Every neighborhood has its stepchild, an overlooked swath that does not receive as much attention as surrounding blocks. For Midtown East, that area is around East 57th Street near Bloomingdale’s, a strip with neither the commercial bustle found farther south, nor the rarefied character of its decidedly residential neighbors Sutton Place and the Upper East Side. But several new developments could soon give the area a residential flavor all its own.
Spurred by the success of trophy skyscrapers like 432 Park Avenue, developers are planning luxury residential towers that could reshape the area between Park Avenue and Second Avenue from 57th Street to 60th Street.
At the corner of Second Avenue, sales recently began at 252 East 57th Street, a 65-story residential tower. And at 520 Park Avenue, on the edge of the Upper East Side at 60th Street, a 54-story limestone tower designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects is rising with a triplex penthouse priced at a jaw-dropping $130 million. Developers are also assembling parcels around Bloomingdale’s while new developments rise in the lower 60s, blurring the boundary between Midtown East and the Upper East Side.
