Developer leaving buyers to fill in the blanks at Aurora's white-box penthouses.

Leading the exploding condo market, developer Mitchel Maidman, president of Townhouse Management, knows how to make his condos stand out from the pack.

With currently over 200 planned condo building projects going on throughout the five boroughs, few will look like those on top of the "Aurora," a 32-story luxury high-rise building at 554 Third Avenue on 37th Street in Manhattan's Murray Hill.

The seven loft-style, 4,000 s/f Aurora penthouse condos--just put on the for between $3.4 and $3.8 million--are being offered as "white-box' or unfinished properties, with no inside walls, leaving the buyer with a virtual "blank" canvas to create their own dream home tailored to their needs.

Maidman, a third generation member of an established New York real estate family, has a thing for "blank spaces." The upper East Side developer is also currently marketing one of the most expensive private mansions--a $40 million triple East 63rd St. townhouse that has 12 terraces, 18 fireplaces, a 25-foot glass-topped atrium, limestone facade and more--but no walls. Like the Aurora's condos, they are all raw interior space, demanding a unique buyer with a vision.

For those who want a more defined space, Maidman will offer Aurora buyers the option of finishing before the closing, using pre-existing or new designs by the building's architect Thomas O'Hara and Townhouse contractors. (Or buyers can also bring in their own architect.) To give buyers options and ideas, one of the five penthouses which is being shown as a model unit, does feature a kitchen, bathroom and four bedrooms.

Maidman himself loves the Aurora building and concept so much, he himself has bought an Aurora penthouse for himself and his family. His partner also bought one. Maidman points out the Aurora penthouse condos have great selling points: full floor 11-foot ceilings and almost 500 square feet of outdoor space, with four corner balconies, river-to-river views, with two private elevators and the highest-level home automation and security systems.

"Where else in Manhattan can one find a raw, loft-like space in a concierge building with a beautiful roof-top deck and lobby with state of the art conference and fitness center," says Maidman. "Ten, even five years ago, raw spaces like this one were all over the place, but not today. This is an extremely rare offering, from every point of view."

What makes the penthouses even more unique is that they sit on top of the Aurora, which cost upwards of $65 million to build, and the lower 25 floors are luxury rental units that are currently under a 15-year lease to Marriott/ExecuStay. The 126 premiere units below the condo penthouses are available for 30-day minimum stays, and are fully finished, and feature high-end luxury bathrooms and kitchens.

"Why make design decisions for people, when they would rather do it themselves," says Maidman, who runs the business that was founded over 50 years ago by his late grandfather, William Maidman.

The penthouses are "smart" houses, installed with the very latest AMX home automation technology. They also feature a fingerprint recognition elevator key, whereby residents put their fingers to a panel to gain access to the elevators.