The rooftop at One Brooklyn Bridge Park
New Yorkers are not just shopping for apartments this summer. They’re also increasingly buying their own private pads on the roofs of their buildings.
Sales of rooftop “cabanas,” which residents at some new city condo buildings can buy for their own exclusive use, were slow during the downturn. But brokers say sales for these luxury, outdoor add-ons have recently picked up.
Cabanas’ recent popularity has been especially visible at newly converted condo One Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn Heights, which is being marketed by the brokerage MNS.
According to MNS Executive Vice President Highlyann Krasnow, half of the building’s 18 shaded cabanas, which are hooked up to gas and water for barbecues, have been sold at prices ranging from $150,000 to $200,000. Of those nine, four have been sold within the past two months, Krasnow said. By contrast, it took two years to sell the first five cabanas.
Nearby, Brooklyn condo be@schermerhorn is also having success in luring in new cabana owners. Aaron Lemma, senior vice president of the Corcoran Group, and his partner, Frank Castelluccio, have sold all but one of the 17 rooftop private cabanas since taking over sales there last spring.
“With a healthier market, [cabanas] became something viewed not just as a luxury, but a real value,” said Lemma.
One Brooklyn Bridge, which is also benefiting from the improved economy, has another key factor working in its favor: the recent opening of nearby Brooklyn Bridge Park. Krasnow said the park greatly improves the view from the cabanas, a factor which has prompted more sales lately. Plus, it’s normal for cabana sales to spike in the spring, when people have outdoor recreation on the brain. But this year, with the darkest days of the recession seemingly past, that effect has been especially pronounced, she said.
Krasnow added she doesn’t expect the remaining cabanas to last long.
“I do expect them to be sold out by the end of the summer,” she said.