This week we’re going to build off our first post and offer some more themes and trends we have noticed in the amenities business. Residential amenities are constantly evolving so it’s always good to take a step back as often as you can and see where the sector is going. From time to time we will post more themes and trends as they emerge from our projects.
1. Live/Work Balance
More and more owners are implementing amenities that combine social/personal and professional elements. More residents are working from home these days and are mobile thanks to new technologies and flexible professional expectations. With the potential for more residents to be spending more time on-site, owners are making bets that residents also want avenues to socialize on the property as well, for a more cohesive living experience.
In response, owners are building new common lounges with professional necessities such as wi-fi, work stations, and conference rooms. Several new firms in the amenities sector are focusing on creating premium on-site experiential events, in order to promote social interactions amongst the residents. The thinking behind this is quite simple: if you can get some work done in the lounge and become friends with your neighbors, you will be a net promoter of the property and are less likely to move out.
2. Inspiration
There has always been a connection between amenities in residential properties and college housing. Just in the past 5 years, amenities in both categories have been dramatically upgraded and diversified.
But whereas historically developers of college housing have looked to the residential development market for amenities inspiration, to see what the “grown up” market was producing as tried-and-true services, now it’s trending in the opposite direction.
Residential developers are realizing that college students are becoming accustomed to some very fun and dynamic amenities, and what better way to sell a seamless transition into their first post-college apartment than by offering those same amenities (or as close as possible) in their own buildings. Of course, the lazy river pool may not be suitable for a Manhattan skyscraper, but let’s call that the anomaly. The sources of inspiration tend to be around communal spaces, social interaction, work stations, and social amenities such as golf simulators and virtual reality.
As amenities become an ever more important point of differentiation in residential housing, look for residential developers to continue to look toward college housing for ideas that will resonant with their potential future residents.
3. Off-Site & On-Demand
Just a few years ago, most of the amenities being offered were physically on-site: a fitness center, a self-storage, laundry rooms.
Those core amenities are still in use today and are still very valuable, but recently amenities providers have developed unique amenities that are off-site or on-demand.
In order to achieve this, certain amenities providers have brought in skill sets traditionally outside the amenities industry and have become experts in logistics and operations.
There are some very creative offerings out there that won’t impact your physical footprint at all day-to-day but will provide valuable services to your residents.
For example, storage now can be off-site. Fitness classes can arrive on-demand. Cooking demonstrations can arrive on-demand. Event programming can be coordinated at venues around the city. Residential amenities have truly benefitted from logistics planning and operations expertise.
And what we see out there today is really just the first generation of amenities that have benefitted in this way. You can bet that in the coming years new technology and further integrations with mainstream logistics infrastructure will generate even more creative amenities.