Manhattan land is pricey because they aren’t making any more of it, but no one would believe it’s a prized commodity after a look at the many suburban touches found in new residential developments.
There are squash courts and miniature golf courses on the Upper East Side, a greenhouse near the Hudson River, wine cellars everywhere. Some developments tout the most unlikely amenities, such as bowling alleys and pet spas. It’s as if there were plenty of space to go around, and one might call their vision downright suburban.
Take Clinton West at 516 West 47th Street, being developed by SDS/Procida into 149 condominium units, which recently sold out in eight days on the market. Architects at Larsen Shein Ginsberg Snyder designed the development around a greenhouse, which serves as a common space for residents with a television and lounge. It will open up to a terrace, garden and even a putting green.
The developers’ concept “is really a concept of community,” said Cheryl Nielsen-Saaf, senior vice president at the Corcoran Group. “Because living in an urban environment doesn’t always provide you with the square footage in your living space that you might get in the suburbs, we have added elements that give you additional square footage outside your living space to use for your pleasure.”
Sound like suburbia? SDS/Procida used the same concept successfully at Boulevard East in Brooklyn Heights.
“What is the thing that everybody likes to have? Outdoor space or a yard,” Nielsen-Saaf said. “At Clinton West, we’ve got this fabulous courtyard in between two buildings. At Boulevard East, we had a huge courtyard built on top of a parking garage.”
Several developments marketed by the Sunshine Group, which recently merged with Corcoran, have gone all-out on expansive and expensive amenities. Downtown by Philippe Starck at 15 Broad Street has a basketball court, bowling alley, ballet studio and theater, while 165 Charles has a wine cellar with 32 refrigerated cabinets accommodating 260 bottles each.
Another development marketed by the Sunshine Group at 205 East 59th Street has a dog park and solariums. Louise Sunshine is using the concept of the suburbs to market 170 East End Avenue, which will offer miniature golf, billiards, a squash court, interactive driving ranges and sculptures of sheep.
“We’re going to have maybe 20,000 square feet of amenity space broken down for different age groups, starting as a toddler going all the way into your senior years,” said Orin Wilf, president of Skyline Developers, which is doing the project. “Hopefully, all this creates a family atmosphere.”
Atmosphere doesn’t come cheap. Developers paid an exorbitant $650 a buildable square foot at 170 East End Avenue. That sort of money, especially on an avenue not known for its cachet or luxury, requires developers to add a little something to capture the fancy of buyers.
“For someone, say a philanthropist, who wants to be in the center of things, he’s not going to want to go to East End Avenue,” said Diego Plaza, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “But it’s a great neighborhood for families, and they’ll have all the amenities you’d find outside the city, but you don’t have to go that far.”
Plaza said he doubted most developers could spring for those kinds of amenities and the incorporation of expansive common areas.
“I don’t think there are too many buildings that can afford the luxury of space like that, unless you build on the fringes or in areas that are out of the way for most people,” he said.
At 515 Park Avenue, where Plaza has sold apartments, limited space is used wisely, but doesn’t sacrifice on amenities, such as a small wine cellar for residents, service apartments for maids, and a library off the lobby that can be used as a meeting room, Plaza said.
As more real estate investment trusts, with holdings nationwide and in suburban areas, enter the New York City market, it may lead to creation of more housing with suburban touches. For instance, AvalonBay Communities has created Avalon Chrystie Place on the Lower East Side and Avalon Riverview in Queens with washer-dryer hookups in many units.
Fred Harris, AvalonBay’s senior vice president for development, said amenities are being added, but that doesn’t necessarily mean suburbia’s come to the city. They may be a reflection of developers adding extras to attract buyers to emerging neighborhoods.
“As people started moving out of traditional areas, maybe this area’s not as convenient to get your mail, but you have a washer-dryer and you have a garden,” he said.
The inclusion of more amenities started in garden apartments, Harris said. The developer of 170 East End Avenue is the New York subsidiary of Garden Homes Development of Short Hills, N.J., which builds homes, residential rentals and condominium towers nationwide.
“Developers that have garden apartments and then do urban may be more disposed to those kinds of extras,” Harris said.
Battery Park City was one of the first neighborhoods in Manhattan to create a suburban atmosphere. Heather Stein, a sales associate with Brown Harris Stevens, said the Cove Club at 2 South End Avenue, built in the 1990s, has a billiards room with lounge and bar. All of Battery Park City’s buildings are nestled in a green swath of parkland along a riverfront esplanade.
“That definitely brought a sense of an indoor-outdoor community,” Stein said, “and being surrounded by water added the dynamic of an escape from the city with a suburban feel to it of release or relaxation.”
Townhomes touched by suburbia
Developers building Manhattan townhomes are betting buyers want as much home as town, and are including more suburban touches amid the city’s high-rises.
Maisonettes will be included at 170 East End Avenue, and developments like Senneca Terrace and 1400 Fifth Avenue have townhomes.
The Lumi re at 350 West 53rd Street has a KitchenAid refrigerator in the lobby for grocery deliveries along with eight duplex townhomes at its base among its 66 units.
“A lot of people are moving into the city from the suburbs, because it’s becoming easier to get what they have out there here,” said Michael Shvo, founder of the Shvo Group, which marketed the Lumi re. “Now they can live exactly as they would in the suburbs right here in Manhattan.”
Jill Mangone, a broker with Corcoran Group Marketing, said 255 Hudson Street in Soho has been created in a sort of backlash to urban suburbia. It will have a more cloistered feel to most of its 64 units than many new developments.
“The concept is creating a more private and discreet environment,” she said. “We didn’t do any public space or retail or commercial space, which I think is kind of rare today.”
Even so, 255 Hudson will include a nod to suburbia: three townhomes, each with private 23-by-60 foot backyards. And all townhomes come with guess what, Dad? a lawnmower.
“We’re delivering them completely sodded, and there’s a lawnmower included in the purchase price,” Mangone said. “We’re doing cedar decks and a retractable awning, so you have this outdoor-indoor room to your home.”