Amenity rich

CHARLOTTE – Sheldon Gold takes the elevator at The Vue up to the 8^th floor and steps outside, showing off the newer amenities in the high rise.

To his right is a large gymnasium, complete with state-of-the-art exercise equipment. To his left is a nondescript brown door that leads to a luxurious lounge area with a cinema, pool tables and a cyber café.

“They’ve changed this place a lot since I bought my place,” said Gold, 87, who lives at The Vue. “Ever since the switch to apartments, they’ve been adding all these features trying to encourage the young people to rent.”

But amenities, such as an eighth-floor tenant lounge, aren’t reserved solely for The Vue, the 51-floor condominium-turned-apartment tower at Fifth and Pine streets. In the booming apartment construction in Charlotte, the days of a simple pool and clubhouse are over as developers are focusing on projects heavy on amenities – the more unusual, the better.

Scott Steinhilber, predevelopment manager of Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based ContraVest, which is developing an apartment project on South Tryon Street, said that amenities have never been more popular than they are now.

“I think it’s one of the most important things, the amenity package you put together,” he said. “When people are coming to rent units, they’re looking for the ‘wow’ factor.

“If you can show them something they’ve never seen before, you’re probably going to do well.”

Not just a pool and fitness center

Todd Williams, vice president of acquisitions and investments for Charlotte-based Grubb Properties, said apartment amenities factor into almost every decision Grubb makes.

“Amenities are a huge part of the lifestyle aspect of apartment living today,” Williams said. “It used to be that a pool and a fitness center was all you needed, but today that has emerged to a whole suite of different amenities.

“We’re looking at a whole array of amenities that we think young residents are looking for.”

When The Vue was built in 2010 as a condominium building, it had a pool and fitness center. But after selling less than 20 units – of 400 total – in its first two years of operation, the building was sold in a foreclosure sale and transformed into an apartment tower.

Northwood Ravin, the owner of The Vue, with offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, knew if The Vue was going to compete in the Charlotte apartment market – especially with some of the highest rents in the city – they had to add some amenities.

Gold said the extra pool tables and the cyber café are just the beginning of what Northwood Ravin has done to attract prospective tenants at The Vue.

“They’re really changed this (lounge area) a lot since I moved in,” he said. “They’re really trying to bring in these younger people to rent apartments.”

In addition to the eighth-floor amenity area, The Vue has a larger lounge on the 50^th floor. But Gold, since he doesn’t rent, isn’t allowed in. He said he hopes this will change soon.

A changing profile

The enthusiasm over adding extras to apartment communities didn’t stem from a developer’s whim, though. Those in the apartment industry noticed that the profile of an apartment renter has changed over the last generation.

Traditionally, apartments were set aside for people who were either saving to buy a house or simply couldn’t afford to do so. That’s no longer the case, said Charles Dalton, president of Charlotte-based Real Data, a local apartment industry analytics firm.

Dalton said the newest wave of apartment construction is largely geared toward this new generation of renters, known as Millennials, who do so for lifestyle choices, rather than out of necessity.

“These are people who want to be close to urban areas; who want to be close to public transportation,” Dalton said. “They may rent for many years, so they need more in their communities than they used to.”

Among the countless different amenities that can be seen across the city – in apartments from South End to Huntersville – are things like cinemas and demonstration kitchens in clubhouses, and courtyards with lawn games, all intended to increase sociability of these communities.

“Renters don’t want to go from their apartment to car and work, then after work from car straight back to their apartment,” Dalton said. “They need a level of interaction with people like them in their communities.”

Most of the features developers have been adding to their multifamily projects center on the social experience of apartment living, Steinhilber said. ContraVest’s Addison at South Tryon project is an example of this, he said.

“This generation is looking for more of a social aspect,” Steinhilber said. “We’re trying to create more gathering spaces and trying to support their outlook of it’s not just a place to live, it’s a place to hang out.”

A place for pets

But the developers aren’t solely focuses on human interaction. They also want to ensure that residents are comfortable having their pets in an apartment community. Rarely does an apartment announcement come without some mention of dogs. Not only are dogs – and other pets – allowed at most new apartment complexes, they’re actually catered to.

A new project in Huntersville will have a pet washing station. One project in South End has a dog park on the property. Another complex in SouthPark has a pet elevator. One of Grubb’s properties has a dog washing station. Seriously, a dog washing station.

While those sorts of amenities may have elicited laughter not so long ago, developers are serious about them.

Williams said pets are a huge part of Grubb’s focus, when it comes to amenities.

“We’re providing a number of things in our projects for pets,” he said. “We’re doing pet park areas, even in urban communities. Our Quarterside project, in downtown Charlotte, has a fenced area to let dogs off their leashes.

“We offer pet wash stations and doggie waste pickup bags. That’s a huge part of the industry movement.”

And sure enough, as Gold stands in the elevator on Friday descending to the lobby of The Vue – which does have a dog-walking area – a 20-something-year-old man gets on, a pit bull of some sort in tow.

“They’re really trying to be dog-friendly here,” Gold said as he reached down to pet the dog. “That’s another thing I noticed since they started renting.

“But we only want the big dogs here, though,” he said, smiling at the dog. “Watch dogs that can protect us.”