Multifamily Monday: Little Units, Big Amenities

Developers are selling smaller units in high-end buildings, so how can they make renters feel like they’re getting what they pay for? Creative amenities, of course. Get your golf clubs out.

The glut of ultra-luxe inventory hitting the market in Manhattan has some developers worried that the finite pool of buyers who can swing eight figures (and now nine!) may fizzle out, the New York Times reports. "Nobody really understands how deep that buyer pool runs," The Marketing Directors managing director Andrew Gerringer told the Times. His firm is working on development and sales at Time Equities' 50 West St. With insane sums going into land buys, how can new residential projects be profitable and rely less on a small clique of buyers who have beaucoup bucks? Cramming in more units with amenities like a bowling alley or a restaurant that guarantees tables to residents is one way.

Abby Rosen’s 610 Lexington Ave is offering smaller units and still expecting to get upwards of $8M for one- and two-bedroom units, opting not to cater to the Billionaire’s Row set. Across the river in Long Island City, World Wide Group is developing a 421-unit rental tower called QLIC with partners Rabina Properties and Cammeby’s International. They’re building studios of just 420 SF to 470 SF that give renters access to a 10th floor pool with Manhattan views and a roof deck with a theater. Those run $2k and up (the average for a studio in LIC last month was $2,338, according to a report by MNS). The most over-the-top amenity of the bunch: The Victory, at 561 10th Ave, has its own driving range.