'In the heart of Manhattan...
..a skyscraper like no
nearing completion.'
Building a 1,000-foot tall tower in the middle of a dense, populated
New York City street is a scary thing.
'Having weathered the storm
an economic crisis...'
(NEWS ANCHOR) These are grim days in the financial world.
'..and a Category 3 hu
Authorities in New York City are now carefully watching a crane,
that is dangling from a high-rise.
'..its
are now firmly set
on
address on earth.'
The lengths that
- it's really unheard of.
It's a
doesn't come cheap.
'The top-floor penthouse has already sold for over $90 million.'
Now that's a view!
'This is the tower New Yorkers have christened the Billionaire Building.'
Without question, there will be no other building like it.
If you can afford it, it's a great place to live.
'It's called One 57
and it's going to be the most
skyscraper ever built.'
Super Skyscrapers was made possible in part
'Manhattan.
Some of the most expensive rea
estate in America.
In a city full of skyscrapers,
it's hard for a building to stand out.
But this one might just do it.
They've called it One 57.
It's 1,000 fee
steel and glass.
And when complete, it will be
the highest residential tower in the city.
While the exterior is impressive...
..the interior promises to be nothing short of spectacular.
If you want to l
merely rich will not be enough.
Th
you back over $6 million,
a penthouse - closer to 100 million.
The man who had the original vision
and borrow
to turn it into reality,
is former diamond dealer turned prop
Gary Barnett.'
It's tough to
great pieces of land in New York City.
The city's built.
It's not like you're expanding further out into the
or the desert or wherever,
you've got to manufacture land.
'That means building tall.
When complete, this skyscraper will boast a 30-story, five-star hotel.
There'll be 94 no-expense-spared residential condominiums.
The two penthouses will each occupy
over 10,000 square feet of luxury living space.
Above all, they'll look out over Central Park.
It will be the most sought-after view in the city
and the job of One 57 is to make it pay.'
I think my favorite definition of a skyscraper
was by Cass Gilbert who was the architect of the Woolworth building,
who about 100 years ago said,
"A skyscraper is a machine that makes the land pay."
The bottom line, they
unless there is a financial proposition.
'The proposition is that luxury living,
plus that view,
plus an address on the street they're calling Billionaire's Row,
will draw
wealthiest buyers.
It's 2nd April, 2013.
One 57 has been under construction for over four years.
The first residents will move in in eight months' time.
And that top-floor penthouse has been snapped up for over $90 million.
It's a new record for New York.
Still...
half of the building is as yet unsold.
And if Gary Barnett is going to see a retu
investment,
that will have to change.'
We actually formed a sales team from the beginning.
On a building of this size, there are some significant commissions being paid.
We felt we wanted to take that in-house
and be able to help our own cash flow.
'Today they have gathered to learn about what may be
the biggest challenge of their lives...'
We n
a little bit better
what the immediate needs are gonna be.
'..to reach $2 billion worth of sales
by the end of the year.
It's a big number and a big ask.
But Sa
Emily Sertic seems to relish the challenge.'
I think any great sales person
absolutely wants to succeed.
I don't think we'd be here 'Since it's hard to sell a luxury condominium
when all you've got to show is construction work,
the development team have tried to create,
at their off-site sales gallery,
a ta
will offer.
It's a no-expense spared, invitation-only sales experience.
Don't expect to find any price tags in here.'
Our sales gallery is located in midtown,
we're here at Madison and 57th.
Come on in and I'll show you how we sell.
In this space,
we're defining location
and everything that the location affords.
It's very important we place the building
with its surrounding amenities in the city.
One thing about One 57 that is entirely unique
is our centered position on Central Park.
It really sets the building apart.
'Now for details.
What kind of
the world's most luxurious condo?
Here, your seven-figure sum buys a choice of two.'
So the buyers can choose between this hand-painted white kitchen
or if we spin around and look over here,
you have a Macassar ebony kitchen in a lacquer finish.
You have two dishwashers, two refrigerators,
two of the wall ovens.
So if you really want to use your home to have large parties you're in good shape.
And our cabinetry is actually from the UK.
And so you look in the cabinets here
and you have solid walnut.
