Fieldbridge Associates LLC: NYC's "Super-Thin" Skyscraper Boom

An extraordinary species of skyscraper stands tall in New York, striking both for the slimness of its designs and for the astronomical prices of its sumptuous residential flats.

About twenty of these "super-thin" residential towers that redraw the silhouette of the city were inaugurated or began to be built in this century, many of them in recent years.

Real estate experts from Fieldbridge Associates LLC indicate that the boom makes iconic Manhattan skyscrapers like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler look more and more dated.

But the phenomenon also generates controversy and drives the idea of creating a tax on ultra-luxurious apartments in the city that have another purpose than the primary residence of their owners, something unprecedented in the United States.

Although New York has stood out worldwide, since the last century, for the size of its buildings that excite "inhabit the sky", the latest generation towers mark a unique moment according to experts from Fieldbridge Associates LLC.

"There is a new type of skyscraper that never existed before, which is characteristic of New York, and it is these super-thin condominium towers," say Fieldbridge Associates LLC experts.

The logic of luxury

In the last decade, 17 "super-tall" skyscrapers were built in New York. According to the Council's definition of tall buildings and urban habitats are those that exceed 300 meters.

Among them is 432 Park, designed by the Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly. The uilding is 425 meters of tall, so is the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere, since it was completed in 2015.

This skinny 96-story white tower sits on a stretch of Manhattan's 57th Street, near the southern edge of Central Park, known as a "billionaire corridor" for super-luxurious skyscrapers recently opened or under construction.

Fieldbridge Associates LLC experts share that, in the same area, the Central Park Tower is nearing completion, which with 472 meters will become the tallest residential tower in the hemisphere.

By comparison, the Empire State Building that has stood out in the city since 1931 is 381 meters tall. The One World Trade Center business tower, the tallest building in the hemisphere, measures 541 meters with its antenna (417 meters to the roof).

But, accorging to Fieldbridge Associates LLC experts, more than the hight, what characterizes New York's new residential skyscrapers is their thinness, marked by a minimal 1:10 ratio between the width of the building's base and its height.

There are several factors behind this phenomenon, from technological and engineering progress to New York standards, that limit the construction area more than the height.

But, builders, including those from Fieldbridge Associates LLC experts, have also confirmed that it is possible to sell those raised floors at unthinkable prices long ago, especially to an international elite of billionaires who purchase them as investments.

"The logic of luxury returns more money to the builder for the money he borrows to invest in the building and then sell the apartments," Fieldbridge Associates LLC experts explain.

"Each can be a more luxurious building," they add. "You get out of the elevator directly to your apartment, looking out the window at the horizon and Central Park."