The New Gold Coast: Ultra-Luxury Townhouses in the West 80’s

Ultra-luxury townhouse renovations on the Upper West Side – especially on the prized blocks between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue – are booming in the West 80s.  Several of these homes, renovated and ready for renovation, including the 25’-wide, mansion-sized townhouse at 60 West 83^rdStreet, will have open houses this coming Thursday, November 14, from 12:30-2:00pm.

Sale prices in the past few years show just how desirable these blocks are.  The eighties have Central Park, great transportation everywhere (with the 79^th and 86^th Street crosstown buses making East Side schools especially easy), and wonderful new and established restaurants and stores.  They’re close to the great museums—not just the Museum of Natural History, but the Children’s Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, and all of Museum Mile. 

Since 2011, between 84^th and 85^thStreets, 247 and 249 Central Park West sold for $22.375 and $17.5 million, respectively. The 19-foot-wide 9 West 84th Street sold for $12.2 million in 2011.  “For a house that wasn’t even a 20-footer, this was a benchmark,” said Dexter Guerrieri, President of Vandenberg, The Townhouse Experts.  The 18-foot-wide 45 West 84^th Street closed at $10.7 million in 2012.  And the trend continues:  20-foot-wide 53 West 88^thStreet, even further north, closed for $14.3 million this year.

Some of this, of course, has to do with the shortage of townhouses on the market over the past two years – in 2012, there were about half as many townhouse listings on the Upper West Side as in an average year, according to statistics provided by Mr. Guerrieri.  “People who thought they only wanted the 70s started looking in the 80s as well, and liked what they saw,” said Guerrieri.

Right now, West 83^rd Street is booming:  two houses are being renovated into single-family dwellings, and the owners of 14 West 83^rd Street liked the block so much that they bought #16 next door and are combining the two into a 36’ ultra-wide townhouse.

There’s another trophy on the market here: the 25-foor-wide mansion at 60 West 83^rd Street, currently listed for $15,250,000, and ready for renovation into a rare dreamhouse. As the only 25-foot-wide townhouse on the West Side market with a full south garden, it should fetch a healthy price from a well-heeled buyer.  It has true mansion style, too: thirteen-foot ceilings, baronial-sized rooms, huge windows to bring in the light, gorgeous 1885 woodwork, a grand staircase and beautiful mantels.

“In the last five years, there hasn’t been another 25-footer with a south garden that can compare to this,” said Guerrieri, the listing broker.  “For buyers searching for a 25-foot-wide townhouse to create a single-family mansion, this is the best choice by far.”

Dexter Guerrieri

1995 Broadway, Suite 605

New York, NY 10023

Ph: 212-769-2900