Manhattan has finally caught up with Miami’s super amenities at many of the luxury condo towers that have joined the city’s skyline in recent years. At 15 Central Park West, for example, which was completed just before the global recession struck, residents have a fine dining restaurant at their fingertips where the chef can rustle up a four-course custom menu for 80 guests or a romantic dinner for two delivered directly to their apartment. If that’s not enough, a 14,000-square-foot gym, a 75-foot sky-lit swimming pool, a spa, billiards room, screening room, kids’ playroom, staff quarters and wine storage are also at the residents’ disposal. At other prime properties that have sprung up in the following years, buyers are being persuaded to open their wallets by their own pet-wash rooms, yoga studios, performance rooms and even Turkish-style hammams. Jonathan Miller, the president of New York-based appraisal firm Miller Samuel, describes these super amenities as something of a litmus test. “If developers don’t offer them,” he said, “they’re not in the luxury market.” However, as developers race to create these “amenities on steroids,” as one realtor put it, they must be mindful of the perception among their targeted buyers.
While Chinese buyers don’t even ask about prices, “Europeans are very conscious of their monthly costs,” said Dolly Lenz, the CEO of Dolly Lenz Real Estate. They’re accustomed to low maintenance and low service, she explained. “If it’s too expensive, they won’t buy.” According to Lenz, developers including super amenities in their pitch “better be sure the target market is the right one.” It’s not just cultural considerations at work. Indian investors, for example, are only allowed to take a limited amount of money out of the country, according to Louise Phillips Forbes, a broker at Halstead Property. As a result, families are known to often pool together their money and eventually purchase an investment property in Manhattan. Getting the most for their money is the primary concern. “Whether they’re spending $3 million [or] $15 million,” Forbes said, “they look for value with a no-frills building with three or four bedrooms.” In contrast, her buyers from China “are always thinking about resale and about what’s going to preserve value,” and therefore are fans of these super amenities. Chinese buyers also want to know hotel-style amenities are waiting for them when they pop into Manhattan every few months, according to Tom Titone, a broker at the Corcoran Group. “If they’re just dropping in every few months, they want to press a button and have everything delivered to them,” he said. Last year, Titone helped a Hong Kong businessman pay nearly $25 million for a condo in One57 on 57th Street, which has been dubbed Billionaire’s Row. Another One57 apartment changed hands for north of $100 million last year. But as jitters over China’s economy and the U.S. presidential race make some international investors nervous, the appetite for these properties has dampened, resulting in a glut of super luxury condos. “We have way too much supply and way too much coming onto the market,” Lenz said. “We still have a lot of Chinese buyers, but they’re taking a little pause and thinking, ‘What can I buy outside of New York?’” This may present a serious problem for developers who included super amenities in their plans — and prices — when more buyers had an appetite for them. Today’s super luxury market began to cool about a year ago, said Miller. “One of the solutions in a slowdown is to showcase the features in your building,” he said. “That becomes problematic when the demographic you might have targeted is no longer a force in the market.”
Super-amenity properties on the market:
432 Park Ave
Douglas Elliman
PRICE: $44.25 million
BEDROOMS: 4
BATHROOMS: 5.5 Those who move into 432 Park Ave., which at 1,396 feet is the tallest residential tower in the western hemisphere, will have access to 30,000 square feet of private amenities, including a porte cochère, billiards room, pool and spa. View this listing
15 Central Park West
Brown Harris Stevens
PRICE: $48 million
BEDROOMS: 5
BATHROOMS: 7.5 Fellow residents at 15 Central Park are rumored to include Denzel Washington, Alex Rodriguez and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Amenities they can all enjoy include a 14,000-square-foot gym, a 75-foot sky-lit swimming pool, a spa. View this listing
One57
Douglas Elliman
PRICE: $31.5 million
BEDROOMS: 3
BATHROOMS: 4.5 Residents at One57, which was crowned Manhattan’s most expensive building last year, will have access to the Park Hyatt’s facilities — but may never need to use them as they will already have a 20,000-square-foot amenities floor to themselves including a performance room and pet wash room. View this listing MORE From Mansion Global:
