Central Park Tower: What the Offering Plan Says About Amenities, Staff and Costs

Updated Oct 12, 2026 · 7 min read

Central Park Tower is a 179-residence Extell condo at 217 West 57th Street, built above a retail unit owned by Nordstrom, which is a co-declarant of the condominium. Its offering plan describes a three-floor resident club with a lap pool and a 100th-floor dining room, a large union staff, and a first-year budget of about $11 million.

In brief: Central Park Tower is a 179-residence condominium at 217 West 57th Street on Billionaires' Row, developed by an Extell entity and sitting above a single retail unit owned by Nordstrom. Its offering plan describes a resident club spread across Floors 14, 16 and 100, including a 60-foot lap pool on an outdoor terrace and a private dining room and bar near the top of the tower. It also budgets one of the larger union building staffs you'll see in a condo plan, plus a resident dining program that every owner helps pay for.

What's Specific to It

• Nordstrom is a co-declarant. The plan says Nordstrom owns the land below a set elevation, the sponsor owns everything above it, and Nordstrom will own the Retail Unit. The two are unaffiliated, and the retail side carries about 24% of the common interest.
• The boards can't police the store. Per the plan, neither the Condominium Board nor the Residential Board can restrict uses of, or alterations to, the Retail Unit, and the sponsor makes no promises about who will own or use it in the future.
• A dining club with a fixed fee. Each residential unit is assessed $2,000 a year for private resident dining, and the condo bears all operating losses of the program.
• Third-party amenity staff. A separate operator is budgeted at about $800,000 to run the amenities, staffing the fitness center and providing pool lifeguards.
• No reserve fund. The plan sets up no reserve fund; instead, buyers pay two months of common charges into working capital at closing.
• The sponsor can keep the laundry room revenue. Every unit gets its own washer and dryer, but the sponsor reserves the right to lease the shared basement laundry room to itself and keep what it earns.

The tower's listings concentrate on views and square footage. The Central Park Tower offering plan, the condo plan the developer filed with the New York Attorney General, gets into the parts that decide what living there is like and what it costs. Here's what stands out. (New to these documents? Start with what a condo offering plan is.)

At a Glance

• Address: 217 West 57th Street, Manhattan
• Size: 179 residential units plus one retail unit
• Plan accepted: May 2017 (new construction)
• Sponsor: Smitell LLC, c/o Extell Development Company
• First-year budget: about $11 million in total expenses, with about $10.3 million coming from residential common charges
• Front desk: 24/7 doorman and concierges

Finishes

Kitchens

The appliance schedule changes with apartment size, and it's mostly Miele. Even studios get a Miele 24-inch four-burner gas cooktop, a Miele wall oven, a Miele refrigerator and a Miele dishwasher, plus a Bertazzoni microwave-hood. Starting with the one-bedrooms, the package moves up to a 30-inch Miele cooktop and oven, a Miele hood, a Miele speed oven and a 15-inch Marvel wine cooler.

• Two color schemes: the oven and speed oven model numbers are given in both a "Dark Scheme" and a "Light Scheme" version, so appliance fronts follow the palette you choose.
• Gas cooking: cooking gas is a building expense, budgeted at roughly $220,000 for the first year.

Baths

The plan sorts bathrooms into finish tiers. In the penthouse floors (72 to 91), for example, the guest bath gets "tertiary" finishes but with an upgrade to a Jason soaking tub and a Graff hand shower. To see how those brands compare across the city, read our guide to bathroom brands in NYC luxury condos.

Laundry

Each apartment comes with a stacking GE washer and dryer. On top of that, Subcellar 3 has a shared laundry room just for residential owners.

Good to know: The plan’s specifications are dated April 2017. If one particular fixture matters to you, ask the selling agent whether a later amendment changed it.

Amenities: The Central Park Club

The plan calls the amenity package the "Central Park Club." It's spread over three floors.

Floor 14

• Amenity Terrace built around a two-lane lap pool, about 60 feet (18 meters) long, with a pool cover, set in limestone and timber paving
• Resident Lounge with custom millwork, for social or business events
• Screening Room with modular seating you can rearrange for events
• Conference Room with audio-visual and telecom equipment
• Pantry with a microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator and coffee maker
• Children's Playroom

Floor 16

• Exercise rooms with cardio and strength equipment (the plan doesn't promise specific machines)
• Men's and women's locker rooms, each with a sauna, plus a steam shower in the women's
• Spa Treatment Room you can book; treatments cost extra and aren't covered by common charges

Floor 100

• Grand Ballroom you can reserve for private events
• Private Dining Room & Bar for residents and their guests

How resident dining works

The plan expects the Residential Board to hire a food service company. Service is planned for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and dinner only on Sunday, with Saturdays, holidays and all of August off. You can eat in the dining room or have meals sent to your apartment. Meals are billed on top of common charges, and every unit also pays the $2,000 annual assessment whether or not you dine there.

