Which new Manhattan condos will celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Mary-Kate Olsen and Will Smith call home? They don’t want you to know. That’s why some new developments around town now offer separate VIP entrances to protect the privacy of their residents and keep screaming fans and paparazzi out.
At One York Street, an automated parking system will bring residents’ cars in and out of the garage with the swipe of a card — no attendant involved. The sky garage at 200 Eleventh Avenue will allow owners to drive their cars into the elevator and actually park next to their unit. Other buildings seek to protect the identity of those entering by foot: District, at 60 Ann Street, and One Madison Park both have private
rear entrances.
“It’s very secure,” says Christopher Mathieson, managing partner of JC DeNiro & Associates, who is marketing District. “There is no attendant, so no one can see you or bother you.”
But like all luxury amenities, these perks come at a cost. How pricey these VIP entrances can get is hard to quantify, says Wendy Maitland, senior vice president of ID Marketing at Brown Harris Stevens, which is marketing One Madison Park and One York Street. “Generally, it’s added on to the entirety of the amenities package and ongoing maintenance costs.”
At 200 Eleventh Avenue, units are selling for between $5 and $18 million, and the cost of the apartment includes a remote key for the sky garage, which contains a chip that automatically activates the entrance as the resident’s car approaches. Some details of the feature have not yet been worked out, such as whether the remote key access will be restricted to the owner’s vehicle, or if it can be carried around on their person.
Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Leonard Steinberg, who is marketing 200 Eleventh, is quick to point out that its units’ $3,000-per-square-foot price tag brings a lot more than just a fancy VIP entrance.
“If you just delivered them a garage on their floor with no view or bad architecture, they would not buy the product,” Steinberg says. Other notable attributes: The 16-unit tower, designed by star architect Annabelle Selldorf, overlooks the Hudson River and has a stainless steel façde. Most units have double-height ceilings.
Across town, units are priced from $1.6 to $9.5 million at One Madison Park. Rabid fans, be warned: The building’s back door requires a thumbprint scan to verify that you’re the resident — you can’t even view the building’s Web site without entering a password.
According to Mathieson, secondary entrances in luxury buildings are a necessary amenity to draw in celebrities. District, a condo conversion in the Financial District, has a back-door entrance where unit owners and members of the private dining room will have access with a magnetic swipe card.
“You definitely want [celebrities] if you can cater to them,” says Mathieson. “But you don’t want a whole horde of paparazzi bothering the other residents.”
Mathieson has been working with actress Scarlett Johansson to find a condo in Manhattan. “She would only look at listings that came with a private garage.”