects  took  St Mark's Campanile   (the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice) as a base for the design. Many  skyscrapers took the Venetian bell-tower as a  model for a modern office tower such as The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Towerin New York.

Campanile in Venice

Tower in Denver

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower in New York

Other examples in US are the Daniels & Fisher Tower in Denver  and Sather Tower, nicknamed the Campanile, on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.  

14 Wall street

But for the architects Trowbridge & Livingston of 14 wall street it was not enough – they used Mausoleum of Halicarnassus,  designed by the Greek architects  between 353 and 350 BC in present Bodrum, Turkey  as a model for structure  on top of the tower. 
Mausolus  was a satrap (governor) of Caria in South Asia. The  word Mausoleum  comes from the name of his  tomb . 26 Broadway in New York is based on the model  of the Mausoleum.

The building on Wall street was built for the Bankers Trust headquarters .  Bankers Trust was founded in 1903 and fourteen years later it became a full-service bank and one of the country's wealthiest financial institutions. Bankers Trust adopted the pyramid at the top of the skyscraper as its trademark, and took as its slogan "A Tower of Strength".

When 14 Wall Street was completed in 1912, it was the tallest bank building in the world and one of the three or four tallest buildings in the city.  Over the next few decades  the 14 Wall Street Building became an iconic symbol of American capitalism and the Wall Street financial district.

There was a J.P. Morgan's private residence on the   31st floor 1911 to 1913. Later  penthouse  was converted into an upscale French restaurant called "The 14 Wall Street"  that had panoramic views of New York Harbor and had the  menu in French  style.  However, the restaurant was closed in April 2006.

In 1935 Bankers Trust assets had reached $1 billion. In 1961 the bank opened a second major headquarters in midtown at 280 Park Avenue.  In 1987 Bankers Trust sold the building to 14 Wall Street Associates. In 1991 the building passed to the 14 Wall Street Realty Corp., and in 1992 it was acquired by General Electric Investment Corporation.  On January 21, 2007, the building's owners  agreed to sell the property to Cushman & Wakefield. 
 

In April 2012, majority control of the  1.05 million-square-foot building  was sold for $303 million in cash to Alexander Rovt, a fertilizer tycoon from Ukraine, who paid off the building's outstanding debt as part of the deal.  This skyscraper is the largest building built by  Rovt but not the first one! In my next  post I’ll tell you more about mr. Rovt from  Mukachevo!

9/11 12 Years Later

Twelve years ago on September 11  2001, the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda  hijacked four passenger airliners.   Two of the planes crashed into the North Twin  and South Twin towers. Within two hours, both towers collapsed.  In total, almost 3,000 people died in the attacks.   

I feel closely connected  to this  tragedy. I worked at  15 Broadway  in 2001 ( just around the corner from World Trade Center and found a new job   in Midtown less  than a  month before  9-11.  I had an interview in the South tower  and remember the view from  the office window.  My project manager left the company I had been working with  two weeks after me and started his second week at the new place on  one of the top floors on the South tower.  His body was never found.   My husband worked on Water street in Downtown less than a mile from the World Trade Center.  My kids had classes  in college near Brooklyn Bridge  at that day. They walked home crossing  the East River  by  Brooklyn Bridge with t-shirts over their heads to protect themselves  from the ash and smoke.  Just a week before 9-11 I looked at the New York skyline from the Staten Island ferry with my friend and was very proud to show her the beauty of it.

 The twin towers of the World Trade Center,  built in 1970 and 1972, were more than just buildings. They were proof of New York's belief in itself.     The complex had its own zip code, 10048.  The towers became the symbol of New York – you could see Twins  everywhere – on posters and mugs, t-shirts , refrigerator magnets  and  place mats. I have magnets on my fridge at home. I put the place mats in the closet    and keep them  as a piece of a history. 

In February 1993 terrorists drove a truck packed with 1,100 lbs of explosives into the basement parking garage at the World Trade Center. The blast left a crater 22 ft wide and five stories deep. Six people were killed and 1,000 injured.  In less than a month the towers were repaired and cleaned.

It took 9 months to clean the site of the World Trade Center after 9/11 and in 2002 the Ground Zero was ready for rebuilding. The  “Ground Zero” was a was military slang  and was used    describing the  Manhattan Project and the bombing of Japan. Reporters from different media  companies  almost simultaneously  used this term just several hours after the towers collapsed .

Freedom tower, June 2011

It  took nearly a year and a half for the city to even decide upon a rebuilding plan. In July 2002, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC) — the agency that oversees the World Trade Center's redevelopment — released six proposals for how to rebuild the site. For the most famous construction site in the U.S., the plans showed surprisingly little creativity.   

