The Rise and Rise of New York's Billionaire's Row | The B1M

[Music] widely acclaimed as a global city New York's eclectic mix of boroughs and neighborhoods gives it a rich and diverse identity that is envied to the world over shaped by nearly two centuries of economic cycles and the architectural and urban planning trends that accompany them the city that never sleeps is also continually evolving but one particularly notable development in recent times is the rise of a Manhattan neighborhood that caters for the super-rich with breathtaking views luxurious interiors endless amenities and eye watering price tags this new wave of properties are strictly for those with a 10 figure bank balance but how did this area come to be what sparked its growth in this particular districts how were planning controls addressed and hounded engineers make the development of such small scraps of land commercially viable this is the story behind New York's billionaires row with its extreme popularity and highly restrictive geographic context Manhattan Island is today one of the most densely populated areas on earth for decades developers have competed for space here balancing their quests for return on investment with the requirements of the city's planners and respect for the differing identities between the islands many neighborhoods those distinct areas shape the city we now experience from the high-rise financial centers around lower Manhattan and Midtown to the villages of Chelsea Greenwich and Soho and the exclusive addresses of the Upper East Side while planning controls have helped to create clear identities between these different neighborhoods they have also made any significant redevelopment of sites in established residential zones remarkably difficult with Manhattan's popularity ever-increasing and rising demand for luxury residences developers have begun to venture into commercial areas in search of suitable sites situated immediately south of Central Park the Midtown streets between Park Avenue and Columbus Circle have long had the air of prestige home to the iconic Plaza Hotel the Russian Tea Room Carnegie Hall and intersected by the desirable Fifth Avenue the district is naturally appealing for high-end residential developers in the last decade several significant schemes have emerged in this zone and in particular along 57th Street leading the area to become dubbed billionaires row the completion of 157 in 2014 was followed by the opening of 432 Park Avenue in 2016 and the development of 53 West 53rd Street 1 1 1 West 57th Street and Central Park tower thereafter these schemes offer extreme luxury against the backdrop of unique Central Park views addresses the some of the city's most desirable streets and close proximity to high-end retail outlets there is also the added benefit of avoiding Manhattan's cooperative arrangements where buyers typically purchase shares in the corporation that owns a property in exchange for the exclusive use of one of its units these arrangements demand the disclosure of financial information that doesn't always appeal to the super-rich with apartments sale prices starting in the tens of millions and extending well into hundreds of millions developers have seen returns of several billion u.s. dollars on these schemes to date but building here is not easy suffering from extreme overdevelopment carefully governed by planning laws and with only very small sites available developers and their project teams have been forced to innovate commercially developers need to maximize floor area in order to cover the costs of purchasing and developing their sites this often leads them to plan structures that go right up to the site boundaries concurrently all schemes must adhere to New York's strict floor area ratio or FA are planning legislation that controls the height of a structure relative to the size of its site to overcome at this potential obstacle developers purchase air rights from neighboring properties and effectively stack them onto their sites for city planners this approach protects against the overdevelopment of surrounding properties in the future while developers and those living within their structures are assured light and clear views out these arrangements have the added benefit of generating capital for those selling their rights enabling them to progress with smaller scale construction projects on their own land 53 West 53rd Street is perhaps the purest demonstration of this concept to date here the existing Museum of Modern Art sold an area of land adjacent to their main building together with the air rights above part of their estate this enabled the construction of the Jean Nouvel designed 53 W 53 tower while generating funds to redevelop the museum itself the link between the two structures on the site has been thankfully retained in novels notably artistic design that responds to numerous zoning and set back constraints and in benefactor memberships at the Museum for those purchasing residences within the tower with such small sites in their possession a strong desire to build high and maximize floor area and the legal constraints of doing so removed developers have turned to their project teams to solve the challenge of building super slender towers structures that are defined as having a width to height ratio greater than one to seven by moving away from a steel and embracing high-strength reinforced concrete engineers have been able to increase design flexibility and the overall strength of their structures with high-strength concrete cause housing vertical access and service routes super slender towers move much of their remaining structure to the perimeter of the floor plate negating the need for columns and maximizing functionality within residences in the case of 53w 53 and the impressive 432 Park Avenue this perimeter concrete structure has been stunningly incorporated into the overall aesthetic of the external facade but while high-strength reinforced concrete enabled these super slender towers to rise further engineering was required to ensure their stability at such extreme Heights 432 Park Avenue with a width to height ratio of 1 to 15 features double floor cutouts at 12 story intervals throughout its height allowing powerful wind forces to pass through as well as around its extremely thin structure this prevents areas of low pressure being created on one side of the structure as air currents move around it if unmitigated these areas could create repetitive rhythmic suction forces that would cause the tower to sway towards its upper levels we have demonstrated the effect of 432 Park Avenues design in a simulation developed using sim scales software with more than 150,000 users worldwide sim scale is an easy-to-use cloud-based engineering simulation platform that enables everyone to create powerful high-fidelity simulations in a web browser the platform can be tried for free through the community accounts which gives access to thousands of public simulations to promote knowledge sharing and to crowdsource advice 432 Park Avenues open floors are combined with the use of cubed mass dampers immensely heavy instruments suspended in voids at the top of the structure that help to counteract swaying motions where they begin to occur the 472 meter Central Park Tower is set to become the tallest structure on billionaires row and the second highest tower in the United States when it completes in 2020 this development combines an irregular profile with numerous setbacks to various facade across its height disrupting wind currents and preventing the formation of coherent vortices and dominant wind loads that can result in swaying we have again demonstrated the impact of this approach with a sim scale animation finally with a width to height ratio of 1 to 24 the breathtakingly narrow and exquisitely detailed 1 1 1 West 57th Street steadily tapers throughout its 435 meter height breaking up the facade uniformity that can lead to vortex shedding the result of these impressive engineering developments is not just the emergence and continued rise of New York's billionaires row but the birth of a broader super slender skyscraper phenomenon that is starting to influence other markets around the world the origin of these structures can be traced directly from New York City and their existence is unique to this specific time in our world's architectural history a product of New York's own zoning regulations near unrivaled appeal insatiable developers and engineering ingenuity billionaires row has become the latest distinct neighborhood in the rich tapestry of this thriving city [Music] if you enjoyed this video and would like to get more from the definitive videos channel for construction subscribe to the b1m [Music]

