Luxury Developers Get Serious About Art

From perfectly chosen kitchen cabinets and tile work to amenities such as yoga studios and doggie day care, developers are courting discerning buyers and distinguishing themselves in a crowded market through individualized boutique touches.

In recent years, this attention to detail has extended to the art featured in new developments. Gone are the cheap poster reproductions of Monet’s "Water Lilies." Instead, developers are collaborating with design firms, curators and artists to create museum quality spaces.

More:To Lure Luxury Buyers, Developers Are Building World-Class Art Collections

A large part of the reason art has become such a focus in new developments is that the buyer’s relationship with fine art has changed. More people feel like experts and connoisseurs.

"The global art market and visual culture is more engrained in daily life, especially through media, Instagram and Pinterest," said Tze Chun, the founder of Uprise Art, a gallery and art consultancy in Manhattan that works with developers, architects and interior designers. "People are much more comfortable and confident viewing, discussing and interacting with art."

This knowledge raises the level of play on the other side, said Ms. Chun. "Developers who are looking to invest more money in amenities spaces, elevator banks and lounge areas, instead of buying print on-demand corporate art, are working with companies like us to have one of a kind art present."

Art that reflects the neighborhood… and the buyer

Art also allows a developer to put the finishing touch on a project, and to strengthen the relationship between the building’s location and its residents. At The Ashland in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, a 30-foot hanging rope sculpture called "Inverted Arches of Gold" is located in a glass vestibule at the entrance of the building. The sculpture is lit up at night, forming a main focal point as you walk or drive by the space. The artist, Rachel Mica Weiss, is a young Brooklyn resident herself. Developers like to focus on "how they can sell the artist’s story in relation to the development," Ms. Chun said.

More:Custom Beverly Hills Home Hits the Market for $43.9 Million, Andy Warhol Painting Not Included

And it can be rather strategic. At The Dylan on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the building had been open for a year and was filled with what Ms. Chun called "pretty bad art." Uprise was brought in to replace it, with the goals of inducing people to stay and attract new tenants. Uprise commissioned artist Christina Watka to do a site-specific porcelain installation in the building’s lobby. It was installed during high traffic times, so residents could see the sculptor at work. "I will say that as a gallery, our catchphrase we say to developers is: art is the most affordable way to renovate a space," said Ms. Chun.

Another developer used art to celebrate a property launch. In London, Amazon Property launched The Park Crescent, a £200 million development overlooking Regents Park. For the launch, which was timed to the Frieze London art fair earlier this month, the art curator House of Nobleman created a post-war and contemporary art exhibition in six of the residences, which includes work by Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and the largest collection of Marc Chagall paintings shown in London. The work’s value, at £100 million, matches the price of the luxurious residences.

Good for the developer… even better for the artist?

Sometimes the relationship between art and a new development is mutually beneficial for both the developer and the artist. The developer Time Equities runs a program, Art-in-Buildings, which exhibits across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, emerging and mid-career artists in unconventional spaces, such as atriums and lobbies. For a recent project, a luxury development at 50 West, in lower Manhattan, where construction is being completed this fall, the curator of Art-in-Buildings, Jennie Lamensdorf, invited artists to be part of the building’s process from the beginning.

"Ever since construction began we have had what we’ve been calling an ‘artists in construction residency,’" Ms. Lamensdorf said. The artists were given studio space and hardhat access. Two of them, Hugo Bastidas and Paul Anthony Smith, created portraits of the construction workers. The art will be dispersed around 50 West when the building opens.

Handpicking the right pieces

Choosing the appropriate art for people to walk by every day is a tall order. Ms. Lamensdorf says that she looks for pieces with complexity. "We try to make them really dynamic and interesting. [We look for] what kind of work reveals itself over multiple visits, because you might see it two or four times a day," Ms. Lamensdorf said. She likes to use non-narrative video art for this reason.

Ms. Chun uses a similar technique. "We think about ‘what are people not going to get sick of.’ It needs to be complex enough that people can consider it over time and maybe have a different view that kind of grows with them."

When deciding what sculptures he was going to use at the new Oceana Bal Harbour near Miami, developer Eduardo Costantini, who created the MALBA Museum (of Latin American art) in Buenos Aires, thought very carefully about the works he was going to put in the public spaces. He wanted to find pieces that appealed to international buyers. "We wanted to choose an artist who was well known all over the world, and for the language of their art to be a language that could be understood by everybody," Mr. Costantini said.

Among many other blockbuster pieces, he chose two pieces by the sculptor Jeff Koons, which are also visible to the public from nearby Collins Avenue. Mr. Costantini described one of the sculptures, "Seated Ballerina," as very easy to read, and the other "Pluto and Proserpina," as more of an institutional piece, a contemporary take on the Bernini sculpture based on the Greek myth.

In buying these for the Oceana, Mr. Costantini extended his art-purchasing prowess to tenants, too. Jeff Koons pieces are very expensive, and the artist broke a world record with the $58 million sale of "Balloon Dog (Orange)," but Mr. Costantini was able to purchase the two sculptures for the development for $14 million. And residents of the property, where the 240 apartments are priced from $3 to $30 million, will share complete ownership of the sculptures and be credited as owners in the exhibition. After five years, the homeowners can decide if they want to sell the pieces with an 80 percent majority vote.

Art "gives a special character to your home," Mr. Costantini said. "So we treat the project as the home, in this case the home of the 240 families."