In 2005, the real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller declared in New York magazine that the land value of Central Park was worth no less than $528,783,552,000. In these post-traumatic times, according to Mr. Miller’s calculations, the number is now down to $363,538,692,000. But that doesn’t mean that it’s any less crushingly colossal to have an apartment that stares at the park’s 843 acres, 26,000 trees, 21 playgrounds, 275 bird species and 9,000 benches.
A good Central Park view is still the citywide Platonic ideal, the kind of thing that makes a broker with a $33 million, 13th-floor duplex across from Central Park Zoo murmur, “You look down and watch the polar bears play, it’s just heavenly—heavenly.” As far as better Fifth Avenue bargains go, the $32.5 million tag for an apartment on the Pierre’s 29th floor was just cut to $27.5 million.
Across the park, Tavern on the Green declared bankruptcy last month, but people aren’t panicking over Central Park West’s home values. A Weinstein brother wants $29.75 million for his penthouse duplex at the Beresford (and a $6.5 million co-op at the Majestic that doesn’t even clear the tree line is in contract to sell).
Horses and tourists probably make Central Park South less awe-inspiring to live on, but the views from buildings like the old Navarro are stretched-out and sumptuously symmetric. Fifty-one blocks away, Central Park North recently got a shiny glass condo that broke Harlem real estate sales records, but the building didn’t quite remake the area into a high-priced condominium dreamland—which is probably a good thing. —Max Abelson
