In 2017, You’re Likely to Get Hotel Services With Your Condo

Although most of 2017’s hot new developments won’t be announced until spring, exciting projects are, indeed, sprouting up around the world. And experts are already seeing some trends for the new year.

For international buyers looking for new projects in 2017, a building’s services will be paramount, said Naomi Minegishi, U.S. and International Development Sales manager at Knight Frank.

More:Developers Are Catering to High-End Buyers With Cutting-Edge Features

"What has been quite popular is the full-service amenity luxury condo," she said. "A lot of buyers are investors or second homeowners, and what they really like is 24-hour concierge, a, doorman, a gym, and a communal lounge. We’re really focused on marketing those projects, which have been popular but are more important now."

Erin O’Connor, the director of sales for new development at The Agency in Los Angeles, said the boom in amenities will be driven by the important new demographics that "crave new developments."

The three sets of buyers she said she sees coming to the marketplace are "downsizers, who have been in a large home for years and are looking to simplify," as well as "young professionals who have busy lifestyles and earn a good living," and millennials, who are just coming to the marketplace, and who "might work from home or need a creative area or creative space elements."

Below are some trends in new developments that speak to these groups of buyers.

Hotels-apartment hybrids

Residential condos that are part of larger hotels or at least have hotel-like amenities is the latest trend.

In Beverly Hills, Mr. C Residences, launching early in 2017, pairs five residences with the hotel, Mr C. Beverly Hills, to offer homeowners the world-renowned Cipriani brand. Residents will have access to the five-star hotel, and the "white-glove services" the hotel offers, including 24-hour concierge. The hotel will also manage renting the homes out for the owners, for easy turnkey ownership.

And The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, a new project in Boca Raton, Florida, slated for launch in the first quarter of 2017, offers residents the services of a hotel, but even better. The 12-story tower, with 85 homes, will give residents access to a private club located within the building of the attached hotel itself, as well as a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and full-service golf club.

More:A Private Anguilla Home With the Perks of a Five-Star Hotel

In London, Ten Trinity Square in Clerkenwell, near the Tower of London, will house a Four Seasons Hotel London as well as 41 residences managed by the Four Seasons. The building is a renovated Grade II-listed building and features period details such as a marble lobby, inlaid windows and moldings, as well as a private club, and amenities including a gym, pool, spa designed by Joseph Caspari, fitness center, private elevator and underground parking. The hotel will launch in January; the residences in the second quarter of next year.

In New York City, one of the biggest 2017 launches is The Eleventh, two towers on the Highline Park, which will take up a full city block. One of its towers will contain the first-ever American hotel and spa by Six Senses, a five-star eco resort company. The 240 condo units will have access to the luxury services and amenities from the hotel and spa. "It offers a whole lifestyle, not just physical amenities," said Alicia Goldstein of HFZ Capital Group.

According to Ms. O’Connor, the hotel trend is a simply a natural progression of the way amenities have been heading, especially in crowded luxury markets. "Each project has tried to outdo one another in terms of everything they can incorporate," she said. "When you are attached to a hotel that’s all the better."

The hotel connection also makes developers feel comfortable charging top dollar," she said. "Certainly, new developments coming online attached to five-star brands have the opportunity to push up price because of this idea that you are buying the brand."

Expanding to ‘new’ neighborhoods

In New York City, some of the most exciting launches are far from the famed "Billionaire’s Row" on 57th Street, which has long attracted foreign buyers and wealthy investors.

Luxury development, Ms. Goldstein said, "is starting to overtake real neighborhoods. The buyers are real New Yorkers, not just international purchasers or hotel visitors, and they are living in these properties."

According to Ms. Goldstein, the move away from midtown has been spurred on by the development of downtown Manhattan as a center for culture and commerce, because of the new Whitney Museum, the development of the Highline, and businesses moving to the Financial District and to Hudson Yards.

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"It has always been about location and views but what location means and what views mean have changed," Ms. Goldstein said. "View could be about beautiful green spaces or a view of the Highline—location doesn’t have to mean Park Avenue.".

The interest in newer neighborhoods, Ms. Minegishi said, is reflected in two of her biggest launches happening right now: 242 Broome on the Lower East Side and 1 Seaport, located at South Street Seaport. "Buyers understand the Seaport is changing, and FiDi is changing. Investors quite like a story of regeneration," she said.

Meanwhile, The Greenpoint in the eponymous neighborhood of northern Brooklyn,  is an opportunity for buyers to live in the first luxury development of its kind in the neighborhood. Condominiums start on the 28th floor (there are rentals below), offering views of the East River and Manhattan. To boot, there are  30,000 square feet of amenities.

In Australia, luxury buyers are also moving away from the city center. A development called The Lennox is springing up in Parramatta, a Sydney suburb and business district. It will feature 441 apartments, retail and a discovery center on the Parramatta River. The third floor of the tower will feature amenities, which include a pool that cantilevers off the building’s edge into the river, a gym, garden, playground and barbecue area. Other amenities include valet parking and concierge.

In Los Angeles, areas such as the Sunset Strip that were once considered less-than-ideal places to live, are experiencing booms in condominium construction. A new project, 8500 Sunset, features 190 condos, retail space, and two hotels, is expected to launch early next year.

Up the coast, in Santa Barbara, a new project brings luxury condominiums to a place where they have so far been absent. The Estancia Santa Barbara, launching in March, is a mix of single-story residences and townhomes, and combines the traditional Spanish Colonial Revival architecture of the city with a luxurious, semi-custom interior aesthetic.

Architectural distinction

Another big trend coming to the market in Dubai, in particular, is a larger interest in architecture, said Jason Hayes, managing director of Luxhabitat, a high end real estate brokerage and interior design firm in Dubai.

He said this focus is a symptom of where the market is in its development.

"In this maturing luxury real estate market, developers will need to concentrate more on good architecture and compelling designs over and above relying on luxury ‘branded’ development names to sell their properties," Mr. Hayes said. "In Dubai we are incredibly fortunate to have a plethora of buildings designed by world class architects..I forecast a continued trend in the market for luxury real estate toward world-class design."

More:Three ‘Starchitect’ Firms to Each Design a Tower on Manhattan’s Upper West Side

In New York, there is a similar shift to a focus on buildings with architectural merit, despite, or perhaps because of, some wobbles in the market. "People really want to buy something that endures no matter where you are in the cycle," said Ms. Goldstein.

In New York, one new development, Waterline Square, a five-acre project that fills one of the last remaining waterfront sites on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, takes the design element to the max, with three gleaming glass towers with city and river views. The towers, centered around a park, are being built by renowned architects Rafael Viñoly Architects, Richard Meier & Partners Architects, and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and have slightly different designs but all fit together. They will all launch sales in 2017.

Experts say clean lines, floor to ceiling windows, and open plan living will continue apace in the new year.

"A trend towards spacious open plan layouts creating a sense of light and airy space is what our clients are looking for," Mr. Hayes said.