Freedom Tower, June 2011

     The LMDC tried again. An international competition was held, and in February 2003, a Polish-American architect named Daniel Libeskind was awarded the project for designing a very tall, asymmetrical skyscraper.  The off-center spire on the top of the building had to mirror the Statue of Liberty's torch and was aligned with the sun so that no shadow would be cast on the anniversary of the attacks. Libeskind was a dreamer and did not have experience building skyscrapers.

July 2013

Developer  Larry Silverstein,   who signed  the lease to the World Trade Center site six week before  9-11, was in charge of the rebuilding . Silverstein was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, in Brooklyn in 1931 into a Jewish family. He graduated from New York University in 1952 and attended classes at Brooklyn Law School.  Silverstein has said on interviews that he usually spent his mornings in breakfast meetings at Windows on the World on top of the World Trade Center North Tower. However on the morning of 9-11 he  had a medical appointment with his doctor. 

Silverstein brought on another architect, David Childs, with whom he had worked before. He and Governor Pataki asked the two architects to work together.   More than a year later in July 2004 New York governor Pataki, New Jersey governor McGreevey, and New York City mayor Bloomberg laid the cornerstone for the new building. Governor of New York George Pataki stated in 2003 that, "The Freedom Tower isn't going to be One World Trade Center, it's going to be the Freedom Tower”.

August 2013

The architects clashed  for many years. The  New York Police Department, fearful of another attack on the future skyscraper,  rejected the first version  of David Childs design.  Tens of millions of dollars were lost, and the tower’s first 20 stories were turned into a concrete bunker. The tower was moved   further back from the street. Construction was delayed for another year.

The new plans were released on June 29, 2005. Things were moving slowly, and the 2008 financial crisis didn't help. To speed things along, Silverstein turned the Freedom Tower's construction over to the Port Authority in 2008.

August 2012

In 2008, the project was estimated to cost $11 billion to complete. The latest projection (as of July 2013) pegs the total bill to run close to $15 billion.

  On March 30, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the building would be known by its legal name, One World Trade Center.

August 2013

  Installation of a silver spire atop New York's new One World Trade Center skyscraper   was completed  on August 30, 2012. Its spire reaches a symbolic height of 1,776 (1776 is the year of the United States Declaration of Independence ) feet (541 m). The tower became the tallest building in New York City   and   the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

A three-level observation deck called One World Observatory will open in 2015, fourteen years after 9-11. 

The original Twin towers were built in five and a half years forty years ago. It took five years to construct Rockefeller center during the Great Depression. And it took only one year and 45 days to build 102 floors  of  The Empire State Building more than 80 years ago. Twelve  years passed since 9-11 and the rebuild  of the Ground Zero is not complete yet.   What a shame!

The famous publisher William Hearst, “The greenest” skyscraper and castle in California. Part 2

Hearst Empire. Part 1

Hearst Corporation is one of the largest diversified media companies in the world. The corporation now includes about 200 separate businesses. Each day, nearly 20,000 people are at work at Hearst.  

     The founder of the corporation is William Randolph Hearst. He built the nation’s largest newspaper chain, his methods deeply influenced American journalism. He was a multi-millionaire  and a son  of a millionaire. A new building for Hearst corporation was built  in 2008 on the top of the old one,build on 1928. It is located near Columbus circle  and Central Park . 

     Hearst mother  left  him the family’s fortune, which included a 168,000-acre ranch in San Simeon, California half way between Los Angeles and  San Francisco.  Hearst spent his child years there and loved the place and built a castle on the lot of more than 15 square miles.

His  original idea was to build a bungalow, according to a draftsman who recounted Hearst's words from the initial meeting: I would like to build something upon the hill at San Simeon. I get tired of going up there and camping in tents. I'm getting a little too old for that.

     Construction started in 1919 and continued through 1947. There are 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms and  19 sitting rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo in the castle - so it is not a bungalow at all!

     The castle was designed by architect Julia Morgan - the first female graduate of the prestigious  "Ecole Des Beaux Arts"  in Paris. She was the first woman architect licensed in California. She started on the castle in 1919 and ended only by Hearst's declining health in 1947.   During her 45-year career, she designed more than 700 homes, churches, office buildings, hospitals, stores, and educational buildings. Julia wrote: ”Never turn down a job because you think it’s too small;  you don’t know where it can lead.”

     One of the highlight of the estate is the outdoor Neptune Pool, located near the edge of the hilltop. The Neptune Pool patio has an ancient Roman temple front ( not a copy!) , transported from Europe and reconstructed at the site.  The pool the holds 345,000 gallons of water and includes the oil burning heating system.