Channel: The B1M

Views: 2,237,047

Rating: 4.7930675 out of 5

Keywords: BIM, B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, SimScale, Fred Mills, new york, brooklyn, manhattan, super-skinny towers, super slender skyscraper, skyscraper, world trade center, wtc, one57, 111W57, 53W53, 432 Park Avenue, 432 PA, 111 West 57th Street, billionaires row, millionaire skyscraper, rich life, central park tower, nyc

Id: gYLQThUxpvQ

Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 19 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/liek_dis_if_u_cri]

The most expensive home in the US was just sold in the same area for $238 million.

[u/Eqoxobox]

Was this just one big elaborate advertisement for a simulator!?

[u/PolishMusic]

Fun somewhat related fact: In the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a similar "Millionaire's Row" home to some of the richest and most powerful people in the USA. It was located in the greatest city in the world... Cleveland, OH.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid_Avenue_(Cleveland)

It was essentially the same situation in the video without the current inflation and income inequality that allows for billionaires to exist today. New York's view seems to be Central Park while Cleveland's was Lake Erie and the greenery surrounding the city. The Rockefellers lived there for a while in the late 1800s.

Most of the houses have been demolished or repurposed, but it's still an interesting part of Cleveland history.

[u/adventurejay]

Do they come with parachutes?

[u/IPunderduress]

Interesting to hear about the selling of the air rights. I live in Asia and they just fucking build everywhere and block everyone else's views without giving a fuck.

[u/MidnightGolan]

I didn't need this kind of negativity in my life.

[u/kaveman6143]

There's something wrong with this world when people can hoard so much wealth.