This account offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective on the fierce ambition, greed, and financial rivalry behind the world's most expensive real estate: the Manhattan megatowers known as Billionaires' Row. Looking south from Central Park reveals a skyline transformed by soaring spires, representing tens of billions in global wealth. These high-rise condos, enabled by developer-friendly policies and an influx of cash from tech, finance, and international moguls, have turned a once rundown Midtown strip into the priciest street on Earth. Most will never step inside these colossal towers, which symbolize the "new Gilded Age" of twenty-first-century affluence. Inside One57, financier Bill Ackman shares an elevator with tech pioneer Michael Dell, who paid over $100 million for his apartment. Just a block away, hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin set a record with his $238 million home at 220 Central Park South. While some owners remain anonymous, treating these structures as mere investments, others engage in a high-stakes competition to build the tallest and most luxurious skyscrapers. Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Clarke unveils the gripping saga of legendary developers and ambitious newcomers battling for supremacy, marked by broken partnerships, lawsuits, and personal triumphs.
