Top Residential Developments and their Unique Amenities
The Growth of In-House Amenities in Downtown Condos
In more than one urban center, we’re seeing an increasing number of residential condos and apartments in the downtown core. Places like Chicago, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and the many ‘suburbs’ of New York are seeing increased construction activity as developers push forward new condos to meet the demands of growing populations.
With these new developments, many developers are focusing on in-house services and amenities. While concierge service is almost a given in new home builds of the last decade or so, there’s a growing tendency to include and promote more creative services for residents of the building, whether that’s children’s play areas, shared community spaces, or even more luxurious and far-out concepts such as a built-in observatory. Changing demand from buyers has affected amenities across residential new development.
The Underwood
A common type of amenity in new condos focuses on creating shared spaces. Rooftop gardens, yoga studios, or work spaces are often incorporated into the new development to encourage interaction and community between residents of the build — but it’s debatable whether these are utilized in the way they were intended.
The Underwood, by developer Western Securities, changes the typical understanding of an apartment amenity by providing a Community Coordinator/Lifestyle Curator. This role is an extension of the concierge and amenity services, and is charged with managing amenities and creating opportunities for residents to get to know one another.
“The lifestyle curator’s role is to create a community within the building, to curate what the residents need to make their home into a community,” Underwood manager Leanne Woodward told the Calgary Herald.
By creating a role tasked with helping residents create community, the Underwood adds the human element to the building, and proactively creates opportunities for residents to use the provided amenities.
K2 Apartments
A growing number of new home owners — especially millennials — would turn down an otherwise perfect home if it doesn’t meet the needs of their pets. This means that pet friendliness is a must when it comes to looking for a new home; it’s not so much a nice-to-have amenity as it is a must-have deal breaker.
Developments like K2, by New York based developer The Georgetown Company, have taken this to the next level, featuring Chicago’s largest outdoor dog park: a full half-acre of gated grass and gravel that is open to the public year-round. The apartments themselves are of course pet-friendly, and there are also grooming services available to residents. The park opened in 2014, and underwent numerous improvements in the first year.
While amenities are typically meant only for the residents who live in the building, K2 changes the script by providing a publically-accessible, dog-friendly space that invites the community into a typically privatized communal area. Not only does developer Georgetown Company support the integration of the new building into the neighbourhood, they are able to prove their commitment to serving the community as a whole.
Circa 1877
While many new development amenities take inspiration from luxury hotel life — 24 hour concierge service is the prime example — developments like Circa 1877 try to transform lobby spaces into comfortable, communal areas both for the neighbourhood, and the residents.
Lobby spaces are typically transient spaces; besides the concierge, few people spend time there, but just pass through on their way in or out of the building.
Developer HIP Developments wanted to change that, by creating an inviting space that supports the creation of community right from the ground floor. At Circa 1877, the ground floor features a bar and restaurant, giving residents and neighbours alike a place to meet and socialize. Much like a hotel, the development also features in-suite and poolside food and beverage service.
Services like this are increasingly marketed as a major part of new developments, adding to the traditional value of amenities by providing the support to allow residents to fully take advantage of the facilities. While some suggest that amenities like this only create expensive maintenance fees, developments like Circa 1877 serve a surprising market — baby boomers and millennials, two demographics that have shown preference for conveniences that are accessible in-building. The success for Circa 1877 is evidenced in the building’s incredible two-day sellout, the first to do so in Waterloo.
American Copper Buildings
Between the two towers of the American Copper Buildings, developers JDS and Largo have worked to create a “vertical community” that encapsulates luxury high-rise living. Not only are there top-notch amenities, the building management also hosts regular events that attract renters even in a slowing market.
The “Copper Community” is not a usual type of promised amenity, but, much like The Underwood’s lifestyle curator, promises the creation, support, and maintenance of a thriving community and social center to residents of the building. With evenings like the medication event, where residents were led through a guided meditation by the outdoor pool while music played underwater, American Copper Building directly helps renters take advantage of its many amenities of creating opportunities for them to utilize the facilities.
Especially in New York, many developers are finding that high-net-worth individuals actively choose to rent over purchasing a condo. In many cases, the luxury amenities and services offered by the building make the decision a simple one.
The Ritz-Carlton Residences
An example of ‘adaptive reuse’, where existing buildings are re-created for new uses, The Ritz-Carlton Residences are a beautiful Miami Beach creation where an old hospital was transformed into condo units and townhomes.
The amenities allow residents to make the most of the Miami lifestyle, with an infinity pool, cabana, and private marina listed among its many amenities. There is a yacht available to residents, a meditation garden, spa/sauna, fitness amenities such as a yoga studio and gym, and a sharing room where residents can leave and receive items for fellow residents.
With these, developers Lionheart Capital and Elliott Management Corporation paint a vivid narrative of the lifestyle at the Ritz-Carlton. Luxury amenities like yachts and cabanas draw in the higher-income crowd, while fitness areas and services, as well as sharing rooms, create health-awareness and the beginnings of shared communal living.
Reina Condos
When it comes to doing things differently, the team at Reina Condos — which is made up of professionals from several companies — is setting the standard for thinking about and executing a new development in a more thoughtful way.
Reina was created and managed by an all-female team, led by Taya Cook, director of development at Urban Capital Property Group. The idea behind the team was formed as a response to the lack of female representation in the upper echelons of the development space. In the creation of amenities for the upcoming build, the team put in equally as much thought into the design and selection.
The team at Reina have surveyed women to find out what they would like to see in the condo building, and are working to “gender mainstream” the build. Certain elements included better lit areas outside the condo, for improved safety, as well as stroller storage within the condos. Alongside improvements in safety and security, more storage space, and soundproofing, the team found that overwhelmingly, women wanted flexible community spaces that served more than one use, and could facilitate neighbourly, intergenerational socializing. These ideas will be incorporated into the design.
More (and better) amenities in condos
Multi-family housing has overtaken single-family homes and townhomes in most major urban centers. Not only are buyers concerned about pricing and affordability, considerations such as proximity to downtown and access to convenience have a major impact on the purchase decision.
Two often at-odds demographics, baby boomers and millennials, are converging on the same point in new development: that multi-family builds, with their convenience of amenities, service, and location, are a worthwhile investment. Increasingly quick sell-outs and the popularity of builds with a well-thought out amenities plan are proof of this shift.
As downtown condos regain popularity, and developments incorporate more and more amenities into their design of their builds, it will be interesting to see the variety of services and amenities that developers prioritize.
Amenities are a growing consideration for buyers—you may be surprised to know that art is too. Visit the blog to see some of the standout developments and why developers are considering art installations a must-have part of the build.
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