About those amenity spaces

In my experience as a condo owner, "underused" means that only a sliver of the residents use common amenities, but those residents love them! Probably the majority of the owners in our current building never use our gym, but enough of us show up at the same time that the board is working on expanding them. As a broker, showing the basketball court at Chester Court or the music room at the Parc Vendome was enough to sway the right shopper, although admittedly most people didn't care.

But this is a slightly different situation, one where it's a new building (2022, maybe?), and it seems like the residents never really adopted the use of those spaces -- and since he's the rental developer he probably doesn't have to get a board vote to change their use.

In my personal opinion most amenity spaces are a colossal waste. They are 90% marketing. They are a drain on building resources. Wait until they've aged - imagine getting the notice of assessment because the building needs to replace the golf simulator. Or the lawsuit because the building doesn't replace the golf simulator but it's in the Offering Plan.

I agree, most amenities are a waste.

That said, would have been nice if my building had a children's playroom...

@30: I'm in agreement. NYC is a city that excels at providing amenities and entertainments, and I'm glad my building isn't saddled with the expense of kitting out, cleaning, maintaining, and updating space to house whatever the diversion du jour is - keeps the board's focus on providing good staff and reliably functioning physical plant.

I will admit that it's a bit ironic that there's a ton more amenity space where I currently live ( both in number and total space) than ANYWHERE else (in addition to at least one amenity no one else has), but those spaces are used by both a large number of residents, as well as a lot of the time.

Also, what I personally consider my favorite amenity here probably isn't considered an amenity by the vast majority of people (a private road).

Since the building in question is a rental he can do as he wishes. Smart cookie as he can charge for the preschool.

@30yrs: '...a private road.': I hadn't quite thought of it as an amenity, but yes, I love that my building has a driveway -- it's a terrific help for loading/unloading.

@stache: Absolutely. I'm curious as to how condos would manage the removal of an amenity space. As 30yrs noted above, it might involve lawsuits, though I saw an ad the other day for a new condo that listed amenities, then said something to the effect of 'we may choose to change or discontinue these at any time'. But it was an ad, and not the offering plan.

Aaron2,
Yes, to some extent it's like a 1600 foot long driveway. Question: Do the doormen let people with flashy cars leave them for way longer than they are supposed to?

@30: Amazingly, no. Door staff are pretty aggressive about getting people and their stuff in and out, and there's not really enough room to leave cars for extended periods.