The amenities arms race
As the competition hots up between residential and commercial developers for business, so does the ‘amenities arms race’.
In order to appeal to the largest number of tenants possible, developers are constantly finding unique ways to charm potential customers – namely by offering exclusive features, all included in the price of the rent.
Long gone are the days when a private tenants’ gym and concierge signified a luxury development.
In today’s world amenities on offer range from high-tech ‘sleeping pods’ in new office buildings, to high-end water filtration systems and indoor sports simulators. With an emphasis on wellness we can expect that the amenities arms race will continue to see apartments and offices kitted out with gyms, pools and private landscaped gardens as a standard.
But the question is how far can the amenities arms race go?
Geoff Manaugh notes in his article for Wired that in the future amenities may stretch beyond drone package delivery and doggy day care, but that conveniences offered by developers may even extend into the realms of biological controls.
Manaugh discusses how the work of UK-based bioengineering firm Oxitec, which is looking to reduce (or eliminate) airborne diseases with their specially sterilised mosquitoes, could soon be used as a bargaining chip by housing developers to beat out the competition. He comments: “New housing developments on the edge of Florida's Everglades will include branded mosquitoes alongside golf-course member-ships and 24-hour armed guards. Live the good life - free from crime and tropical disease!”
With some developments already offering adapted water systems that produce tap water with aloe vera and vitamin C, is it more likely than we might think that the amenities arms race could stretch even further in the future.
With the worldwide rental market growing exponentially there is serious money to be made by developers who can keep up with the trend of extra facilities that is seeing blocks of flats look more like extravagant hotels than the traditional grey high-rise of the past.
For now it seems like the sky is the limit when it comes to luxury developments.