You can actually smell the beautiful smell of the wood.
Th
in the building,
this rip-sawn oak is done in an ebonized stain.
'But
the show-bathroom
that potential buyers first get to see the building's signature material:
Italian marble.'
As you move up in the building,
the finishes in the bathrooms take on a different look.
So higher in the building, you have this stat
white marble.
It's important to note that it's in very large slabs -
this rea
of luxury in the design
and our buyers don't miss those points.
'It's a polished sales pitch.
But what anyone considering bu
to see...
..is that view -
an impossibility from a second-floor sales center.
Or so you might think.
The One 57 team turned to Mark Segal to solve the problem.
He and his colleagues have built a drone
that will fly amongst the towers of Manhattan...
..in airspace wh
helicopters simply could not reach.'
760...770.
Hold it right there.
Fire when ready.
Wonderful.
268 and coming.
Start up.
'GPS and a high-resolution camera
enable them to capture the view from a building that hasn't even been built yet.'
Going for 570.
You're at 482.
'Projected in the sales gallery,
images from the One 57 site take center stage.
They sea
on the penthouse sale.'
The view that everybody knows One 57 for
is the centered on Central Park view.
There are literall
like this in Manhattan.
'It's been clear from the start
that this is the building's biggest selling point,
se
an apartment 1,000 feet up.
And if
dollars for this view,
the last thing you want is dirty windows.
It's April 3rd and the workers are gearing up to put the building's roof in place.
When they're finished, the whole skyscraper will be sealed beneath it.
But before that can happen,
one last piece of equipment,
vital to the building's operation, must be installed.
It's 30 feet long.
It weighs 20 tons.
And it's going all the way up to the roof.
Beca
a squeegee won't cut it here.
This is what
sure One 57's 8,400 windows
are always crystal clear.'
In some of these apartments, you get a full wrap-around view of New York City,
uptown, downtown towards Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey.
It would be upsetting not to have t
'Juan Portelles is responsible for what will be
the Rolls Royce of window washers -
a fully rotating telescopic crane
that will lower a basket 1,000 feet down a vertical wall of glass
and enable a cleaning crew
to keep those million-dollar views...spotless.'
$50 million for an apartment and my windows are dirty -
I'd definitely be upset.
'The rig's 24-piece telescop
boom
will be assembled once it's safely on the roof.
The team will then attach it to the heavy-duty base unit.
This morning's task is to get this piece to the top of the skyscraper.
And they can't afford any hold-ups.'
It is a good-looking building, that's for sure!
'But lifting a 20-ton piece of steel 1,000ft above Manhattan...
..just inche
a multi-million dollar glass curtain wall,
is a highly risky operation.
It's crane operator Kurt Messinger who's paid to feel the pressure.'
The challenge of hoisting any material,
especially large materials,
and the time it takes it to get up here -
almost six minutes sometimes...
A lot can happen in six minutes.
It doesn't seem very long but it can be an eternity.
At this elevation, 1,100 feet,
it could be calm down on the street,
but up here you'll have winds exceeding 25 miles an hour,
just on a nice day.
The vortices, as they come around through the buildings,
they'll take that material, that load,
and they'll start moving it left and right, spinning it.
It's good when it's good but when things go wrong it can get ugly.
Alright, the piece is coming up, boys.
Let's go!
'For the next six minutes,
Juan can do nothing more than watch.
As the boom leaves the shelter of the surrounding buildings,
it's exposed to the full force of the wind
which is swirling around the tower.'
Yo, Frankie, let's go!
'This is where Kurt's
his years of experience
really come into play.'
Just like that is where we need it!
'With the boom at the desired height,
the trick now is to bring it across to the building
without inducing a potentially lethal swing.'
The motor goes to the front.
The motor goes to the front.
Willow!
Frankie, grab that rope with him.
Watch that, watch the cross-member!
Right, just hold it steady.
Nice and
- Everybody good?
- Yeah.
'20 minutes after it left the ground...'
This is gonna be beautiful!
'..the
skyscraper's roof.'
Frankie, just break off the back one too.
You've got it young man, beautiful job!
'What follows is two days of reassembling the boom arm
before the main event -
attaching it to the base unit.
It's 48 hours after the big lift.
