Photo-Illustration: Suppressed; Picture: Getty
Just about everyone can concur that it’s a hard time to be 432 Park. In the years given that the New York Times published a damning story about the structural troubles plaguing the ultra-high-end, super-tall — broken elevators, creaky walls, loud trash chutes– there’s been a drip-drip of undesirable details about the building in addition to a pair of claims filed against the developers, CIM Group and Harry Macklowe. There are languishing eight-figure listings and embarrassing rate cuts. And, oh, issues about “concrete hand grenades.” What was as soon as marketed as a frictionless life on Billionaire’s Row now appears, a minimum of from the outdoors, to be a bit of a mess. So what’s it like being a broker there? Well, it depends on who you ask.
“I hope I get 10 more listings,” states Claire Groome, an agent with Sotheby’s. Previously this month, Groome closed a sale at No. 432 for a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath at simply a hair shy of $8.7 million. “I had no issue selling,” she says of the home, which went for 17 percent below the preliminary listing cost. “I had it on for less than 6 months, and I had numerous offers.” Groome raves about the “boutiquey” structure. “The way it’s run– the personnel are incredibly, the concierge, they do whatever for you,” she states. It’s got a fantastic dining establishment and “as opposed to all the other super-talls … there are some people who have apartments they utilize as pied-à-terres there, but there are a great deal of individuals who live there.” What about the structure’s PR issues!.?.!?”All these super-talls have issues,” she states. “They simply don’t all get the sort of press that 432 does.”
A reasonable sufficient point. Clients paying this type of premium for their apartment or condos are notoriously hard to please. And other towers along this shiny stretch of the West 50s have dealt with some public bruising over, state, surrounding buildings suing over building damage. None, though, have anything close to the barrage of problem that appears to follow the Rafael Viñoly– developed all-white 432 Park. “Whenever we tried to show, there was some article that would be actually negative about the elevators or the structure,” a previous broker in the structure informs me. “I’m so traumatized.” To this broker, the question seemed to be: How do you attempt to obtain a customer’s greatest and finest offer when the image of an elevator stalled above the cloud line is someplace in their heads?This individual noted one system a couple of times, and showings seemed to work out enough. Other than, when the offers can be found in from the potential purchasers, they were invariably lowballs– often almost 40 percent below asking. “The sellers would get truly nervous,” this broker states. “They’re trying to list something that is just such a depreciating property.”
Other representatives who have done handle the building stated it’s not completely a matter of claims or bad press– there’s likewise simply a lot of competitors in the market right now. In the decade considering that sales opened at 432 Park, more ultraluxury structures have actually come online– Central Park Tower, 111 West 57th Street, and 220 Central Park South, to name a few. “Billionaire’s Row has actually just recently had to do with what’s the most recent and greatest,” says Abraham Sarway, a Douglas Elliman representative who was been on the purchaser side of a sale at 432 last year and presently has the rental listing for the very same system Groome just offered.
Whatever the factor, 432 Park has been struggling recently: An UrbanDigs analysis of resales in 2024 and 2025 versus the trio of abovementioned structures discovered that 432’s apartment or condos, on average, spent the longest time on the marketplace (524 days) and had the highest discount rates percentage (27.1 percent) and the most affordable cost per square foot ($3,617). “Resales at 432 Park Opportunity are dealing with sustained pressure throughout every crucial metric,” UrbanDigs’s co-founder, John Walkup, says. Much of which indicates another concern a number of brokers shared with me: Sellers have impractical expectations about what their apartments are worth. “These people bought for crazy numbers,” one broker informs me. “It’s time to come back down to earth.”
So who is aiming to live at 432 right now? Well-funded tenants, for one. “Individuals are fighting to get in,” says Compass’s Jason Haber, who has handled three rentals in the previous couple of years. While Haber declined to share his clients’ backgrounds, the “traumatized” broker discussed that executives splitting their time between New york city and elsewhere liked 432 Park as an option for supplied, ultraluxury housing near their Manhattan workplaces– all on their company’s dime, of course. “They’re not completely mindful,” this broker states. When it comes to those who want to purchase? Brokers tell me it’s frequently people who are already living there. They desire more space or a house for their kids. There’s even been several boomerangs, apparently. “A lot of the provings that I had for that listing were people who had actually currently lived in the building who wanted to come back,” Groome says. “That’s just how excellent the structure is.”
One experienced broker who has dealt with deals in other towers on Billionaire’s Row had this to say: Just wait it out. “It’s too valuable not to be fixed,” they tell me. But right now, while journalism is still bad and the claims are still dragging, sellers need to breathe. Which is likewise what this broker is doing– they have actually declined all representation demands originating from 432. “It’s still too poisonous,” they say.
Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter
A day-to-day mix of stories about cities, city life, and our constantly developing areas and skylines.
By sending your e-mail, you accept our Terms and Personal Privacy Notice and to receive e-mail correspondence from us.