A tiled indoor Roman pool is styled after an ancient Roman bath. Hearst was affected by the beauty of the mosaics in the 5th Century Mausoleum in Ravenna, Italy and implemented  similar styles into his pool.

     Eight marble statues, decorating the pool, were carved starting in 1930 by Italian Sculptor  and are the  copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues. Hearst spent millions of dollars expanding the property, building a Baroque-style castle, filling it with European artwork, and surrounding it with exotic animals and plants.

     The Hollywood and political elite often visited the castle. There is a small private  airport   at the bottom of the hill. Guests also could take a private Hearst-owned train car from Los Angeles.  Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Clark Gable, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were among Hearst's guests.

   In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to the state of California. Hearst Castle became a United States National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976.  The site attracts about one million visitors per year and you can become one of them.  I was there several years ago. Believe me - it’s amazing!

     When Randolph Hearst left his castle for health reasons, he moved into this Beverly Hills mansion that girlfriend Marion Davies purchased for him in 1946.  The house has 29 bedrooms, three swimming pools, tennis courts, its own cinema and a nightclub. Hearst  spent there the last twenty years of his life. John and Jacqueline Kennedy stayed in this house for their honeymoon.

     The property was briefly listed at $165 million in 2007, and in  2012 price was  $95 million.

     According to the LA Times, the Beverly House’s 4th and current owner, attorney-investor Leonard M. Ross, purchased the mansion over 30 years ago. Unfortunately, it appears Mr. Ross has run into recent financial difficulty and he filed for bankruptcy on May 2013.   Estate is  on the market for  $117.5 million. Anyone interested?

Visit Hearst Castle in California

The Hearst Empire, “The greenest” skyscraper and castle in California. Part 1

Hearst Empire. Part 2

The Hearst Tower, home for the headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, is located at 300 West 57th Street, near Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan. It is was the first "green" high rise office building in New York, and the first skyscraper built after  9/11/2001. The founder of the corporation William Randolph Hearst built the nation’s largest newspaper chain. He is considered to be the father of the “yellow” press and had an extraordinary estate sitting on more than 150,000 acres in between Los Angeles and San Francisco with it's own airport and a zoo.  

     The tower on 57 has 46 stories and uncommon triangular framing pattern.  It was built in 2006 on the top of the six-story base completed 78 years  earlier, in 1928. The building was considered the best world sky scrapper of the year 2006  and received the prestigious annual  Emporis Skyscraper Award.

     The old building, designed by architect Joseph Urban, was completed in 1928 and was named “The International Magazine Building”. At that time Hearst owned 12 magazines. From the beginning, the building was structurally reinforced for an office tower.  Plans were filed in 1946, but never executed. The original building has cast stone façade with limestone columns and allegorical figures representing music, art, commerce and industry.  

    Hearst Tower is one of the most environmentally friendly office towers in New York City and is among the top 10% of energy-efficient buildings in the nation. The roof collects rainwater, reducing the amount of water dumped into the City's sewer system during rainfall by a quarter .90% of the Tower's structural steel contains recycled materials. Light sensors inside control the amount of artificial light on each floor, based on the amount of natural light available at any time. The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone. The building is naturally ventilated for up to three quarters of the year.

     William Hearst was born in California in 1863. His father was a California Gold Rush multimillionaire. William   was taught in private schools and attended Harvard College.  Later William run his father’s newspaper “San Francisco Examiner”. He upgraded the equipment and hired the most talented writers of this time, including Mark Twain and Jack London. In 1891 his father died, and Hearst inherited   about $15 million dollars ( half of his father’s estate).

     During his college years Williams was inspired by the well-known publisher Joseph Pulitzer and later he bought his newspaper New York Morning Journal  in 1895. This was the beginning of  Hearst Empire.

     William Hearst dominated journalism for nearly a half century. As an editor,  Hearst adopted a sensational brand of reporting later known as "yellow journalism".  Wardman, the editor of   New York Press, was the first to publish the term but he had never defined the term exactly. In 1898 the paper simply elaborated: "We called them Yellow because they are Yellow".

The term was widely popular at the late nineteenth century during the battle between “New York World” by Joseph Pulitzer's and William Randolph Hearst's “New York Journal” .

    The unproved information about the reason of the explosion on the battleship “Maine” and a private letter, published by Hearst,   could be one of the stimulus for a Spanish American War at the end of XIX century.  However, after the war started,   Hearst sailed to Cuba as a war correspondent and provided accurate information about the war.  Four days after the tragedy (more than 250 sailors were killed) , Hearst's New York Morning Journal called for a public collection for a monument to honor the sailors. The monument stands on the Columbus Circle, half a mile from the Hearst Tower. You can read more about the monument in one of my previous  posts.