Today, Juan's team will attempt to complete the rig installation.'
What's going on?
'But there's been a worrying development.
There's a storm coming.
Storms and cranes don't mix.
No one knows that better than the people working on One 57.
On October 29th, 2012,
Hurricane Sandy tore through New York.
Winds of over 80 miles an hour battered the city.
And One 57 and its crane found themselves in
the hurricane.
Subjected to its full force,
the crane's 26,000-pound boom was snapped in half,
leaving it
over the streets below.'
(MALE NEWS ANCHOR) Authorities in New York City
are carefully watching a crane that is dangling
from a high rise in Manhattan.
(FEMALE NEWS ANCHOR) It collapsed in high winds earlier today,
and it has been dangling precariously, dangerously,
off the top of that building which has become known in Manhattan
as the global billionaires' club.
The
wasn't part of the package.
That was a scary episode when the crane fell over backwards.
Luckily it did not disconnect.
One of the good things we saw was this building stood up to a hurricane,
and getting smacked by a crane boom
and it didn't budge.
So we know it's a pretty darn strong building.
'What project mana
Juan Portelles knows
is that he has just a matter of hours to get the job finished,
and the boom arm secure.'
Every night, it's tough sleeping,
just keeping the thoughts of this piece going up
and making everything safe for everybody.
You're basically tryin
to get a round cylinder through a hole
and you're using a crane to try to line you up
so we can get the pin in - it's very challenging.
The thing is, they gotta go down and rig it right now.
'On the roof of the skyscraper,
Juan's team reconnects the boom arm to the crane's super-strength hook.'
Start doing wh
'And the 20-ton boom is eased off the ledge.
But as the crane operator carefully maneuvers the rig towards the base unit,
the storm is closing in fast
than anyone here predicted.'
Right now, we've got a storm approaching,
and we've got to g
with the final installation of the arm.
We have no o
get everything connected.
It actually looks like it's gonna start pouring any minute now.
We're just gonna have to suck it up
and just stay out there and get soaked until we secure everything.
Hold that right there, Angel!
'As the rain gets heavier,
the team now faces a race against time
to guide the boom arm into position.
Until it's secured within the base tower,
the crane must continue to bear its massive weight.'
You gotta do it from d
Make sure the flange is on the outside!
'But that's not the team's only concern.
They have to get the window-washing rig
disconnected from the crane before the storm hits.
If the two are still anchored to each other,
the force of the wind on the crane
could rip the entire structure from the building.'
At this point, we have no choice, we have to work with the weather.
We have to move quickly and as safely as possible
to try to get this secured onto the unit itself.
Once it's secured, the crane can release itself
- and we should be okay.
- Whoo-hoo!
The inside, take that off!
That was just there to help you line it up.
'The last piece of the puzzle is a 100-pound pin,
which must join the arm and the base together.
Easier said than done -
from a cherry picker hanging 1,000 feet above Manhattan.'
We got grease in
we got a ton of grease.
'Finally, after 45 minutes,
it's time to hammer it into position.'
- Go, Luke, go!
- Hit it!
Right there, you can hear it!
We've met already.
(Laughs)
'For Juan, this is the culmination of eight weeks' planning.'
It's like a ton off my chest.
Because I know now it's secured,
I can walk away from the job for today
and not worry about anything because the machine is secure up on the roof.
'Juan can now sleep at night,
and the residents of the Billionaire Building
will get the view they paid for.
Now it's about what happens inside.
If the team is to deliver the world's most opulent building,
one key memb
has a battle on his hands.
Three days later and 4,000 miles away from Manhattan
in Carrara, Italy,
Roy Kim, Gary Barnett's Senior Vice President of design, is on a mission.
He has to sign off on an order of marble worth tens of millions of dollars.
He placed the order one year ago.
Since then then, they've been stockpiling slabs
to complete 94 bathrooms in the skyscraper.
Roy will not leave until he has seen and approved
every single piece that's been extracted
and set aside from this world-famous quarry.'
We've arrived in Carrara,
and we're just kind of beginning the hunt for the great white marble.
We're here to see the statuary that we'll be using
specifically for the very large master bathrooms.
