Property Perspectives

By Atara Twersky

 

Manhattan Apartment Living

Amenities: A Must Have or Not?

I would definitely not consider myself a homebody, yet I can spend an entire Sunday without leaving my home. This is not to say that I laze around all day doing nothing. Sometimes I go for a swim. I take my daughter to the playroom. I read in the solarium. And when I do want to leave, my concierge has my car brought out of the garage for me. No, I don’t live in a hotel; I live in one of many Manhattan apartment buildings boasting an array of amenities, free to residents—monthly maintenance fees notwithstanding.

New York City luxury buildings today offer more than just gorgeous accommodations. They feature myriad services catering to everyone from young families with small children to pet lovers to fitness junkies. If you fit into any one of these categories, you will no doubt feel right at home at One Carnegie Hill, located on the Upper East Side. Built in 2006, the building features valet garage parking, a play room for children, a pet spa, a people spa, a fitness center and swimming pool, a rooftop deck, and an entertainment suite.

For those looking for an even grander array of services, there is Fifth Avenue’s Stanhope, completed in the late 1920s. The Stanhope’s concierge is trained in a classic European tradition. There is a wine cellar and a bicycle room. The building’s fitness center entertains a staff of trainers to personalize residents’ workouts. And there is European breakfast and complimentary massages in the spa.

Extravagances like these are everywhere, and one worth especially noting is owned by perhaps the most extravagant of them all. Donald Trump’s International Hotel and Tower is divided almost equally between condominiums and hotel rooms, and the attributes one might only expect to find at the hotel (such as maid and room service) are available to all. Gregory Olsen, famous for purchasing a $20 million dollar trip into space, recently purchased fashion mogul Elie Tahari’s Trump Towers penthouse.

There are many other notable buildings in Manhattan whose luxuriousness is worth noting. Some are:

Riverwalk Place: Rooftop sundeck, rooftop entertainment suite, playroom, bicycle room, ATM, storage lockers, fitness center, 24-hour attended lobby.

The Veneto: Entertainment lounger, playroom, fitness center, outdoor garden.

Fifteen Madison Square North: Wine cellar, playroom, health club, concierge service.

The Element: Landscaped exterior, resident’s lounge, fitness center, steam room, massage room, play room, basketball and squash courts.

1200 Fifth Avenue: Fitness center, private storage, bicycle room.

27 West 72nd Street: Concierge, playroom, exercise room, cold storage, private storage, private dining room.

Of course, many New Yorkers want to live in luxury but do not seek residences with amenities. Rich accommodations, exclusive of amenities, can be found up, down, and across Manhattan, at buildings such as the Carhard Mansion. Yoko Ono calls the West Side’s Dakota, home, as did Judy Garland and Leonard Bernstein.

Young Hollywood is also proud to come east and call New York “home.” Uma Thurman recently purchased a $2.65 million dollar home in Gramercy Park, back in the same building where she once lived with now ex-husband Ethan Hawke.

One Beacon Court, the residential portion of the newly completed Bloomberg Building, offers valet parking, lifestyle and home entertainment concierge services, and a fitness center, complete with a swimming pool and sundeck. Celebrity residents here include Beyoncé Knowels, Brian Williams, and Johnny Damon.

If you are shopping for an apartment in Manhattan, of course, the three most important considerations are location, location, location. But next to that it’s amenities they make an apartment building more than a home; they make it a community.