Photo Credit: Courtesy Extell

Developer Extell Development Company pioneered the addition of ultra-luxury condominiums along Billionaire's Row with One57 and now it's taking luxury living to new heights with Central Park Tower's 100th floor. Perched over 1,000 feet in the air, the 100th Floor at Central Park Tower is the heart of Central Park Club, a private residential club spanning approximately 50,000 square feet.

The club will offer residents luxury services and amenities across three floors. These include a private ballroom, dining room, bar, full-service kitchen, and wine and cigar lounges—all with incomparable Manhattan skyline views.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Extell

Extell has tapped some of the world’s most sought-after Michelin-starred chefs and culinary experts to offer an unparalleled food and beverage program for Central Park Club, giving residents access to world-renowned culinary experiences without ever needing to step outside.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Extell

Additionally, the unique amenity offerings at Central Park Tower will be managed by a renowned lifestyle specialist—name to be released at a later date. The stunning interiors of the 100th Floor were designed by the internationally celebrated design firm Rottet Studio, who also designed the building's residential interiors.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Extell

Additional amenities at Central Park Tower, located on the 14th and 16th floors, will include an expansive outdoor terrace with swimming pool and cabanas for entertaining, private screening room, residents’ lounge, children’s playground, a full floor of health, wellness, and spa amenities with state-of-the-art fitness equipment, and more.

The post The World’s Highest And Most-Private Residential Club appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

In the world of quick flips and maximizing purchase and construction dollars, renovating and restoring a brownstone for profit is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest for some exercise. Stripping and sanding and staining intricate wainscoting and moldings is a painstaking and costly affair that doesn’t result in a bump in resale value. Rather than restore the houses are denuded of their original charm, replaced by paint, expensive stone, light wood floors, sputnik lighting and gleaming commercial grade appliances. A scan of the NY Times real estate section shows a number of these type of townhouses asking top dollar.

59 Lincoln Place (photo courtesy of the New York Times)

Park Slope’s 59 Lincoln Place ($4,490,00), 151 President St in Carroll Gardens ($3,500,000) and 453 DeGraw Street in Gowanus ($4,200,000) are visually stunning and have a classic brownstone facade but inside are hardly recognizable from the conventional detail dripping Victorian houses we expect

292 16th St, Park Slope Brooklyn (photo courtesy of Zillow)

“There’s a difference between a restoration and renovation,” says Abdel Tarchid, a designer with Scavolini Kitchens in Brooklyn, who has been involved in many such renovations including  292 16th St in Park Slope. “Developers are not in the business of restoring. Certainly many of our clients, come to us for something very modern but tasteful, with clean lines where the electric and plumbing along with heating and cooling systems can be installed in an efficient manner. It would be painstaking to do if you had to navigate around old pipes and woodwork,” he says.

Doug Bowen a broker with Douglas Elliman has sold around 100 Brooklyn townhouses. He sees the kitchen as a driver for large-scale renovations in historic townhouses.

“The most successful townhouse renovations manage to craft open-plan kitchens seamlessly into these antique properties,” he told the Appliances Connection blog. “Townhouse configurations in the prime parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan trend to either a single family or a two family. Most commonly an upper triplex with a garden rental. Both are most successful with kitchens at the rear that bring the outdoors inside and visa versa.”

For those attached to these historic townhomes, who believe stripping them of their Victorian majesty is almost sacrilegious, a replacing battered vintage molding with newly made ones is often a faster, if still expensive, undertaking, resulting in something truly spectacular.

1 Verona Plce courtesy of Zillow.com

In 2017, 1 Verona Place shattered the sales record for a townhouse in Bed-Stuy when it sold for $3.3 million. The entire interior was gut renovated and with all new moldings custom built apart from part of the staircase and painted in black lacquer as was fashionable a century ago. The developers were Christiaan Bunce, a principal at the design firm KGBL, and Adam Dahill, a mortgage broker. 

What their renovation budget was, they didn’t disclose. The lofty sale though, succeeded in raising the comps for the neighborhood of other houses without their meticulous renovation.

“Old houses have layers of visual interest created by the elaborate details, but you don’t have to keep them all,” said Kimberly Neuhaus, founder of the full-service architecture firm Neuhaus Design who recently renovated 167 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. 

“When you renovate an old home many of the materials are pre-existing. Your new interventions should be constructed of materials that you love.”

The post Luxury Brooklyn Brownstones Are Increasingly Inspired By Ultra Modern, Pricey Condos appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.