OCTOBER 10, 2014 Real Estate Another Glass Tower at Madison Square

By ROBIN FINN

In a neighborhood not yet overrun by luxury condominiums but very much in vogue with globe- trotters wishing to acquire a residence with the caliber of amenities and views only a skyscraper can reliably deliver, 45 East 22nd Street is about to as- sert itself just a stone’s throw from Madison Square Park’s only other modern glass-skinned tower, One Madison. The 65-story skyscraper will top off at 777 feet, besting One Madison by about 150 feet. But unlike other towers going up around town, the floor plate for this one will expand as the building rises. At ground level, the site measures 75 feet wide, but the glass tower incorporates a subtle 17-foot cantilever above its low-rise neighbor to the west, which allows the building to grow progressively wider as it rises, insuring that every apartment is slightly different in size. It culminates in a 7,000-square-foot penthouse on the 64th and 65th floor, with the top floor measuring 125 feet wide. Paul Katz, a principal of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, which designed the building and is the firm behind the master plan for Hudson Yards, described the tower as “a flaring, Brancusi-esque sculptural form.” Construction at the site, cobbled together from an assemblage of air rights and de- molitions on East 22nd Street, is expected to start in February. A sales office opens this month, and the anticipated move-in date for the first wave of buyers of the 83 units, which will range from $2.5 million to $42.5 million, is December 2016. A spokesman for One Madison said that the ar- rival of 45 East 22nd Street poses no serious danger to the ballyhooed views from the incumbent tower where secured the triplex pent- house and a full-floor condo beneath it. Only lower-floor views in the direction of Stuyvesant Town are poten- tially affected, the spokesman said. The new tower’s developer, the Continuum Company’s indefatigable Ian Bruce Eichner, has a complicated history with One Madison. He tried unsuccessfully to buy One Madison in 2010, after the building ran into financial trouble and was hobbled by debt and multiple lawsuits; , the CIM Group and the HFZ Capital Group later emerged as the new owners. This time, Mr. Eichner did his due diligence in obtain- ing financing for his multimillion-dollar project at 45 East 22nd Street: Goldman Sachs provided a $340 million construction loan, with an additional $80 million from the Fortress Investment Group and Dune Real Estate Partners. In a recent interview at the sales office at 315 South, Mr. Eichner described the financing, archi- tectural plan, and amenity packages as “fully baked. The only things we haven’t picked out and bought yet are the mailboxes.” Mr. Eichner, whose previous projects include One Place, CitySpire and the Continuum South Beach, says he feels the opportunity to build a significant tower in an iconic neighborhood is a one-off. “Look, I’m a senior citizen, and I don’t see myself ever getting to do anything like this again in my lifetime,” he said. The glass tower will have what KPF describes as a “contextually appropriate” rusti- cated granite base reminiscent of a grand manor house, carved from the same type of stone used for the historic Custom House in downtown Manhattan. Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story There will be no more than two apartments per floor, and residences will begin on the equivalent of the ninth floor, with full-floor units from the 55th floor. Lower floors will be dedicated to building amenities. The views from the upper floors will include the Hudson and East Rivers, the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings and . But even buyers of the smaller apartments on lower floors will have access to the building’s so- called Upper Club on the 54th floor for private dining and entertaining. One-bedrooms will average 1,074 square feet and cost $2.5 million. The two variants of two-bedroom apart- ments will cost $4.49 million for 1,497 square feet and $4.87 million for 1,525 square feet. Three-bedrooms will start at $6.04 million for 2,153 square feet. None of the apartments will have private outdoor space, but there will be a on the fifth floor, which will also house a lounge, billiards room and card room. The fourth floor will have a fitness center, and there will be a children’s playroom, golf simulator, yoga studio and half-court basket- ball facility on the second floor. The interior design is by the Martin Brudnizki Design Studio of New York and London. According to Mr. Brudnizki, buyers will be able to select from three finishes for the floors and kitchen cabinetry, and all interior corners will be rounded: “The softness is in the details, and every apartment will have a personality,” he said. The Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group is handling the sales.