Gone are the days when a community gym and pool were enough to attract discerning condo buyers — and even tenants — to luxury high rises. New trends in new development are less about haphazard features bundled together and more about creating fully immersive communities that represent a lifestyle in its entirety — travel, work, play and health and wellness.
Savvy developers are luring in buyers and wealthy tenants by showing them that they understand their lives and will make life easier one amenity at a time. Here’s what’s new in new development.
1. Health and wellness
A “state-of-the-art gym” just doesn’t cut it in the battle for vertical luxury buyers anymore. Fitness enthusiasts will be overjoyed by the offerings in select new developments including brand-name gym affiliations.
The Avery in San Francisco, California, boasts an Equinox-curated gym. Arte by Antonio Citterio in Miami, Florida, offers private tennis lessons on a rooftop court with a professional, while boxing lessons are available at Quay Tower in Brooklyn, New York, courtesy of Gleason’s boxing gym, where Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather trained.
Health and wellness are top-of-mind in today’s luxury new developments. At Villa Valencia — a boutique condo development in Coral Gables — the developer opted for the Darwin system.
Darwin is a wellness ecosystem tailored to residents and their lifestyle that helps enhance energy and sleep, while reducing indoor contaminants that can negatively affect respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, and cognitive health.
2. Concierge services
Health and wellness concierge services are the concierge amenity du jour. This proposes a win-win paradigm for buyer and developer. The developer cuts amenity construction costs, while residents obtain round-the-clock valuable health and wellness services.
At the Ritz Carlton residences in Miami, buyers were given an annual membership at closing for the Agatston Center for Private Medicine offering benefits such as same-day visits, house calls, and for international buyers, access to U.S.-based healthcare while they are in the States.
At the Amrit Ocean Resort and Residences, a new development in Palm Beach, Florida, personalized wellness is taken to a whole new level. Residents are provided with a 24/7 personal wellness assistant via an app allowing communication via calls, FaceTime and texting.
Residents are also given a “Restful Ritual Butler” to assist with sleeping and relaxation via yoga sessions, running a bath with preferred infusion oils or a massage — depending on the resident’s wellness profile.
There is a trend in concierge tech services mainly through apps designed to facilitate the day to day, such as package delivery management and services like TransitScreen that provides real-time updates for nearby bus, subway, bikeshare, and scooter options (if applicable) in building lobbies.
3. Travel and traffic
Traveling around big cities is problematic anywhere in the world. Well, the big developers are coming to the rescue, facilitating parking and travel, and in some cases, completely eliminating the need to own a car.
At One Bennett Park in Chicago, Illinois, the developer designed a private courtyard entrance to allow pickups and drop-offs on a busy street. Other developers have collaborated with luxury car companies to eliminate the need for a car, such as The Kita in Tokyo, Japan, where residents have a Rolls-Royce at their disposal.
At the new mega-project Oakridge (currently under construction) in Vancouver, British Columbia, a fleet of over 50 brand new BMWs will be gassed up, insured and ready to go for residents.
In line with the razzle dazzle of Dubai and Miami, developers take it up a notch with water and air travel solutions for their residents. One Thousand Museum, designed by the late Zaha Hadid, serves up a helipad on the roof for the avoidance of Downtown Miami Traffic.
One Palm Dubai — a luxury all-penthouse waterfront project managed by the Dorchester — offers residents the option to park their yacht at a designated berth. I mean why deal with roads when you can sail or fly?
New development has never been so exciting. Life from the top (of a luxury condominium) will look very different in the post-COVID world, and I’m confident that high-rise living will soar again. I mean with amenities like this, it will be irresistible.
Tamara Bakir is a global real estate advisor with Vista Sotheby’s International Realty in Los Angeles, Dubai and Miami. Connect with her on Instagram or Facebook.
