Alchemy Properties’ Kenneth Horn at his under-construction 57-unit condo at 15th Street and Fifth AvenueFrom the September issue: At the height of the boom, The Real Deal often wrote of the developers of massive condominium towers one-upping each other with newer, bigger buildings and the next best over-the-top amenity.
At Midtown’s 220-unit Platinum, there was the golf simulator and the massage room. At the 258-unit Riverhouse in Battery Park City, there was the pet spa. And at the Financial District’s 319-unit William Beaver House, basketball and squash courts, a hot tub and an outdoor shower were all part of the original attempts to woo buyers.
How things have changed. Now, with much of the inventory from the boom era’s mega-condos sold off, boutique buildings with fewer amenities are dominating the new development sales market.
There’s still the occasional pet spa, of course (see the Related Companies’ 42nd Street condo-rental behemoth MiMA), but the economic climate of the past few years stifled the pipeline on massive projects. So developers, out of necessity, began favoring smaller, more intimate buildings, where privacy was the draw, not flashy bells and whistles. [more]
