5. 432 Park Avenue
432 Park Avenue is a residential skyscraper at 57th Street and Park Avenue, overlooking Central Park. The 1,396-foot-tall tower was developed by CIM Group and Harry B. Macklowe and designed by Rafael Viñoly, an Uruguayan architect. The building includes 125 condominiums and a private restaurant just for residents, with some of the most expensive units on the New York market. Completed in 2015, the building is segmented into 12-story blocks separated by two-story mechanical spaces allowing wind gusts to pass through the building. Its construction even required approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, with a height to width ratio of 15:1. The building’s height was permitted by zoning regulations partly because a quarter of the building’s floor area is devoted to structural and mechanical equipment.
432 Park Avenue is situated on the site of the former Drake Hotel, which was sold in 2006. It was built in 1926 by Bing & Bing and included 495 rooms, catering to guests like Frank Sinatra, members of Led Zeppelin, Judy Garland and Muhammad Ali. After purchasing the hotel for $418 million, Macklowe paid French delicatessen company Fauchon $4 million to shorten the terms of their lease on the ground floor of the Drake Hotel, vacating nine years earlier than they were supposed to. The property was soon demolished, and construction plans were approved for 432 Park Avenue in 2011. Now, the pencil tower includes 12-foot ceilings, golf training facilities, a fitness center with a pool, and a private terrace.