'When it
it doesn't get more prestigious or pricey than this.
It's been that way for a good 2,000 years.
Ancient Rome was built from Carrara marble.
Michelangelo's David - carved from Carrara marble.
for the walls, floors and tubs of One 57 -
whatever the cost might be.
This one block alone is worth half a million dollars...
..postage not included.'
When we decided to make the master bathrooms out of this stone,
we knew it would be expensive
but we also knew we were building a very expensive building.
And it's not often you see a 30-foot by 12-foot bathroom
in the middle of the sky,
overlooking Central Park in Manhattan.
'Having had the obligatory tour,
it's time to get down to business.'
- Good to see you, okay?
- Good to see you.
'Any slabs that fail to meet Roy's strict criteria -
from the clarity of the marble,
to the thickness of the famous grey veins -
will be rejected.
Or Roy will have Gary Barnett to answer to.'
Stone is of particular interest to him
because he comes from the diamond industry.
But also he just has a really, really sharp eye for materials.
His laser eyes focus in on the background color on the veining
and that type of thing.
Those eyes kind of trickle down
to all of us.
What about in here?
Are there any more?
This is the darkest I would accept for the background.
It would be preferable if the veining were stronger.
A lot of these things you cannot judge by photographs.
You need to come in person and look at all the imperfections.
..all the slabs.
I'm not in love with it.
This is not good.
That's not good.
I mean, all of these are really not good.
'It appears Roy's criteria have not been matched.
And he's not a man to accept second best.'
The production slabs obviously are not matching
the record of slabs that was our target.
It was filled in a year ago
but during that time, I identified bundles to purchase.
So we thought you were purchasing those bundles
and you didn't purchase those bundles.
We try and be as specific as possible
about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable.
And they keep trying to push outside the lines.
'After three more hours, Roy has had enough.
He demands to speak to the boss,
quarry owner Manrico Gemignani.
This is now the last chance for Roy and the quarry owner
to secure a multi-million dollar deal.'
It's just basically pushing and pushing them to try and get the best.
'But Roy's sky-high standards are proving almost impossible to meet.'
(ROY) I've lost count of how many times we've been here
and argued over what's acceptable and what's not.
It's this game.
'As Roy stands his ground,
Manrico is left with no alternative
but to let him loose to cherry pick from his multi- million dollar stash.'
We've pushed and pushed to get really beautiful stone
and I think we're almost there.
This is beautiful.
This is all within the acceptable range.
Can I see one, like, in the sunlight?
There we go.
Wow, that's good.
'Finally satisfied with his selection,
Roy can focus on the most important part of his visit -
these blocks.'
Four meters long.
We do two tops and two benches only from the block.
Oh, yeah.
'They're worth upwards of $130,000 each.
And from each one will c
two bath tubs, and two ornate benches.
He'll take five.'
A block like this, which is 35 tonnes, is worth about 100,000 euros.
That's a lot of money!
It's a bit of a challenge because the blocks are raw.
We have no idea what's inside,
so we're taking a bit of a risk.
Wow!
You can see the difference in the marble here
in the bright sunlight and in the shadow.
You can see right away the veining is quite amazing.
The color is going to be amazing.
'Blocks chosen.
Over the next 16 weeks,
they'll be shaped, carved, polished and smoothed.
When Roy next sees this marble,
it will be in New York and look very different.
He'll then be in possession of some of the most exp
bathroom fixtures ever made.'
I need a very strong drink!
It's been, like, a gargantuan task
for the past two years
to try and get the stone that we wanted
and I think...
I don't want to speak too soon
because we may be missing a few thousand square feet
but we've pretty much got what we need.
'It's just nine days since the team's targets were set
and four more apartments have been sold
for a total in excess of $100 million.
But everybody wants more.
And there's a plan in place to make it happen.
To fast-track one of the residences inside the skyscraper
exactly what's for sale.'
You know what?
I have had so much demand, so much request from brokers
and their clie
asking to get to the site.
They need to see the views for themselves.
I think we're at
the in-between stage
where it's now time to give the clients and the brokers
that sort of experience.
The completed experience.
So we'll have to select a top interior designer to finish out the space.
