When it comes to finding the perfect apartment community or condo building, most residents usually focus on the location, price, and layout of the home. If a community also happens to offer great common spaces and amenities, it is often seen as a bonus and not a necessity.
However, in today’s market, uniquely designed common areas and thoughtful amenities can make or break a building’s appeal to modern buyers and renters. The concept of “home” has changed dramatically in a short span of time, where unique community amenities such as a wine lounge, dog spa, indoor track, and shared workspace are now some of the reasons residents choose one community over another.
For a multifamily community to draw in residents, it must offer more than just comfortable accommodations in a central or convenient place. It needs to deliver the full package — great common spaces and amenities that enhance the lifestyles of the residents that live there. Our homes have become the nexus of our social and private lives. In order for an apartment community or condominium to attract residents in a market that’s saturated with options, it must have inspired spaces and amenities that facilitate and elevate multiple aspects of life, from dining and entertaining to staying fit and relaxing.
A building’s common areas can act as hubs for working, unwinding, socializing, and more. In many ways, they are extensions of the residents’ homes. If a multifamily community wants to attract a coveted audience of young professionals with high levels of disposable income, real estate developers and architectural designers need to carefully consider designing unique but usable common spaces during the earliest stages of a new build or renovation project. Fortunately, the possibilities are endless when it comes to dreaming up original ideas for unique amenity spaces. Lobbies can double as reading rooms or lounges complete with well-stocked (and photo-worthy) bar carts or cocktail labs. Fitness centers can be expanded to include meditation havens or mini-spas. Open rooftops can be converted into the ultimate happy hour hangouts, fitted with lush greenery and lots of comfortable seating — perhaps even a running track that is connected from one high rise to another.
What architects, interior designers, and real estate developers opt to do in regards to common areas and amenities truly depends on the wants and needs of their target audience, but the fact remains that the more original and attractive these areas are, the more appealing a multifamily property will be to potential residents.
One example of how thoughtful consideration of common areas and amenity spaces can help boost value and deliver great results is the renovation work we did for the Viridian, a multifamily community located in Atlanta. Our award-winning interior design team transformed the existing clubhouse into two new amenity spaces — a gathering space inspired by modern gastropubs with plenty of wide-screen TVs, seating, and complimentary WiFi, and a cutting-edge fitness center next door. We also eliminated a laundry room by adding washers and dryers to each unit and turned the extra space into a wine and WiFi lounge which residents now enjoy leasing for private parties and gatherings. By redesigning existing common spaces and adding useful, functional yet creative amenities, the Viridian’s occupancy rate increased from 94% to 96% just one month after completion and saw a $43M property value increase in the following five years. You can read about the renovation project in-depth here.
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