Fantasy views
There remains a single full-floor penthouse available at Herzog and de Meuron's much-discussed Tribeca tower 56 Leonard Street—a 5,489 square-foot spread on the 58th floor, currently asking $31 million. But that space proved too small, according to Corcoran Sunshine's Elizabeth Unger, for the buyers who have just entered contract—at a total of $28.75 million—on a pair of condos eight floors down, out of which they will create a 6,947 square-foot floor-through. Ms. Unger, who brokered the sale, ranked the contract as the building's fifth priciest deal to date. The buyers, she told The Observer, are in renovation talks with an architect and a designer, whose no-doubt considerable fees—we imagine—might just push expenditures well beyond the $31 million mark. (Penthouse 60, boasting elevation greater than any other unit, claimed the top spot in June, with a contract for $47 million.)
The unnamed buyers, whom Ms. Unger described as a variously entrepreneurial downtown family in need of space—which, she gave us to understand, had more to do with children than, for example, livestock—were drawn to 56 Leonard by the same characteristics that have been driving robust sales for months. "This kind of product just didn't exist in Tribeca," Ms. Unger said. "It's really been appealing to people wanting to live there and at the same time have the views. We have 17,000 square feet of amenity space. The kitchens, the bathrooms, the finishes: the level of detail and quality is unprecedented. Putting all of those elements and features together has really been the source of our success. These buyers are also modernists, so they did like the contemporary design."
One of the many amenities.
Apartments 50 East and 50 West combine for eight bedrooms and nine baths. There are service entrances and balconies—more than 1,000 square feet's worth in all. There are 12-foot ceilings and—though the combination will lack the penthouses' skyline-view galleries—magnificent, panoramic vistas.
"This building is just so interesting and so diverse," Ms. Unger gushed. "We have businessmen and artists, people coming for the architecture. It’s not just the people you would expect. It’s not your typical situation. That’s what makes it so refreshing."
With the 50th floor in contract, 56 Leonard is well over 90 percent sold; in addition to the condo on the 58th floor, a smaller penthouse can still be had for $15.5 million. So if you're in the mood for refreshment and you do not lack the one characteristic that all the building's allegedly sundry residents share (can you guess what it is?), you're in luck—for now.
Penthouse rendering, complete with livestock