“It starts with all of the stainless steel appliances in the kitchen—branded appliances such as BOSCH and Viking and SubZero. flat is par for the course. You walk into a building and you expect high-end finishes, glass tiles, granite, and marble throughout,” Bellak adds.
With the condo market softening and only a 1 percent apartment vacancy in Manhattan, Bellak says the focus in New York City rentals is to cater to that high-end market with similar finishes and amenities, and suspects that most property owners and managers are not entirely happy about it. “If you are going to take a financial stake in building, doing something neutral is always the key,” she says. “Trying to appease everyone is not cost efficient or time efficient for rentals. [The] deal will only pencil out as a condo where people are looking for full customization from the outset.”
At the National Association of Home Builders’ multifamily division, director of industry relations and communications Ann Marie Moriarty isn’t sure she sees the spread of interior unit customization. “Maybe there would be choice in a community that is being upgraded—a resident moving to an upgraded unit might have a choice of two finishes,” Moriarty says. “But even then, I’m sure that apartment owners would not sacrifice economies of scale to offer a full palette of finishes.”
Indeed, the best opportunity for customization comes during the construction of pre-leased units. Residents anteing up during a value-added property reposition can also be good candidates for selecting finish choices. Still, try to offer neutral selections, as subsequent residents will have to make do with what is already there. flat’s a fine line to walk, admits Wood, who says the Morgan Group will try to find a financial balance between retention and construction costs before going full bore into customization. “Such a program works well for the first person who moves in and picks the finishes,” Wood says. “The payoff doesn’t necessarily work as well once you rotate into the second resident, especially if the unit turnover is [soon after] the first lease.”
Even at blu, though, developers expect that renters—regardless of their financial demographic—understand the temporal nature of their stay. “Consumers have an expectation of finish and style, a base luxury standard when they are looking at kitchen fixtures, appliances, and floors,” says Cohen. “But in the end, you have to be realistic. This is not a condo.”
Take It Easy
Furniture and fixtures provide rental customization without the condo cost. While developers continue to expand the option menus extended to renters, full customization ultimately comes in play at for-sale projects. However, modular pieces, including furniture, certain appliances, wall hangings, and ceiling fans are easily switched out during unit turnovers—and they offer rental properties the best bang for the customization buck.
For the longest time, Houston-based luxury apartment developer Morgan Group would only allow residents to paint units as a way of creating a customized home space. “As we move more toward customization, we are allowing ceiling fans as a first step,” notes Morgan Group development partner Jon Wood.
Alexandra Bellak, a Manhattan real estate expert and associate for New York City-based real estate brokerage firm Prudential Douglas Elliman says most high-end rental properties in the Big Apple are ditching community laundry rooms and either offering in-unit washers and dryers or facilitating their installation.
“The luxury rental market in New York City is very particular about those types of options,” Bellak says. “The once upon a time of one main laundry room is passé. In this frenetic city, residents want to do everything [as easy as] one, two, three.”
At blu, the first luxury rental high-rise in Beverly Hills, Calif., interior designer Steve Adams has emphasized functionality in his design of the model residence. Since blu residents can opt for an interior design service upgrade offered in partnership with Parker Rose Design, Adams has recommended the use of multifunctional furniture so customized pieces can “provide efficiency and eliminate the clutter of redundancy” across the property.
