Sweet Deal in Manhattan

By Penny Munoz

Designed in 1931 by the classical American architect, William Bottomley, The Residence at the River House embodied the lavish lifestyles of the wealthiest in the city at the time. Hitting the market today for $130 million, interior designer Tony Ingrao has proposed plans to reinvent the Manhattan 5-level home to epitomize contemporary extravagance in the same way.

Replacing the Pierre Hotel Penthouse as the most expensive listing in New York City, which was listed for $125 million last April, The Residence at the River House overlooks the East River in Turtle Bay. Even with a prime location, the price of this townhouse far exceeds the median price for the area which is set at $1.4 million. Justifying the inconceivable price, the listing emphasizes that in its “existing condition,” The Residence is an opportunity “enabling the purchaser to create what will truly be one of the grandest urban residences in the world.”

Ingrao’s proposed design offers guests a private entrance from the 52nd Street cul-de-sac into a magnificent 8,400 square foot entrance. Included in his plans: a 62-foot swimming pool, a tennis court, full spa, a 27,500 square foot garden and an IMAX screening room.

Still part of a private members’ club, the elitist pre-war co-op building is finally dropping its aristocratic, exclusive airs. No longer requiring a tax return from potential buyers, and even hiring a public relations consultant, speculation has it that increased available real estate in the area could be responsible for this shift in attitude. The gradual adoption of more lenient policies like allowing brokers to host the odd open house proves that the co-op is taking progressive leaps from their original policies, when the co-op reportedly declined applications from the rich, upper-crust like: Diane Keaton, Joan Crawford, Gloria Vanderbilt and Richard Nixon!

At 62,000 square feet, the home costs approximately $2,100 a square foot. A steal compared to the recently sold penthouse in Vancouver, which sold for about $3,600 a square foot.

All renderings by Tony Ingrao via Brown Harris Stevens