If we're gonna do this, we have to make sure this is a finished experience
from the time you get off the elevator, the corridor is done,
you step into the model and you get the impression of what it's like to live there.
We can't do this half way, this has to be a terrific model apartment.
Let's do it!
'The man to make it all happen - Brian McGrath,
One 57's project manager.
It's now his job to turn this 41st-floor construction site
into an apartment worthy of a $19-million price tag.
He's been given just four weeks to do it.
And though the plan is to dress it with rich furnishing and fine art,
right now...it needs walls!'
So you can see this is where
we've started framing.
Once the framing goes in,
it sorts of opens everything up.
And you get the feel of what's gonna be in these apartments
because everything's laid out - this is where the walls will be.
This is gonna be a kitchen - the island will be here.
You've got stoves there, where the gas comes in.
You've got outlets in the backsplash.
in every aspect
of One 57's construction from the ground up.
His job is all about hitting deadlines.
But this one is gonna be tight.
It means doing in four weeks what might normally take four months.'
We know it's such a powerful sales tool
to be able to bring people to a physical site.
It's such a powerful experience and it accelerat
the sales process.
The deadline in terms of sales, is it can never be early enough.
'As work on the
gets underway in New York,
3,000 miles away in a sleepy town in Wiltshire, England,
a team o
is chipping away
at an order of hand-made kitchens for the skyscraper.
Gary B
make the best kitchens in the world.'
You have these high-end top apartments in New York City
and it's all being built by a small furniture firm in Wiltshire.
'This small
global recognition
for producing custom-made one-off kitchens.
Gary Barnett likes them so much,
he's ordered 135.
Right, here all the doors you see being laid out are for the new development
that we've got going on in New York.
You'll notice we've got them all laying out
because the way they're actually constructed
is that the ebony is all book-matched,
so you have repetition of the ebony veneers
going along the full length of the ca
You've got to get it spot on.
You can't just lose one panel to wrong size specification,
or the hin
put in the wrong place,
because that will then ruin the whole run.
135 kitchens of which there are layouts.
It had to be luxurious.
As you can see, it's a luxurious finish.
Luxury doesn't come cheap.
'That's because it takes time.'
We are bespoke, we make one kitchen after another.
We don't make blocks of kitchens so that was a change of direction for us.
'Each cabinet door takes 16 weeks to make.
And this order
They've had to find a way to mass-produce masterpieces.'
They've basically said, "We need these seven kitchens
and we want them...
we'll send a container over next Tuesday.
We need them on there."
It's all hands on.
Two different worlds, isn't it?
'In Manhattan...'
Spring in New York.
'Two weeks after the decision was made
to create a model residence within the skyscraper,
Roy Kim and the Development
have sprung a site visit to inspect progress.'
The model residency apartment is
a really nice three-bedroom apartment
that's on the 41st floor.
And the 41st floor compared to the 90th floor
might not seem that spectacular
but the view is amazing.
Right now, it's April 23rd.
We're trying for the first
or second week of May
to open this, so this is the crunch time.
Towards the end, there's a mad rush
to get all the finished items in and the furniture and art.
That's what's gonna happen in the next two weeks.
So this is the first time that I'm actually seeing this kitchen built
and it's pretty amazing.
These fridges - th
It's a little insane.
Stools go in here, you've more storage here.
Five different cook tops over there,
huge sink with two dishwashers...
..it's a serious kitchen!
'While the kitchen might be taking shape,
the rest of the apar
is still a long way off completion.
if the deadline is not met,
they risk losing millions of dollars in sales.'
So the staining will be complete by tomorrow?
- In that room?
- Just in that room.
What about here?
They haven't even rough-sanded in here yet.
Is there a way to get the guys who are doing the foyer
and also any of the lobby guys,
to get them in before Monday?
I really wouldn't advise that.
'In less than two weeks, this apartment must not only be beautifully decorated,
but furnished to c
the illusion that it's a billionaire's home.
That means dressing it with contemporary works of art,
loaned
exclusive galleries.'
I don't think I can get it before the 6th here.
It needs to be crated
and the crates need to be made.
It's already really tight for the craters
to actually make the crates and everything for the 6th.
Just to move it here?
They know the building is a construction site.
