Paparazzi-proof driveways are the hottest must-have amenity

Jardim developer says it was his “secret marketing angle”

The driveway at the Jardim in Chelsea
The driveway at the Jardim in Chelsea

What do you give the luxury condo building that has everything? A driveway, evidently. Or as the residents call it, a porte-cochère.

More developers are offering this highly-prized amenity at Manhattan’s ultra-luxury buildings to address a heretofore unresolved pain-point of Manhattan’s elite: getting from the house to The Waiting Limo On A Busy New York Street.

At the Jardim, a two-building condo complex in Chelsea at 525 West 27th Street, a private drive, which the marketing material calls “mysterious and inviting,” runs the length of the buildings between 27th and 28th streets. At 565 Broome in Soho, the ground floor is anchored by a gated driveway and 1 Great Jones Alley sits at the end of restored historic laneway in NoHo.

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Centaur Properties’ [TRDataCustom] Harlan Berger, the co-developer behind the Jardim, said he conceived of the private lane before even buying the site. “It was my secret marketing angle,” he told Bloomberg, “To deliver an amenity that didn’t exist in the neighborhood.”

Architect Robert A.M. Stern spearheaded the trend with the lavish $950 million 15 Central Park West, built a decade ago. “The motor court is the top feature of that building,” Corcoran broker Julie Pham told Bloomberg.

Two new Stern projects, at Tribeca’s 70 Vestry Street and 20 East End Avenue, not surprisingly also feature generous car pavilions. [Bloomberg] Chava Gourarie