Tip: The plan says plainly that services like this tend to lose money and that the condo covers 100% of the losses. It also makes no promise the dining program will continue. Building your budget around $2,000 as the permanent number would be a mistake. Compare other buildings in amenities by building size.

Other services

• Storage bins in the building, licensed with a monthly fee of $1 per square foot
• Bike storage on Subcellar 3
• Three residential passenger elevators plus a service elevator; units 107, 127 and 129 each have a private elevator

Staffing and Services

The first-year budget assumes a union staff, paid at Local 32BJ contract rates. The plan lists:

• 1 resident manager (budgeted base pay $200,000 a year)
• 4 handymen
• 2 concierges, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• A doorman, 24/7
• A hallman, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week
• A package room attendant, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week
• 9 porters

Salaries, payroll taxes and benefits come to about $3.6 million, roughly a third of the budget, and union health and pension benefits account for close to $1 million of that. Pool lifeguards and fitness staff come from the separate amenity operator instead.

Good to know: The plan warns that the full staff might not be hired, and doorman hours might be reduced, until the building reaches certain occupancy levels. For context on what front-desk coverage costs, see how much a NYC condo doorman costs.

What It Costs to Run

The sponsor's projected first-year budget (December 2019 through November 2020) calls for about $11 million in total expenses. Residential common charges cover about $10.3 million and the Retail Unit about $490,000. The summary budget table is badly scanned, but the notes behind it spell out each line. The largest items:

Remember that this is a projection made years before the building opened, and the dining line covers only half a year. Real costs after the first year can come in noticeably higher. To see how this fits with other towers, read why NYC condo operating costs differ and visit our common charges and operating expenses pages.

Fine Print Worth Knowing

• Split ownership of the site. The plan explains that the sponsor sold Nordstrom the part of the site below a horizontal plane about 255 feet above datum and kept everything above it. Nordstrom joins the condominium as a co-declarant and will own the Retail Unit.
• The retail side has its own protections. Some sponsor rights in the declaration are limited where they would materially harm the Retail Unit's use or what the declaration calls "Nordstrom Areas of Concern." Meanwhile, the residential boards can't restrict the retail unit's use or alterations.
• Shared costs are divided by formula. General common expenses are split roughly 76% residential and 24% retail, though some lines are divided by actual usage.
• No reserve fund. Expect a working capital contribution of two months' common charges when you close.
• Laundry room revenue. The sponsor can lease the shared laundry room to itself or an affiliate, hire an operator and keep the revenue.

Who's Behind It

• Sponsor: Smitell LLC, c/o Extell Development Company
• Architect: Adamson Associates Architects, P.C.
• Managing agent: Extell Management Services Inc.
• Selling agents: Extell Marketing Group and SMI Marketing Group LLC
• Sponsor's counsel: Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
• Retail co-declarant: Broadway 57th/58th Retail Investor, LLC, which the plan calls "Nordstrom"

Common Questions

Does Nordstrom have anything to do with the condo?

Yes, but only on the retail side. According to the plan, Nordstrom owns the lower part of the site, will own the Retail Unit as a co-declarant and pays the retail share of general common charges. It is unaffiliated with the sponsor, and the plan makes no promises about the Retail Unit's future use or owner.

What is the Central Park Club?

It's the plan's name for the resident amenities on Floors 14, 16 and 100: a pool terrace, lounge, screening room, playroom, gym, locker rooms with saunas, a spa room, a ballroom and a private dining room and bar.

Do owners have to pay for the restaurant?

Every residential unit was assessed $2,000 a year for dining in the first-year budget, with meals billed on top of that, and the condo absorbs any losses the dining program runs.

Is the staff union?

The plan expects union employees under the Local 32BJ contract: a resident manager, handymen, round-the-clock concierges and doorman, a hallman, a package room attendant and nine porters.

Where this comes from: the building's offering plan as filed with the New York Attorney General (plan CD160240), including its Schedule B notes, amenity descriptions and specifications. Figures are the sponsor's first-year projections, rounded. Updated October 2026.