If it was maybe going to a finished space or an apartment or residence...
We're
so that we can get here
and everything up for the date being the 7th.
Exactly.
For the opening being on the 7th and not the 9th?
We're pushing for the 7th.
Okay.
I know we can do it, we've done this in much less time.
We have literally built a sales center
that looked like it would never open and it opened the next day to rave reviews.
'Without giving any warning,
Roy has just brought the completion date forward by two days,
to May 7th.
The deadline has gone from being tight
to being seriously tough.
But that's one of the hallmarks of this build.
Since
plans for One 57 have only become more ambitious.'
We thought maybe we'
a 200,000 or 300,000 square foot
residential building.
We didn't have the ambitio
the foresight
to see what it would eventually become.
Tall buildings are not only complicated to build but very expensive.
But given that the market was moving up in '05, '06, '07
quite sharply,
we felt that the numbers made sense to go ahead with this project.
'What no one foresaw was what came next:
the economic slump of 2008.
Gary's plans were not immune from the
that followed.'
(NEWS ANCHOR) Share prices continued to tumble
in the aftermath of the Lehman collapse.
Are we headed for a worldwide recession or something even worse?
These are grim days in the financial world.
You know, we got caught with the downturn five years ago
and there was no financing to be had to build a building like this.
It was a challenge.
'Undeterred, he scoured the globe for investors.
It took two years to put the pieces in place,
but the plan that emerged was bigger, and bolder.
He chose the award-winning
architect Christian de Portzamparc
to design the building.
And it now towers over every other residential skyscraper in New York.'
Building
in the middle of a dense, populated
New York City street is a scary thing.
But that's how great cities get built, there's no way a round it.
We're not building in the desert where, if something falls, it doesn't matter.
Here it matters,
and we do everything we can to prevent it.
This is a building that took five years to build.
A smaller building might have taken 2.5 or 3 years.
The extra time is more risk, more exposure, more interest costs.
The extra size of the building makes it much more expensive to build.
Actually, there are not that many people ready to do it,
because it's risky, because it's long-term,
because you have to put out a lot of cash.
So we've bee
to be successful
and to be able to continue doing that.
'It's 4th May.
Time to see where those hundreds of millions of dollars went.'
Right on the bench.
'On the 41st floor of One 57,
the team is working around the clock
to complete the model apartment on time.
With just three days to go until the planned unveiling,
there's still a catalogue of work to undertake.'
This one's very tough because there's nothing to grab onto.
'And 38 floors below, the pressure is also on
to complete another of the skyscraper's signature rooms.
It's the lobby of the luxury hotel
that will occupy the first 30 floors of One 57,
offering guests and residents the full five-star treatment
24 hours a day.
Tonight, site foreman Jim Callaghan
will mastermind the delicate operation
of installing nine $100,000 steel architectural panels
into the marble-clad lobby.
They're too large to fit through any door,
so Jim's team will have to
each eight-foot panel
through a gap in the building's curtain wall
that's just three feet wide.'
We're dealing with a 3,200-pound item
and we have to act like it's a one-pound item.
I mean, with the finesse that we have to do...
Everything is damageable,
everything costs a lot of money
and there is nothing we can even scratch, nick,
dent, or break.
It has to be pristine.
'Jim's challenge hasn't been made any easier
by a requirement to conduct the entire operation at night.'
The DoB in New York City
has only allowed us a permit Saturday night.
I have a lot of lighting
to cover all the areas that we'll be working around.
We have to shut down four lanes of 57th Street,
which is a two-way crossing street.
And whenever the public is involved,
there's an extra stress on pedestrian and public safety.
- Everything's copacetic?
- For sure.
These people come by, a little belligerent, They know where we work, we're representing our union.
Make everyone proud.
'It's 8pm.
A truck carrying $800,000
stainless steel panels
awaits unloading outside One 57.
With four lanes of traffic closed
and the general public cleared from the lift zone,
Jim's first task is to
guide the mobile crane into position.
With its telescopic boom extended,
the rigging crew can now commence connecting the crane to the panels.
From his position four floors up,
Jim gives the order to lift.
And the first $100,000-panel is slowly raised from the trailer
an
the curtain wall window,
40 feet above.
