NYC buyers, developers put more stock in closets

Closets: they’re not just for skeletons anymore. Beyond mere storage space, closets are becoming an increasingly important factor in the process of hunting for an apartment and in the decision to purchase a home, the New York Times reported.

“Closet space has always been very, very important,” Stephen Kliegerman, president of Terra Development Marketing, told the Times, “but it’s been something that developers overlooked in the past. What we’ve all certainly learned over the years is that although kitchens and bathrooms are very, very important, you cannot overlook closets.”

Some luxury developers are going the extra mile by adding multiple shelves and hanging bars to their closets, bringing an end to the days when a single, unadorned pole sufficed. At 18 Gramercy Park, the model unit’s closets were staged by a company called Clos-ette and furnished with dresses and other items, as if a new owner had already moved in.

“People have started realizing, ‘If I’m going to put my pots and pans in a $250,000 room, why don’t I put my clothes and jewelry, which cost a lot more than my All-Clad or Le Creuset pots and pans, in an equally special place?'” Melanie Charlton, CEO of Clos-ette, told the Times. “I think people have really started giving it the homage it deserves.”

The opposite is also true. A Prospect Heights co-op unit that hit the market last summer — where owners had removed the home’s permanent closets — only had one offer for its $450,000 ask, while other units in the building received offers of $25,000 to $32,000 more.

On the other hand, perhaps closet space should have its limits. Tristan Andres of Douglas Elliman told the Times that a Hong Kong-based couple who used his services to buy a pied-à-terre contacted him again to buy another apartment — to use fully as a closet for the wife’s wardrobe. [NYT] —Zachary Kussin