No sooner do acquisitive urbanites negotiate their peace with the manic pulse of New York City than some escape it without leaving. The strategy is an aggressively vertical lifestyle, and developers are enabling it.

Buyers who can afford the prices of sky-high apartments clamor for space at the very top of the city. From this height, New York is endlessly picturesque. There are stunning views, and an amenity that doesn't exist at street level: silence. Clouds are such quiet neighbors.

Premiums for height are often paid in floor-to-floor increments of 1 percent to 2 percent, with prices jumping as much as 10 percent to 30 percent for views that clear the treetops of Central Park or crest above neighboring buildings. According to Michael Vargas, the chief executive of Vanderbilt Appraisal, it is customary to add a premium of 10 percent, "if a special view amenity exists as you rise in the building."

What do New Yorkers most value in a dream apartment? Height, light and unobstructed views.

"Views, together with peace and quiet, never go out of style," said Chandra Tyler, a broker at Bellmarc Realty.

Ms. Tyler has a client, Dr. Ezra Sharon, who impulsively listed his two-bedroom penthouse with an intoxicating 93-square-meter roof terrace for $2.25 million.

But the minute a reasonable offer came in, he raised the asking price to $2.49 million.

"I believe he is truly addicted to the height and views," she said.

The penthouse has since been withdrawn from the market.

"On a nice day I can see five bridges, Central Park and the East River," Dr. Sharon said. "And on a foggy day it's all gone and you feel like you're in a jet in the sky. Living here has been a dream come true. The main thing is it's very romantic: I'm single and my dates get very excited about sharing with me this fantastic view with Hollywood-style sunrises and sunsets. Of course, it's expensive, but it's worth it."

Daria Salusbury, a senior vice president for luxury leasing of Related Companies, whose One MiMA Tower caters to "vertical lifestyle" fans, said, "Airplane views are the wave of the residential future."

Andrew Vogel, a landscape designer, and Donald Savitz, a dermatologist, own a home in Bedford, New York, which they visit on weekends. Two years ago they rented a two-bedroom weekend pied-a-terre in Midtown.

The apartment, on the 47th floor, had startling views that made them want more. The building that most captivated them was One MiMA Tower on the West Side of Manhattan.

"The higher we got there, the more we liked it," Mr. Vogel said. "We walked in and the views to the east, south and west were just literally breathtaking. I think we fell in love with all the blues: the sky and the rivers."

From their apartment on the 55th floor, Mr. Vogel said, "We see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Hudson, and even a sliver of Central Park. We watch the storms roll in from New Jersey. It's an amazing apartment, and I miss it when we're not here."

They pay $23,000 a month in rent, and are anticipating a more permanent move. "The big problem," he added, "is that when we do go to buy, I don't know that we could ever go down any lower."

In Lower Manhattan, 8 Spruce Street, a building also known as New York by Gehry, is now the city's tallest occupied residential tower at 76 stories. Monthly rental fees for the three penthouses start at $25,000, according to Susi Yu, a senior vice president for commercial/residential development of Forest City Ratner Companies. "People who want these views don't want to live in a cookie-cutter building with a typical layout," she said. "They're seeking out unique spaces with views."

Mitch Draizin and Philippe Brugere-Trelat asked Noble Black, a Corcoran Group senior vice president, to find an East Side aerie. "Too many apartments in New York City face a brick wall within 30 feet or so," Mr. Brugere-Trelat said.

They were hesitant when Mr. Noble suggested they inspect a condo with no outdoor space on the 63rd floor of Trump World Tower near Central Park. But it was love at first sight. They created a living area dominated by a 12-meter-long wall of windows.

"It's like being in a plane, almost," Mr. Brugere-Trelat said. "My only fear is that a power outage knocks out the elevators."

Dmitri Siegel, who lives on the 60th floor at 8 Spruce, does not share that worry. Besides views of the harbor, rivers, bridges and cityscape, he discovered a bonus: the interior stairway of the 76-story building. He climbs it for exercise five times a week.

He said: "It's a euphoria like no other when you reach the top."

The New York Times

(China Daily 06/09/2013 page9)