MUST-HAVES If you e-mailed Generation Y a form about what they want in an apartment or condo, you would get three requirements: location, socializing, and environment.
Rossi says his Gen Y residents demand environmentally friendly buildings and the cost-savings that go along with them. “Even though most buildings are passing along the heating costs, you have to be cognizant of how much that is,” he says. “The average utility bill of $75 and $120 now puts you at a disadvantage.”
He says Gen Y wants buildings to have eco-sensitive green roofs instead of the traditional black tar. Developers are also replacing the typical clubhouse with cyber cafés. Even though Generation Y residents may have high-speed Internet connections and multiple computers in their apartments, Rossi says, they still like the coffee-house experience.
“The days of the big party room are over,” he says. “Now we have to spend a lot of money on these cyber cafés.
And, as Natalie Asaro’s story of living by the beach illustrates, location is crucial to echo boomers. But that hot spot is not necessarily down town. Developers and demographers say that Gen Y is not opposed to living in the suburbs as long as they can walk to shops, bars and restaurants.
Wherever they live, they like the idea of leaving their cars at home, or not having a car at all. “We still build all of the parking spaces,” Rossi says. “But we find that a lot of younger people, when they look at the costs of maintaining a car, decide it is too expensive.”
DESIGN EXPECTATIONS When designing for Generation Y, think Target, Apple, and IKEA.
“This is a generation that understands designs and has an expectation of design,” Neely says. “They want it to be fresh. They don’t want their father’s Oldsmobile or their father’s apartment.”
But, Rossi adds, “The trick is not to become too edgy. It is about making it memorable, fresh, and as timeless as you can.” Good choices include enduring materials such as stone or granite countertops and wood floors, Rossi says.
Neely agrees that the way to compete with the more “traditional white box across the street” is with edgier finishes like concrete floors and open floor plans. But he, too, urges some restraint. “You want it edgy but not too funky,” he says, adding that such designs needn’t cost a lot, and renters are willing to pay slightly higher rents for units that feature cool finishes.
But don’t expect what qualifies as cool to last forever. Developers and demographers warn that, like the members of Generation Y, this group’s tastes will constantly evolve.
“I asked my 17-year-old what she would want in an apartment and she said an iPod docking station,” Neely says with a laugh. “They do want that connectivity, but expect it to change. Their needs are a moving target.”
Erin Massey is a freelance writer in San Diego.