From private parks, to running tracks, to a spot to securely store your collection, these apartment amenities make for some serious splendor.
Once upon a time, if an apartment building had a pool, it was uptown. These days it takes a lot more than a pool to stand out. Luxury rentals have upped the ante on apartment amenities in the highly competitive rental market to attract tenants. These days, high-end rentals offer super-luxe apartment amenities like rooftop running tracks, wine vaults and residents-only bars and restaurants. These amenities make you feel like you’re living in a resort hotel instead of an apartment. It’s more “Eloise at The Plaza” than “Millennial in an Apartment Complex.”
Here are some of the best luxury apartment amenities offered right now across the country.
1. Sky High Pools
What’s more striking than an infinity pool on a rooftop or terrace that lets you swim in the sky? Brooklyn Point in New York has an infinity pool 680 feet in the sky with an edge that seems to disappear into the Hudson River. And you have views of the Manhattan skyline while you swim. The rooftop retreat also has dedicated areas for sunbathing, outdoor showers and al fresco dining. Okan Tower in Miami has a 27th-floor pool with private cabanas, and it bills itself as a place where luxury living meets the amenities of a world-class hotel. And Icon Midtown in Atlanta has an 11th-floor terrace with a resort-style pool, private cabanas and great views of the city skyline.
2. Teslas
Eco-friendly amenities join the luxury ones at some apartment buildings. At The Standard in Ann Arbor, Michigan, there’s an on-site Tesla for residents to share. Link Apartments in Chapel Hill, N.C., has a shareable on-site Tesla, too, so you can get by without owning a car — or at least park your Honda and look eco-chic when you go to Whole Foods. At Alton Bay in Miami Beach, residents can catch a ride to nearby South Beach in a chauffeur-driven Tesla Model X, which costs $150,000 fully loaded but is free for residents to use. Once your Tesla gets you to South Beach, you get VIP access to the super-luxe hotels Eden Roc and Nobu. Here, you can use their cabanas and lounges and have tanned beach butlers bring you towels and cocktails.
3. Wine Vault and Storage
At Brooklyn Point in Brooklyn, N.Y., there’s a Wine Library on the 9th floor where resident wine connoisseurs can store their bottles. They also offer a tasting table that opens onto an outdoor terrace with a view of the city skyline. One Manhattan Square in New York has a wine cellar that can hold 1,300 bottles of residents’ wine in refrigerated storage, and they host wine tastings. And Parc Huron in Chicago has tasting rooms and climate-controlled wine rooms with secure lockers to keep your vino collection safe and chill at a perfect 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Music Studios
Keep your rock star dreams alive, or get the garage band back together with a music room. Spoke apartments in Chicago has a performance room complete with a stage and lighting along with a residents-only, soundproof recording studio. Paramount Miami Worldcenter in downtown Miami has a 9th-floor Jam Room with a recording studio. Perfect your guitar licks in the Sound Lounge at The Kent on New York’s Upper East Side. Lenny Kravitz designed the space, which has performance and studio spaces to get your rock star on.
5. Rooftop Running Tracks
If you have trouble getting motivated to run, maybe a track in the clouds will get you moving. This next-wave amenity appears primarily in European buildings, most notably at the still-under-construction Looping Towers in the Netherlands, which features a large running track on the roof, five stories above the street. This amenity has reached this side of the pond at the Modera Midtown in Atlanta, which features a 1/8-mile running track elevated 100 feet above the street.
6. Private Restaurants and Bars
The Ritz-Carlton Residences at Sunny Isles Beach in Miami has a private, residents-only lounge and bar where you can sip a new signature cocktail developed each day by a mixologist. Perch Apartments in Austin, Texas, has its own residents-only, chef-driven coffee and wine bar where you can sip with your neighbors and friends. This is a nice in-between — you eat out but stay in.
7. Indoor Bowling Alley
Oh sure, lots of luxe apartments have gyms full of Pelotons and pilates studios. But some have quirky perks like bowling alleys. At 70 Pine in New York, you can ride the elevator down to bowl a few frames in the residents-only, two-lane alley. Alta Roosevelt in Chicago has a two-lane bowling alley too, and Makers Quarter in San Diego has a full bowling alley on-site.
8. Bocce Ball Court
Bocce ball is Italy’s second most popular sport, but you’ll find a spot in your heart for it too when you can play it right in your building. The Cooper in Chicago features a rooftop bocce ball court where they host tournaments with prizes and cocktails. Still Waters in Austin, Texas, has a bocce ball court near its putting green.
9. Art Rooms and Maker Spaces
Some buildings offer spaces to scratch your arts and crafts itch. Niche 905 apartments in Chicago has a craft room where you can host a paint and wine night for your friends. The room has supplies as well as a fully stocked gift-wrapping station. San Diego’s Makers Quarters features a work and maker space complete with a loom station and collaborative work tables.
10. Co-working Spaces
More on-site co-working amenities are now included in apartment buildings as we’ve settled into the WFH/hybrid era. The Village Residences in Mountain View, Calif., offers a fully wired work-from-home lounge where you can Zoom and earn your paycheck without spending the day at the local coffee shop like some amateur WFHer. The Pearl Biltmore in Phoenix has a co-working lounge with a computer bar, printer station, refreshment center and private office pods. In each case, you’re just an elevator ride away from your apartment. You can easily check on the pets and the plants or indulge in the WFHer’s favorite activity — a 25-minute nap.
11. Rooftop Gardens
You don’t need to live in the boring ‘burbs to have a garden. Buildings like EMME in Chicago have an edible garden called The Roof Crop™, which is a farm on the roof where all sorts of vegetables, fruits and herbs are grown. It’s commercially maintained and harvested, and residents can sign up for a weekly box of the crop in season. The 8,000-square foot garden also provides produce to area restaurants and grocers.
There’s a rooftop garden the size of a city block at the Hugh Garner Housing Co-op in Toronto with native trees, flowers, shrubs, butterfly habitats and birdhouses. It mimics a rural setting in the sky. The Park in Santa Monica, Calif., has a one-acre private park on the rooftop of each of its four buildings. The Farm has planters full of herbs, fruits and vegetables that residents can harvest and cook at an adjacent outdoor kitchen. The Garden has plants and vines native to California. The Oasis has a lawn, and The Field has a green space. There’s no weeding, no pruning, no planting. You enjoy the garden, and someone else does the work.