Aby Rosen’s Midtown tower now has ‘skyscraper lofts’ for art collectors

Given developer Aby Rosen’s well-documented interest in modern art (well, except for Picasso tapestries), it’s no surprise that his Midtown condo project at 100 East 53rd Street is engineered for art collectors. Listings for the pricey apartments within the Foster + Partners-designed skyscraper tout the fact that they “allocate generous space for art,” and units are equipped with “floor-to-ceiling Starphire UV-coated windows,” as well as “nearly 10-foot ceilings with integrated reveals for custom lighting”—all of which is intended to protect a wealthy buyer’s precious pieces, should they choose to display them.

But now, Rosen is taking that a step further with the debut of 15 huge, loft-like apartments within the building; the so-called “skyscraper lofts” are all one- or two-bedroom units, and range from 1,140 to 4,607 square feet. They’re located on the first five floors of the building, and each one has an open floorplan, the better to maximize that loft-like thing.

While Foster + Partners added decorative touches to these apartments (including the kitchen’s floating shelves), Rosen also tasked a team of Japanese concrete artisans, who’ve previously worked with Tadao Ando, to use that material on the walls, floors, and columns. The result is luxurious, with a hint of that downtown (re: grittier) feel that these apartments are meant to evoke.

There’s also a new sales gallery within one of these lofts, along with an art gallery that’s completely outfitted in art from Rosen’s personal collection, because of course it is. Of the loft units that are currently available, the cheapest is a 1,140-square-foot one-bedroom asking $2.45 million; the priciest is a positively enormous 4,607-square-foot two-bedroom, going for $9.3 million.

The building, which counts George and Amal Clooney as its future residents, is due to be completed sometime this year.

• One Hundred East Fifty-Third Street [Official]