Sales Market

What's the priciest Manhattan park frontage? It's not what you might think

  • The median price for recent sales along Hudson River Park in Chelsea had the greatest surcharge
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By Jennifer White Karp  |
April 17, 2024 - 9:30AM
Central Park in Manhattan

The median sales price for buildings overlooking the central Midtown section of Central Park is $4,500,000, as per a new PropertyShark report.

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Manhattan park views are understandably a costly amenity, but if you thought Central Park had the priciest park frontage, you would be wrong.

A new survey from PropertyShark looked at sales in the past 12 months facing Manhattan parks and found that apartments bordering Hudson River Park in Chelsea have the greatest surcharge, edging out units along Central Park’s swankiest strip in Central Midtown.

The median sales price for apartments facing the Chelsea portion of Hudson River Park is $4,538,000. When you compare that to the median sales price for the neighborhood ($1,415,000), it is an increase of 221 percent, equivalent to a $3,123,000 surcharge, according to Eliza Theiss, senior writer at PropertyShark.  

For sales in buildings along the central Midtown section of Central Park, the median sales price is $4,500,000. Compared to the median sales price in the neighborhood ($1,393,000), that’s a 223 percent increase, equal to a $3,107,000 surcharge, Theiss wrote.

The survey considered Manhattan parks of at least 10 acres, and only those that had at least five residential sales in buildings nearby between April 4th, 2023 and April 4th, 2024. For parks bordered by multiple neighborhoods, PropertyShark determined separate median sale prices for each neighborhood, and for nearby buildings with park frontage.

A surprising outlier

Of the 15 Manhattan parks that met the criteria, eight parks had higher median sales prices for adjacent buildings compared to the neighborhood, five had lower prices, and one (Tompkins Square Park) had no noticeable difference. Manhattan’s largest green space, Central Park, had mixed trends with prices that were higher in buildings overlooking it in eight of its border neighborhoods, yet lower in one surprising area—Central Park South.

Apartments in buildings along Central Park South had a median sales price of $1,400,000, far below the median sales price for the neighborhood ($2,618,000).

“Those were the sharpest discounts both in percentages and dollar amounts between park-side buildings and the rest of the neighborhood, a result of the neighborhood’s much higher priced luxury buildings being developed further inland from Central Park,” Theiss wrote.

 

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Jennifer White Karp

Managing Editor

Jennifer steers Brick Underground’s editorial coverage of New York City residential real estate and writes articles on market trends and strategies for buyers, sellers, and renters. Jennifer’s 15-year career in New York City real estate journalism includes stints as a writer and editor at The Real Deal and its spinoff publication, Luxury Listings NYC.

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.

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