TREND WITH BENEFITS
Renters and owners enjoy next-level amenities, from homegrown veggies to a residents-only hair salon
C ITY living is a blast, no doubt, but in a metropolis of 8 million, having fun can sometimes be a grind. Want to grab a cocktail? Buy some vegetables? Get a blowout? Sounds great, but you better be ready to fight it out in line with the rest of the animals. Unless, of course, you live in a place where you can go out while staying in.
From a bar to an on-site farm to a hair salon, new real estate developments across the five boroughs (and in Jersey, too) are amping up their amenities to include experi- ences that once required a trek outside. And, because nothing makes a nice thing nicer than a whiff of exclusivity, many of these perks are strictly residents-only.
Take, for instance, 571-unit Staten Island Urby (rents from $1,890 to $2,900), which offers “farm-to-apartment” dining. The development near the ferry stop in St. George has a 5,000-square-foot farm along with an apiary run by husband-and-wife team Asher Landes and Zaro Bates. He keeps the bees, she handles the farm.
The building’s harvest isn’t exclusive to residents — the couple sells to local chefs and through a CSA — but renters can request particular foods for planting, Landes says. Just try that at your local Gristedes.
About half of the CSA’s 45 members are building residents. Among the crops offered are salad greens, root vegetables, tomatoes and squash, Bates says. Full shares cost $22.50 a week ($450 for the season) and half shares are $12.50 ($250 for the season).
Then there’s Rockpoint Group and and Brooksville Company’s 807-unit 63 Wall St. (rents from $2,635 to $6,686), where management has converted offices in the former headquarters of bank Brown Brothers Harriman to a bar dubbed a “speakeasy.”
Decked out in grand Roaring '20s style