There is no pleasure in having a terrace on a high floor, say 40th floor of a luxury building in midtown Manhattan and exposed to the vagaries of the weather. No plants will exist unless you are willing to replace it every season and you have to tether the furniture hence it will be blown away. It is impractical!
8
I too was very confused as to why balconies all over the city sit empty, or worse, as storage. We recently purchased an apt with a large enclosed balcony in a very modest mid-century building. While an open space would also be nice, the enclosure makes it usable all year long. Its wonderful!
6
I spend all summer on my roof overlooking the hudson and GWB. Nobody else is every up there. Its uncanny to me!. I look with binoculars over all the balconies in NJ and NOBODY is ever on them. I use ours continuously. I guess I should not complain about being alone on top of the world
13
FXCollaborative appears to have taken its inspiration, not from "the play of light on the rippling water", but rather from Jeanne Gang's Aqua Tower in Chicago. http://studiogang.com/project/aqua-tower
9
Sound lovely. I have always thought that, were I to consider spending many millions for an apartment, it would have to have a beautiful terrace. I am always surprised to see very expensive properties offered with no outdoor space. I can’t afford it now, but in my next life I will have to have it.
6
The concrete slab balconies from the 1960s are reaching the end of their lives in some cases. Our Local Law 11 was expanded to include inspections of balconies after an edge barrier gave way with fatal consequences. I have noticed several buildings locally where the balconies have been jack hammered out and a new slabs poured. A common problem is where a steel fence is inserted into the slab. As the steel rusts, the expansion can pop off the corner of the balcony.
Mr. Stern's remarks on balconies being "overflow storage" is quite true in my experience. I very rarely see anyone on a balcony. Between winter cold and summer heat, the season seems to be quite short...and then there are our feathered friends.
2
The problem with balconies/terraces is that they are only enjoyable if they come with unobstructed views. Unless yours is in a extremely high building or you have a penthouse level terrace, you are only ever looking into other people's apartments/lives -- they will also be looking into yours. No sense of space or privacy or anything except possible trouble -- water leakage to those below comes to mind. Not worth the money they are asking.
5
I'm always impressed by the renderings that show enormous SHARED terrace or roof garden space with only ONE person standing there - b/c surely no one else in the building will ever want to use that space when you want to use it.
11
nice luxury if you use it
in my observations of cheaper unit housing tracts, balconies are typically 'window dressing' by developers to attract buyers who typically rarely or never use them.
like gyms.
1
I love views but the pictures of the first two terraces are making me dizzy. I think I prefer my terraces to be more mundane.
8
The wholly unidiomatic "step foot" (rather than the much more usual "set foot") has become distressingly common even in professional writing in recent years.
11
The wind off the hudson river can be a problem: We had a beautiful wide terrace overlooking the Hudson -- 15 stories up AND the building itself sits high on a cliff. So the views were stunning. But the winds would blow the furniture all over the place. 50 mile and hour winds that high up were not uncommon. Those flimsy chairs you see in the first photo? Wont last a week and watch them blow OVER the terrace. The other issue was out terrace was SouthEast facing and in the Summer months it was basically 100 degrees on the terrace. Baked the plants. You can put an umbrella out there right? But the winds and an umbrella? Not a good combo.
16
Although it is hard to see, it looks like there is a glass or acrylic barrier in the rendering to help address the wind issue.
4
@Stephen O'Grady: Yes, indeed there is a reasonably high clear barrier in the rendering, but honestly, if you've ever actually SAT OUTSIDE on an exposed balcony trying to relax, eat, or read during windy weather (and remember: the more unobstructed the view, the more exposed to wind), you'd know that most people do NOT get as much pleasant use from a terrace as they (and the developer's brochures!) would imagine they'd get.
4
I really dislike those glass or plastic barriers, they seem flimsy to me, which is not heartening when you're fifty stories up. People could trip or be pushed into them, I don't trust them. Plus, they will be filthy in about a week or month, like windows in the city, needing constant cleaning.
2