How much are rooftop cabanas worth?

About 10% of ppsf. Seriously, what a useless pain. I had one once...never used it.

Only worth something if very easily accessible from your own apartment without going through interior public space, and they usually not like that

Not sure I'm buying that, by that token nobody would want to live in a building with rooftop access. Anyone else?

They are like cubicles with an open roof.

It's personal preference, but if it isn't connected to the apartment I think a lot of people won't use it too much and it isn't as enjoyable, hence I doubt if worth the 25% to 50% is the sort of number people use for terraces/balc attached to the apartment.

Are these things a relatively new development..or have they been around for years. Seems like they are in some of the newer buildings, but were they around 20 years ago?

Yeah, I'm thinking the size and configuration have a significant impact. Seems like you need at least roughly 20' x 20'. Seems like the cubical effect is not as bad if there's a good open view on one side.

Agreed that is a key factor. Also, are you clearly allowed to build a little bungalow thing or is there one already or can you put up a kind of awning..in other words, is use restricted

Go buy a beach chair, umbrella, and cooler. If the roof is open to cabanas; then it is a common element. Just clean up, after you hang out there.

You can ask yourself the same thing for balconies & terraces. I have worked with a lot of people who state that outdoor space is a huge requirement, despite the huge spread between apartments that have outdoor space and the ones that don't.

Much like outdoor space, you probably won't even be using it for a good 6-9 months a year due to the weather. Factor in the fact that it isn't directly accessible from your apartment and you can probably count the number of days you will use it on one or two hands.

If you love outdoor space then it could very well be worth it to you though. I personally have roof access in my building and I easily use it a couple of dozen times a year, and that is without being able to grill on it (which would extend my use throughout the whole year). Plus, some buildings allow you to install hot tubs in the cabanas which may not only add value to the cabana, but extend your use, no matter what season it is.

In a way, the ball is in your court because the cabanas can only be resold to people that live within the building. Use this to negotiate to your advantage since a seller will most likely want/need to sell their cabana alongside or prior to the sale of their apartment.

@Truth: There are a lot of buildings that have a very small common space and then private (locked off) cabanas. This smaller space is more than adequate for most people, but there is the advantage of keeping items in your cabana for later use which you simply will not have with the common space.

They've found a way to sell tar beach...isn't there some kind of environmental protection or "common good land use" that should preclude that. Kind of like national parks.

I'm sorry, are we talking about cabanas sans swimming pool? Why?

And can you keep in your cabana those weird folding tin-foil-covered things that you hold under your chin to get a perfectly even, highly-focused tan?

That was going to be my next question, Alan. Does that mean that I can store my surfboard in the cabana, but not use it up on the roof?

Jim: 20 years ago, my boyfriend at the time, owned the penthouse apartment at 7 East 85th St.The actual apartment isn't that big, but there is a nice big terrace. I liked to hang out on a lounge chair, and he would spritz me down with a plant mister when it was hot out.
Jackie O. liked to watch us, from her window.

I remember somebody offered him $150,000 for it. He thought he should sell it, because he bought it for around $100,000. If he had a hot-tub on the terrace - he might have gotten $175,000 for it.

I consider outdoor space and terrace key...I just think something on the roof, not connected to your own place, that you have to get through by walking through public building space is nowhere near as nice, and much less likely to be used by most people, and hence worth way less than a nice terrace

Yeah, one nice thing is that with small kids a balcony can be dangerous, whereas rooftop cabanas/terraces are generally set back a few feet and hence safer. Plus they can be locked so you don't have to worry about kids going out onto them on their own. My other thought is that attached outdoor space can be kind of depressing to look out at the 4 months of the year they're completely unusable because of weather.

Well, I like to walk out on a terrace even on the coldest day, just to get a feel for the weather.

Moving on, perhaps the rooftop cabana could be outfitted with suburban style stanchions, a gazebo, a cobblestone path, green astro-turf, and maybe even a goldfish pond. One could probably buy bags of leaves to scatter around in the fall. On a winter day, "honey, I'm going out to shovel the walk...".

(course, having had outdoor space a few times, i don't have any kids left)

I'd like a gazing ball in my cabana, please -- and oversized inflatable Christmas decorations in the winter. I'm inviting John Waters over, so it's got to look fancy.

SkinnyNsweet: I'm only on here since Jan., but I don't believe I've had the pleasure of laughing at your comments,until now. That was a good one!

i wonder if getting your kids to rake the leaves (that you or they dumped a day before) in the cabana would instill a work ethic?

You can just get the porter to dump the leaves in your cabana (take care of him -- give a nice bottle now and then) in order to instill a work ethic in Junior ... just hide your weed somewhere else or the brat'll find it and smoke it all.

In suburbia untold deflowerings, and ingestions take place in treeforts, treehouses, backyard campouts, etc. ....is a rooftop cabana meant to be a nyc substitute?

I think "I lost my virginity on the 45th floor rooftop on a moonlit night in september, while we counted the stars in the sky" sounds better than "robert williams got me loaded on cranberry vodka and took me into his little brothers tree house.....or the basement storage room....or the tv room in the basement.."

a timely curbed post
http://curbed.com/archives/2010/02/25/williamsburg_condo_buyers_lose_their_private_cabanas.php

Jim and Alan: I can always count on you guys for big laughs!

Jim tar beach is a common NYC equivalent (we don't substitute for anything the suburbs do) for teenage "exploration There are of course parks but I recall that when one of my classmates "lost it" in Central Park she was immediately regarded as a less than honorable character and made the butt of jokes (this of course being many years before the "revitalization" and even preceded Jennifer Levin/Robert Chambers by a decade or saw. For me and my friends the number one "make out" (and drinking, and pot smoking etc etc) place were the docks and trucks at the Hudson River by the late mid-70s local teenagers had lost provenance over that area to gay guys from all over the city (world?).