What you will find in this text:
- Residential buildings
- The Central Park Tower
- What is expected from Central Park Tower maintenance and facilities professionals?
- Maintenance and asset management at Central Park Tower
New York is a city with a long history when it comes to skyscrapers. Since 1890, ten skyscrapers built in New York City have held the title of the world’s tallest building, and the Empire State Building has long held such an iconic status that it has become the global reference point when it comes to describing tall buildings.
However, the city is also home to a relatively new — and remarkably tall and slender — building called the Central Park Tower, which is located along Billionaire’s Row in bustling Midtown.
How tall is this building? You might ask...
At a whopping 472 m (1,550 feet) the Central Park Tower holds many records for its height. It is, for instance:
- The 15th tallest building in the world;
- The tallest primarily residential building;
- The tallest building outside of Asia by roof height.
Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, construction began in 2014 and it was topped out in 2019.
With 98 above-ground floors towering over New York City’s iconic Central Park, its slender construction has led many people to characterise the building as part of a new wave of skyscrapers in the city that never sleeps, known as “pencil towers”.
This quirky design is complimented by the huge cantilever attached to the eastern side of the building, which was built to prevent the tower being blocked by the 220 Central Park South skyscrapers. It also meant that the tower entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest cantilevered building in the world.
Located along Manhattan’s so-called Billionaire Row, it is one of a series of buildings associated with ultra-luxury and containing some of the most expensive residencies in the world. Aside from the Nordstrom department store located on the bottom floors of the Central Park Tower, the building is made up of 179 luxury condominiums and associated amenities.
But how is a building like the Central Park Tower managed? What challenges can be expected from such a tall residential building?
Residential buildings
Maintaining a huge residential building such as the Central Park Tower is not a simple task. Luxury residential high-rise apartments require a huge amount of effort in order to keep their exteriors clean, and round-the-clock work to ensure the safe-running of electrics, plumbing and air conditioning.
Developers also have to make sure they provide enough amenities for their residents, and are capable of dealing with emergencies, noise complaints and the general welfare of those living so far from the ground.
But how does the Central Park Tower tackle challenges such as these?
The Central Park Tower
As the tallest primarily residential building in the world, and home to residencies worth upwards of $20 million, the Central Park Tower has done much to cement its reputation as a unique, luxury residency worthy of its price-tag. As Gary Barnett, founder and chairman of the Extell Development Company says:
“Central Park Tower has set a new bar for resort-style living, architectural innovation and impeccable interior design”
One such example of the tower’s dedication to providing an unparalleled luxurious living experience is Central Park Club, perhaps one of its defining features. Situated on the 100th floor, it is New York’s most elevated private club and boasts private dining, entertainment, and, of course, 360-degree views of the city – encompassing the Hudson and East Rivers, Central Park and the famous Manhattan skyline.
But what sets the Central Park Club apart from other private clubs?
The care and attention put into this exclusive club is unmatched in New York, and it’s in the finer details that the Central Park Club comes out on top. Colin Cowie Lifestyle explains that they implemented a “five-senses approach” to creating the perfect atmosphere. As the sun rises and sets throughout the day, several features coordinate with the advancing day:
- The lighting adapts to the rising and setting of the sun
- The music picks up tempo once the evening sets in
- Scents waft through the air in accordance with the particular season
What is expected from Central Park Tower maintenance and facilities professionals?
Alongside the need to create bespoke luxury experiences, such as with the Central Park Club, maintenance and facilities professionals have to ensure the day-to-day running of the tower runs smoothly, not a simple task in a building as tall as the Central Park Tower.
So, what was the approach of the team at Central Park Tower?
Adrian Smith, who designed the tower, explains how they adopted a holistic approach, emphasising sustainable development and a “symbiotic relationships with the natural environment”. This approach includes the principle of onsite power generation, which utilises the building’s design to harvest solar, wind and geothermal power, reducing reliance on local infrastructure.
Mohammed Wasim Fahim Shaikh and his team at Deyaar Facilities Management continued this legacy inherited from the design team, utilising sustainable technology and innovation in order to ensure the smooth operation of the building, much to the satisfaction of its wealthy residents.
Maintenance and asset management at Central Park Tower
The value of a building like the Central Park Tower comes not just from its prime location or its unique and innovative design, but also from the successful maintenance and asset management approaches run by the tower’s onsite team.
Strategies like predictive maintenance, make use of technology to find problems before they occur. Looking after almost 100 floors, composed primarily of luxury residencies, the maintenance team have to provide an extremely high-quality service across a vast amount of space – employing innovative technologies to achieve this. Managing the various amenities and service across the building’s many storeys therefore became more achievable.
Managing a supertall residential skyscraper is no easy task, but the team at Central Park Tower are one example of how good technology, strategy and innovation can ensure a happy customer, however high up they may be.
Providing bespoke luxury experiences such as those in the Central Park Club adds value to the tower as an asset, and keeping ahead of any issues through predictive maintenance means that the tower runs smoothly and its residents are comfortable. The Central Park Tower shows us that when it comes to maintaining luxury residencies, the sky is the limit!