Review / ‘Uniquely New York’? Inside Steinway Tower, a US$30 million apartment in the world’s skinniest skyscraper on Billionaires’ Row

A bevy of super-tall, glossy skyscrapers is rising along New York City’s Billionaires’ Row, an area south of Central Park that’s home to some of the most expensive real estate in the city.

There’s Central Park Tower, which recently became the tallest residential building in the world. Then there's 220 Central Park South, which broke real estate records when billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin paid US$238 million for a spread of condos. Both towers are expected to be finished some time in 2020.

And now, nearing completion is 111 West 57th Street, which has the distinction of being the world's most slender skyscraper. The 435-metre (1,428-foot) tower is 24 times taller than it is wide and has only one residence per floor.

The skinny skyscraper, which was developed by JDS Development Group, Property Markets Group and Spruce Capital Partners, is expected to welcome its first residents in the summer of 2020.

Also known as Steinway Tower, the super-tall tower is the most slender tower in the world, according to the developers.

According to New York's Skyscraper Museum, a tower's slenderness is based on the width of the base compared to the height of the building.

“A tower can be very tall, but not slender, and it can be slender without being very tall,” reads the museum's website. On a recent gloomy October morning, I took the train uptown to Steinway Tower.

The 91-storey skyscraper is in an area called Billionaires’ Row, home to some of the city's most expensive real estate. Billionaire buyers like Ken Griffin, Michael Dell and Liu Yiqian have picked up multimillion-dollar condos in the glossy towers rising in the neighbourhood.

111 West 57th Street sits near the historic Steinway Hall, which was built by the piano company Steinway & Sons and opened in 1925.