“The top is the best part of the building — it is where everyone wants to be,” says Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who’s building six penthouses on top of the top of the Puck Building, at $20 to $60 million each. The New York Times reports this is a trend or something. There are some “extraordinarily sophisticated and unusual” penthouses being built on top of the top of the Cast Iron House on Broadway, and some on top of the top of the buildings near the Whitney Museum.
The penthouse on top of the top of the Cast Iron House is pretty special. Designed by Shigeru Ban Architects, it has retractable walls so your first floor is inseparable from the roof and so, it rolls out into all that “outdoor” space, which is a very rare and expensive thing in New York City apparently. It’s kind of like a sidewalk, but in the sky, and one but you can use it.
It’s actually 50 percent more expensive to develop property stacked on top of other property, but the profits more than make up for it, so there’s going to be more and more of these things available for those seeking maximum privacy, much outdoor space and the most ostentatious of pomp. For the rest of us, time to give up our back-up plan of Ghost Dog-ing in a combination pigeon coop/roof hut and watch the landscape change.
(Images: Hayes Davidson/DesignBoom)
