432 Park Avenue: the New York skyscraper that isn't on Park Avenue

$16.5m will get you about 50 metres from Park Avenue

432 Park Avenue (Courtesy of dbox/CIM Group & Macklowe Properties)

Status-obsessed New York billionaires will be in for a shock when they move into their new Park Avenue skyscraper next year: it’s not actually on Park Avenue.

432 Park Avenue’s doors are actually on Manhattan's relatively unglamorous 56th Street, nearly 50 metres away from Park Avenue, Bloomberg news reports.

425 metres high, the cheapest apartments in the new development are selling for $16.5m – virtually guaranteeing a clientele of billionaires.

An address on Park Avenue is believed to be worth 5% to 10% more than one on surrounding streets.

The practice of granting false street addresses to major buildings is surprisingly common in New York.

The city’s grid pattern means that large buildings often face onto multiple streets, and borough authorities will sometimes allow an address to ignore the location of the building’s entrance – for a price.

Developers can effectively buy these so-called ‘vanity addresses’ for an $11,000 ‘processing fee’ to the Manhattan Borough President’s office.

Many addresses that claim to be located in the city’s famous Times Square are actually around the corner.

Other notable examples include One Bryant Park and 200 West Street.