     In the beginning of the XX century Hearst entered politics.  Hearst did win election to the House of Representatives in 1902 and 1904 and  spent more than  2 million dollars for United States presidential election in  1904.

     By the 1920s, one in every four Americans read a Hearst newspaper. Media empire had grown to include 20 daily and 11 Sunday papers in 13 cities. Hearst  and his empire were at their zenith.

     The Great Depression hit Hearst hard and he was forced   to sell the Washington Times and merge most of his remaining papers late in the decade. Exploring other emerging non-print media, Mr. Hearst began acquiring radio stations in the 1920s. In 1948, he became the owner of one of the first television stations in the country. William Hearst died in 1951 at age 88.

"Citizen Hearst," a documentary about the 125-year-old Hearst Corp. and founder William Randolph Hearst had world premier  at the 2012 Hamptons International Film Festival .

Books about Hearst from Amazon:

William Randolph Hearst: The Later Years, 1911-1951

The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph  

One57 - the new condo on the Billionaire’s Row

   The  tallest residential building in New York City and the Western Hemisphere One57 Tower is now under construction on 157 West 57th Street, not far from Carnegie Hall. Extell Development Co. is the developer of the 90-story building.

Gary Barnett is President and founder of Extell. He had his bachelors from Queens College and Masters from Hunter. Barnett started  as a diamond trader in Antwerp, Belgium.   Later he returned to  United States  and  purchased shopping malls and office buildings in the Midwest.
 The architect is Christian de Portzamparc, a French architect.

 

     Portzamparc graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970. His recent works in New York include LVMH Tower (1995) and residential tower on Park avenue South ,400 that has to be finished later in 2013.   One57 has only 92 condo units and includes everything you need (or maybe just dream about): triple-height indoor swimming pool with Jacuzzi, a crafts atelier, and even a pet washing room.

     Sales at the tower reached $1 billion a year ago.  Extell had  already twice increased prices. About 70% of One57's 92 units are sold.

     Three days ago Extell open their model apartment to attract more buyers- the building is almost complete.The walls  in this unit are covered in raw silk ,there is a leather-upholstered headboard,  fox-fur bedspread and crystal chandelier, World Street Journal reported.

     Last October during hurricane Sandy hundreds of people had to leave their homes because the winds had damaged the boom of a crane on One57 that was 1,000 feet above the sidewalk. Donald Trump told CNBC that he could see the crane from his window and it was moving violently in the wind before it collapsed. “I know lots about cranes and lots about building, and I am looking at that crane right now,” Donald Trump said. “I have a window that’s just about even with that crane and I was watching it yesterday, and they didn’t tie it down.”

     Buyers of the apartments in One57 include 66 years old fashion designer  Silas Chou from Hong Kong  (unit on 82nd floor with the price about $50 million), and   the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management LP William Ackman with the group of investors (penthouse for more than $90 million).

      $90 million is a new record for Manhattan apartments. The old record was set in February 2012 for apartment purchased for the daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.

     One of the One57's latest buyers is a two-year-old Chinese girl. Her mother, who took care of the paperwork and stuff, said that her daughter will be “….. planning on going to Columbia or NYU, maybe Harvard, so she needed to be in the center of the city”

     Michael Gross , the author of bestseller  “740 Park” ( the inside story of    New York’s richest  cooperative apartment building)  published in 2005, introduced the term  "Billionaire's Belt "  for  57 street and vicinity.

     He said that he had seen “an uptick in the number of billionaires flocking to luxury buildings in the 57th Street and 59th Street corridors to the southern corner of Central Park, along to the Bloomberg building and 432 Park Avenue.”

 

"This neighborhood never really defined itself before," Gross told Business Insider. "Now, it's becoming the new 'billionaire's belt.'"

     By the way, Michael Gross and his wife live in  Alwyn Court (180 West 58th ) -   apartment house that was evacuated twice during last 6 months-the first rime when the crane on One57 collapsed, and the second time just less than two months ago when  the crane had to be reinstalled.

 

     One57  with it 1,004 feet will not keep the record for a long - apartment building 432 Park Avenue (completed by 2015) will be even taller. And the planned building  on 227 West 57th has enough air rights to rise 1,550 feet.   Six-bedroom, seven-bath penthouse with a library in 432 Park avenue is already under agreement for $95 million. So sky is the limit!

Learn more:

Haute Living:One57 Penthouse: Most Expensive Manhattan Property Ever for $110 Mil 

The Real Deal: CNBC video Trump alleges negligence at One57 tower crane collapse