NY Luxury Rental Developers Add “Work-at-Home” Amenities in Apt Bldgs
By: Ilana Siyance
The work-at-home phenomenon, which was stimulated by the pandemic, has had numerous implications. One less anticipated result, is the demand for home offices or shared work spaces in apartment buildings.
As reported by the NY Times, many employees want to continue working remotely, but it doesn’t mean they want to work on their couch. Developers are taking the hint and adding the crucial amenity: work at home space. This is no longer necessarily a part of the individual unit, but the space has evolved with apartment buildings offering semiprivate co-working spaces in order to lure prospective tenants. “It’s something you have to do today; it’s an amenity, like a pool,” said Ric Campo, the chief executive of Camden Property Trust, which added a work space named the Hub in the common area at Camden Harbor View, a posh residential development in Long Beach, Calif.
New buildings are adding spaces for work-at-home residents—including high speed internet, conference rooms, task lighting, wall-mounted monitors, and even podcasting booths. Most buildings offer the amenity to all residents as part of the rent, but some landlords charge to reserve conference rooms. Co-working companies like WeWork, Industrious and Regus are starting to worry that this may be the future of shared workspace, and are looking to edge their way back into the lucrative market.
For decades, we have already seen the popularity of extra space for a work desk in homes or apartments, and shared workspaces aren’t new either. “Over the last decade, we have had cybercafes with booths and coffee machines, shared spaces in apartment buildings,” said Matt Vance, a senior economist for the real estate services firm CBRE. While these have grown in popularity, developers are now also adding more professional spaces for a private Zoom call or space to host clients for a presentation. “People have high expectations,” said John G. Weigel, a senior development executive at DivcoWest, a real estate services firm. “We are incentivized to make sure this is as robust as it can be.” His company will be opening a 20-story multifamily complex in Cambridge, Mass., this fall. Known as Park 151, it will offer 468 apartments and will boast a common area with five dedicated work-from-home spaces and conference rooms. “It is a significant portion of our amenity package, and it has gotten larger,” Mr. Weigel said. “Now that the viability of working from home has been proven, we will see more of this.”
Developers across the country are scrambling to add working spaces, even switching gears last minute. As per the NY Times, at Brooklyn Crossing in Prospect Heights, Thomas Brodsky, a partner at Brodsky Organization, changed the plans for an open lounge and opted to create semiprivate cubicles and “phones booths” to be used as co-working space.
At One Wall Street, a posh condominium in downtown Manhattan, developer Macklowe Properties pulled out all the stops, adding microphones and cameras at booths for virtual meetings and podcasting. The building’s co-working space is now called, One Works by One Wall Street, as per Richard Dubrow, the firm’s director of marketing.
“There is such strong demand from multifamily residences for this space that we think it’s going to be a sticky trend,” said Mr. Vance of CBRE.