It's now
the panel is kept under total control
by the crane operator and Jim's highly trained tag line team.
Any contact between the steel load and glass curtain wall
will result in damage costing thousands of dollars.
It's a tense moment as the first panel is inched through the gap...
..and finally guided safely into the building.
Now inside, it can be raised into position
and fixed to the lobby ceiling.
But this is just the first of eight architectural panels that need to be installed.
$800,000 of polished steel,
hung in a single night.'
This is the end result, everything worked out fine.
We had absolutely zero incident in completing.
We have zero crunch list.
Everything is perfect.
I'm very happy with the finished product, very happy.
An
here is as well.
'It's May 7th, 2013.
D-day for Brian McGrath and his team.
They were given only four weeks
to complete the ultimate model residence inside One 57.
But they've done it.
Working around the clock,
they've created a custom-fitted three-bedroom apartment,
boasting over 3,000 square feet of luxury living space.
And they've done it in the is still under construction.
Wi
offering unobstructed views over Manhattan,
a hand-made kitchen from England,
and the finest marble from Italy,
it's yours...
for $19 million.
Now the sales team will get the opportunity to show it to the brokers -
and buyers.
If the brokers like what they see,
it will open One 57's doors to the richest buyers on the planet.'
When you have an iconic bu
like this
and you want to expose it to the world,
you want to invite buyers to come in directly
and brokers to bring in all their great clients.
We have such an extraordinary eclectic overview of people
from all different lifestyles, nationalities and cultures
interested in Manhattan.
It is one of the supreme global brands.
We work with wealth management advisors,
we work with bankers, we work with sports agents, with Hollywood agents.
When something as exciting as this comes on the market,
the brokers are hitting that Rolodex hard
because, as you can imagine, there's big commissions involved with big sales.
So, welcome to residence 41A.
We're very excited to have you in as one of our first
to be able to actually see a fully-furnished model residence.
This is our three-bedroom residence.
- I've been waiting 18 months to get inside this building.
- I know.
I almost feel like I need my sunglasses in here, it's so bright.
- Drama you promised and drama you've delivered.
- Very good.
This is one of the things I was really excited to see.
What is it going to be like to have floor-to-ceiling glass?
I have to tell you, it doesn't disappoint.
Extraordinarily surprised.
Thank God, my clients will love it.
I have to see these views at night.
Not a problem, we're ready for entertaining.
We'll be here a while.
Come on into the kitchen.
Many of these buyers will never spend time in the kitchen.
They'll have someone cooking for them or be entertaining and have caterers here.
Let me take you into the master bedroom.
This will be a beautiful way to wake up in the morning with eastern light coming in.
And I never have to worry about my view being blocked.
Exactly.
A bath with a view.
And probably I'm not going to exaggerate on this
but I think it's probably the best bath view in all of Manhattan.
Right now, new developments are the engine
that is currently driving the Manhattan market.
I would say that this project, One 57,
is the Ferrari out of the gate
in this engine of opportunity.
Everything's a big deal when you're talking about these kind of big numbers
and nobody's gonna walk out of here disappointed.
'Now it's down to the brokers
to tell their super-rich clients what they've seen.
And convince them to spend big in the Billionaire Building.
Four months have passed since the model apartment opened.
New York's highest residential skyscraper
is now almost fully enclosed under glass.'
This is the very top of the building.
We're enclosed on all four sides now.
This is a
in the building.
Once we get enclosure, we can start thinking about taking the crane down.
Once we're done setting these panels and the crane comes down,
the only way to get to the outside of the building is from this window-washing rig.
'But as the last of the roof panels are installed...
..87 floors below in the hotel lobby,
the scene of that intense all-night operation,
there's a noticeable absence of some highly-polished architectural steel panels.'
Th
came through after all our hard work
in bringing these screens in
and actually walked in here and on a whim
asked us to remove three of them
after they were all finished and installed.
$150,000 lost on each screen
at the wave of a guy saying,
"I didn't like them, there were too many,"
after all the design, thought, input.
You know, just t
Unbelievable!
'Today, five months after his trip to Italy,
Roy Kim will oversee the delivery of one of his two-ton bathtubs...
