Bringing a celebrity along to do a condo opening is today’s equivalent of boasting about a Sub-Zero refrigerator a few years ago — everyone has one, and it’s almost nothing special.
When star architects or locations didn’t draw crowds to their new condo projects, developers started looking for brighter lights, inviting — and paying — the ranks of the famous to drum up attention. But celebrity ain’t what it used to be. So, marketing teams are finding new ways to bring the buyers out in the condo-flooded New York market.
That’s forced brokers to hand-pick stars they think are best suited to show off particular amenities a new condo project offers.
In early September, at least 350 brokers showed up to 205 East 59th Street for a cooking demonstration by famous chef David Burke, whose restaurants include David Burke at Bloomingdale’s.
“We wanted to acquaint the brokerage with the services of David Burke and the best way to do that was with a cooking demonstration and party catered by David,” said Laurie Zucker, vice chair of Zucker Organization/Manhattan Skyline Management, which developed 205 East 59th Street.
205 East 59th Street condo purchasers receive preferred service at restaurants, private catering, and can have their refrigerators stocked by Burke.
At a party at 99 Gold Street in Brooklyn early this past summer, former basketball star John Starks of the New York Knicks was there to shoot some hoops in the indoor basketball gym, a feature of the Vinegar Hill project.
According to Highlyann Krasnow, executive vice president of the condo’s marketer, the Developers Group, more than 400 brokers and buyers attended the event.
She said celebrity-sponsored events that don’t tie to an aspect of the building tend to fall flat.
“Buyers brought kids to have basketballs signed by John Starks and take pictures,” Krasnow said. “It was one of the most fun grand openings.”
The opposite approach — pop-star performances that don’t have much to do with the building itself — perhaps reached their crescendo earlier this year in two notable parties for new condo projects.
In February, the Avery, a luxury condo on Riverside Boulevard marketed by the Corcoran Group and developed by Extell Development, had Grammy award-winning singer Seal perform at the inauguration sale party. On the same night, marketer Michael Shvo picked up another Grammy winner, John Legend, to perform at the party for 20 Pine The Collection, a higher-end condo in the Financial District.