This past weekend I toured my friend's purpose-built rental project in Wynwood, called Midtown 29. It was completed last year and has already been stabilized.

Real estate development is very much a local business. It is that way because so much of it is driven by relationships, but also because every market has its own little idiosyncrasies.

This is always valuable to see. Sometimes we do things in our home market because it makes perfect sense to do so and sometimes we do it just because it's, "the way we've always done it."

One of the most obvious things about development in South Florida is that the parking is always above-grade. No basements. That has the result of bringing down construction costs; though I understand that, with sea level rise, insurance costs are on the rise.

If (or when) this whole autonomous vehicle thing does in fact take hold, it's going to be a hell of lot easier to convert all of that excess parking in Miami than it will be in Toronto.

Image: Midtown 29 (Art by Peter Gronquist)

Here are the results from my primitive multi-unit building amenities survey:

Gym is number 1. No surprise there. 46% of respondents said it was in their top 3. 

Rooftop outdoor space at number 2 was perhaps a bit surprising. But then again, who doesn’t love a good rooftop patio?

As for concierge service, I tend to think this was driven by package delivery. That’s certainly the biggest value add for me.

One standout near the top, for me at least, is co-working space. Andrew LeFleur made mention of this on Twitter and I think he’s right: The changing nature of work is making these spaces more valuable in multi-family dwellings.

And now some color on the above results.

436 amenity selections were made as part of this survey. 

About half of the respondents were from the Greater Toronto Area, followed by Calgary, San Francisco, Ottawa, Boston, New York City, Denver, Los Angeles, Paris, Miami, and many other cities. Shoutout to whoever responded from Kuala Lumpur and Porto Alegre.

In terms of “Other” amenities, there were suggestions for a band rehearsal space, a vending machine, a grassy area for sports, and programming the helps you meet your neighbors.

In terms of this one last, it can be tricky for condo buildings. Developers only provide the space. It’s then up to management. But I’ve seen it done very well in rental buildings.

Are you surprised by any of the results from this survey?

I toured Oben Flats Leslieville today, which is a 48-unit purpose-built rental building at 1075 Queen Street East in Leslieville (Toronto). It was designed by superkül. 

Oben Flats is doing some very cool things, so I would encourage you to check them out if you’re in the market for a new luxury rental (or you just want to nerd out about property). The image at the top of this post is the west view from the rooftop terrace.

Here are 3 things that stood out for me:

1. One of the interior amenity spaces for the building is actually on the ground floor attached to the main entrance. There’s a fireplace, a wet bar, a set of wine fridges and free wifi. Oben Flats hosts regular events in this space, but I was told that residents also regularly hang out in it. They’ll bring their laptop down and have a glass of wine. 

What I like about this is that it encourages social interaction within a multi-family building typology. I would love to see more of this kind of thinking. Part of the reason you live in a city is to interact with other humans.

2. Oben Flats has developed their own signature scent and regularly curates a music playlist with the help of BELLOSOUND. Both of these items are pumped throughout the common areas of the building, which is not that dissimilar from what you might find in some luxury hotels. I have one of their candles sitting on my desk right now, so my office smells like Oben Flats. I’m into it.

3. Another unique feature of the building is the fully automated hydraulic car-stacking system. Here’s a photo of what the guts of that looks like:

There are 3 platforms in each bay (the bottom one is below-grade in the above picture). And there’s always one empty spot so that the platforms are able to shuffle around both horizontally and vertically. However, as a user, you never see this. You simply hit a button and drive into your bay. It’s always the same one.

I’ve said many times before on this blog that I think we will see way more of these types of parking solutions in the city going forward.

There are other cool things I could mention about the building, but it’s far too nice out to sit at my desk any longer. Before I sign off though, I should mention that this is in no way a sponsored post. I simply admire what Oben Flats is doing. 

See you tomorrow.

This past weekend I toured my friend's purpose-built rental project in Wynwood, called Midtown 29. It was completed last year and has already been stabilized.

Real estate development is very much a local business. It is that way because so much of it is driven by relationships, but also because every market has its own little idiosyncrasies.

This is always valuable to see. Sometimes we do things in our home market because it makes perfect sense to do so and sometimes we do it just because it's, "the way we've always done it."

One of the most obvious things about development in South Florida is that the parking is always above-grade. No basements. That has the result of bringing down construction costs; though I understand that, with sea level rise, insurance costs are on the rise.

If (or when) this whole autonomous vehicle thing does in fact take hold, it's going to be a hell of lot easier to convert all of that excess parking in Miami than it will be in Toronto.

Image: Midtown 29 (Art by Peter Gronquist)

Here are the results from my primitive multi-unit building amenities survey:

Gym is number 1. No surprise there. 46% of respondents said it was in their top 3. 

Rooftop outdoor space at number 2 was perhaps a bit surprising. But then again, who doesn’t love a good rooftop patio?

As for concierge service, I tend to think this was driven by package delivery. That’s certainly the biggest value add for me.

One standout near the top, for me at least, is co-working space. Andrew LeFleur made mention of this on Twitter and I think he’s right: The changing nature of work is making these spaces more valuable in multi-family dwellings.

And now some color on the above results.

436 amenity selections were made as part of this survey. 

About half of the respondents were from the Greater Toronto Area, followed by Calgary, San Francisco, Ottawa, Boston, New York City, Denver, Los Angeles, Paris, Miami, and many other cities. Shoutout to whoever responded from Kuala Lumpur and Porto Alegre.

In terms of “Other” amenities, there were suggestions for a band rehearsal space, a vending machine, a grassy area for sports, and programming the helps you meet your neighbors.

In terms of this one last, it can be tricky for condo buildings. Developers only provide the space. It’s then up to management. But I’ve seen it done very well in rental buildings.

Are you surprised by any of the results from this survey?

I toured Oben Flats Leslieville today, which is a 48-unit purpose-built rental building at 1075 Queen Street East in Leslieville (Toronto). It was designed by superkül. 

Oben Flats is doing some very cool things, so I would encourage you to check them out if you’re in the market for a new luxury rental (or you just want to nerd out about property). The image at the top of this post is the west view from the rooftop terrace.

Here are 3 things that stood out for me:

1. One of the interior amenity spaces for the building is actually on the ground floor attached to the main entrance. There’s a fireplace, a wet bar, a set of wine fridges and free wifi. Oben Flats hosts regular events in this space, but I was told that residents also regularly hang out in it. They’ll bring their laptop down and have a glass of wine. 

What I like about this is that it encourages social interaction within a multi-family building typology. I would love to see more of this kind of thinking. Part of the reason you live in a city is to interact with other humans.

2. Oben Flats has developed their own signature scent and regularly curates a music playlist with the help of BELLOSOUND. Both of these items are pumped throughout the common areas of the building, which is not that dissimilar from what you might find in some luxury hotels. I have one of their candles sitting on my desk right now, so my office smells like Oben Flats. I’m into it.

3. Another unique feature of the building is the fully automated hydraulic car-stacking system. Here’s a photo of what the guts of that looks like:

There are 3 platforms in each bay (the bottom one is below-grade in the above picture). And there’s always one empty spot so that the platforms are able to shuffle around both horizontally and vertically. However, as a user, you never see this. You simply hit a button and drive into your bay. It’s always the same one.

I’ve said many times before on this blog that I think we will see way more of these types of parking solutions in the city going forward.

There are other cool things I could mention about the building, but it’s far too nice out to sit at my desk any longer. Before I sign off though, I should mention that this is in no way a sponsored post. I simply admire what Oben Flats is doing. 

See you tomorrow.