..sculpted from a single block of Italian marble.'
This is the moment we've all been waiting for,
the tub has arrived on site,
it came here without a glitch.
I'm super, super, super excited.
It's a bit like Christmas.
'It's been s
shipped 4,000 miles.
Now the tub faces one last journey...
..800 feet up to the 80th floor.'
We have to rotate it onto its side in order to bring it up.
And hopefully it comes up in one piece.
'Until the condominium
for it to be installed,
the tub will remain in its crate.
But after a five-month wait,
Roy cannot resist taking a peek inside.'
This tub costs in the six-figure range.
It's a very expensive tub.
If the quality's not to our standard, we won't accept it.
So this is it.
It looks great, it looks fantastic.
The veining is fantastic.
It was worth all the pain and the effort to get it here,
to get the quality - it looks amazing.
It's gonna look good in the space.
Fantastic.
'It's hard
a $100,000 tub when it's wrapped in plastic,
but Roy likes what he sees.'
This is how I thought it would look.
Wh
think, Rocco?
Looks good.
Great.
Worth the pain?
Almost worth all the pain?
Undecided, we'll have to see the rest of the project.
'Three days later.
Juan Portelles is heading back to the roof of the skyscraper
to check up on his window-washing rig.
When he was last here,
his machine was exposed to the elements.
Now it's fully enclosed under an electronically operated sliding-glass roof.
Today, he'll carry out the first test run
of the machine that can lower a window-cleaning basket
down a 1,000 foot wall of glass,
ensuring the city's newest skyscraper dazzles.'
We want to shake out any bugs,
anything that the machine can possibly go wrong,
every switch is working the way it's supposed to, cut off when it's supposed to.
It should be smooth sailing.
will be the first ones on it.
But they've been here with me putting it together,
so they'll be comfortable with it.
That's our next step.
'Juan's work on the most sophisticated window-cleaning rig ever constructed
is almost complete.
But he's not ready to walk away just yet.'
Every machine that we put up,
somehow I always
make my way back -
make sure that the loving tender care
that I put in to put it in is continuing after I leave.
They're basically my little kids.
And I'm taking this one close to heart.
This machine can be seen fro
anywhere in New York City right now -
Queens, Brooklyn, New Jersey.
We had the machine out
and we had several helicopters in the area
and that night it actually came onto the news.
Nobody has a clue what it's for.
This thing looks like
a rocket launcher -
ready to shoot out a missile.
It's a high-profile building with a high-profile machine.
'It's December.
Just eight months ago,
the One 57 sales team were set the ultimate challenge:
to achieve a target of $2 billion in sales.
After an extensive push,
and with help from a lavish sales gallery,
a state-of-the-art drone helicopter...'
Fire when ready.
'..and a multi-million-dollar show apartment...'
Now, that's a view.
'..they've smashed through their $2 billion target
and still have a quarter of the residences in hand.'
I'm never happy till we're completely sold
but we're extremely happy with the progress
and our team is always looking forward to the next sale.
(GARY) I think that the fact we're so well sold
not only makes it a good investment too
but it's also a tribute to the fact that
people do view this building as a great building.
'In New York, speculation is rife
as to exactly who will be moving in
to the multi-million-dollar apartments.
But their identities remain a secret,
closely guarded by the
behind the super skyscraper.'
In the past, people were just looking for a home with four walls
in a proper location that worked for their lifestyle.
They're now looking for masterpiece design.
This property delivers it.
To look up at a building and to say,
"I sold over $2 billion of real estate",
is a feeling of accomplishment
and it kind of motivates me to go on to the next.
One day, maybe I'll be able to afford to come over here
and have a dinner with my girl,
and at least say,
"I was part of this, you know."
I don't think many peopl
going to be able to top this.
They're paying $100 million downstairs
and I've got a billion-dollar view here,
and I don't have to pay for it.
God only knows who's going to be living here.
'Next time:
In the heart of London...'
The greatest constant in London's history has been change.
'..the building of the future.'
We've got to make sure it's perfect.
We have no logistic space here.
'The world's first flat-pack skyscraper.'
To learn more about this program,
visit pbs.org/superskyscrapers
Super Skyscrapers was made possible in part