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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 6:47 PM
Vancity_Love Vancity_Love is offline
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Innovative Ammenity Ideas for Developers

Just got an email from the new Bosa development Lido, which has some cool amenity features. Their concierge offers a full service free coffee bar with a business centre that you can scan/print/fax from 24 hours a day. On the down side, they also have an outdoor rooftop pool that I think is a waste in Vancouver... higher strata fees for something you can use only a few weeks of the year? Working in the condo development business on the marketing side, I'm wondering what amenity options consumers would be particularly interested in that most developers aren't doing. Would love to hear your thoughts!
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  #2  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 7:01 PM
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Great idea for a thread, but its in the wrong folder, belongs more in the urban design folder. I'm sure one of the Van mods will move it where it needs to go.

I'm also looking forward to hearing some of the ideas we can come up with.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 7:58 PM
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I think a great amentity would be a workshop, a place for diy people to change their oil, brakes, do some woodworking, paint some furniture etc.
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Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 8:32 PM
Vancity_Love Vancity_Love is offline
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Love that idea! I wonder if that success of that would depend on where the building is. For example, Commercial Dr. as opposed Yaletown.

What do you think of Lido's concierge coffee bar and business centre?
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  #5  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 8:46 PM
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I think a great amentity would be a workshop, a place for diy people to change their oil, brakes, do some woodworking, paint some furniture etc.
Brilliant! I have wanted that on so many occasions. There have been a ton of projects that I simply haven't done becuase there is no where to do them.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 9:31 PM
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I think a great amentity would be a workshop, a place for diy people to change their oil, brakes, do some woodworking, paint some furniture etc.
They had a workshop when I lived in XL. It's more for arts and crafts stuff. It was rarely used.
Allegedly, the main issue was insurance.

I think a room with gym equipment would be one of the most useful amenities. It would save people the expense of signing-up to a private gym, and they would effectively have their "monthly gym fee" wrapped up in their strata fees.
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  #7  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 9:38 PM
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The coffee bar will be shut down by the strata council as a waste of money - the same way that lighting features are turned off to conserve energy. i.e. the free coffee would be used heavily by some residents (i.e. abused) and not at all by others (the same pattern that led to gas fireplaces and condo gas lines being individually metered).

You need to choose amenities that are sustainable (i.e. no or low operational costs where those who do not use them won't think they are being gouged by strata fees). The work room sounds like a good idea (ditto for car wash stations).

Residents aren't so stupid as to think that they won't end up footing the bill for the operation and maintenance (gardens are expensive!) of the amenities once the developer leaves the scene.
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  #8  
Old Posted Jan 26, 2012, 11:26 PM
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Because living and balcony space is tight in new condos, I would like to see developers build a high end outdoor common patio with funiture and built-in bbq for people to invite a lot of friends over during the summer. Obviously, the higher the floor the better.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 12:06 AM
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Because living and balcony space is tight in new condos, I would like to see developers build a high end outdoor common patio with funiture and built-in bbq for people to invite a lot of friends over during the summer. Obviously, the higher the floor the better.
A good friend of mine lived in the Merchandise Building in Toronto (former Sears Warehouse - loft conversion). On the roof was an indoor pool, but outside was a huge patio space which covered a good portion of the roof, with at least 5 or 6 bbq's hard lined into natural gas for tenant use, tables etc. It was a fantastic space, great views of the CBD etc.
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Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 5:42 PM
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What about secured free wireless? Either in the building as a whole, or in a common area? For example, if it was in the common area, maybe along with a free coffee bar, it would serve as a gathering place for friends & neighbours to come together. I think this would serve well in a place like Vancouver where it's very hard to meet new people!
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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 5:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Vancity_Love View Post
What about secured free wireless? Either in the building as a whole, or in a common area? For example, if it was in the common area, maybe along with a free coffee bar, it would serve as a gathering place for friends & neighbours to come together. I think this would serve well in a place like Vancouver where it's very hard to meet new people!
They might all sit in the same room, but they'll all be so intent on their hardware, they won't even know that there's anyone next to them.

A week ago, I stayed at a place that had a common lounge with wifi access. At 10:30 PM, there were about 8-10 university-age people in the room, so totally focused on their laptops and phones that the room was silent and there was no human interaction whatsoever. It was like being in a library, only without people sleeping at cubicles.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 7:11 PM
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re outdoor pool - there is a swimming pool outside at the exec hotel in coquitlam and its open and used year round, they keep it going even when we had the cold and snow i heard people using it - crazy but they were

someone i know lives in a coop building and the roof of their building in china town is a large outdoor common shared space, amazing views, and you can get a lot of people up there for a nice evening
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  #13  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 8:01 PM
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Woodwards has 100mbps internet in every unit included in the strata fees (fastest in the country when it opened). It also has free wifi in the amentity space upstairs. I'm a fan of having super speed internet included and forcing everyone to have it really lowers the costs, but I'm not sure how popular it would be as an amentity.

It's been studied to death by developers, as far as amenties go everyone likes to brag about having a gym/pool. They are also the least likely amenties that people take advantage, but they sure sell units.

I still think a workshop would be so handy, it could be located down in the parkade (with ventilation) and consume a half dozen or so parking spots somewhere in a corner where the spots might not even be usable.
A guest unit also something useful but not overly popular, with small units it's nice to have an available furnished room to book for when you have company over, having them stay in the same building is nice, they book the room and the money goes back into the strata, I'm not a big fan of this one though.
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  #14  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 8:41 PM
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I'd like to move to the Coopers Mews development to take advantage of those bowling lanes.

I agree with the pool/gym thing, although it is nice for the occasional use. I'm also a big fan of outdoor semi-private spaces with BBQs, tables etc.

The 100mbps internet sounds pretty good, who is the provider? Is the service as good as advertised?
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  #15  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 9:56 PM
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Have developers chip in money to a transit development fund which would go towards developing the streetcar network & paying for extra stations along the Evergreen/Millennium Line Extension & Expo Line Hastings Extension.

If the development is on a lot on the Downtown peninsula/Broadway Corridor, have them include X amount of commercial FSR (that doesn't count towards the total building FSR) in exchange for extra residential FSR that can be included on that site, or on residential-specific sites well beyond the boundaries of the CBD (maybe a 50-50 split between the two sites).

Money towards improving/expanding the aquarium.

Money towards Vancouver buying Science World, and renaming it "Science World" again.

Special exceptions made for those redeveloping the DTES/East Gastown (increased height limits into viewcones, increased FSR, etc) barring architectural excellence on par with the Woodward's development, preservation of remaining historical facades, rebuilding historical street walks (like blood alley) etc.
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  #16  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 10:43 PM
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Very quick, low-cost internet strikes me as a great amenity. I am also a fan of Jlousa's workshop in the parking garage. As for wow-factor, I'm a huge fan of a roof-top amenity space. That's the sort of thing that doesn't cost very much but is a real point of pride for residents. It's the sort of thing you show every friend or relative who visits.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 11:01 PM
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Very quick, low-cost internet strikes me as a great amenity. I am also a fan of Jlousa's workshop in the parking garage. As for wow-factor, I'm a huge fan of a roof-top amenity space. That's the sort of thing that doesn't cost very much but is a real point of pride for residents. It's the sort of thing you show every friend or relative who visits.
Or show off on SSP meets...
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  #18  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Canadian Mind View Post
Have developers chip in money to a transit development fund which would go towards developing the streetcar network & paying for extra stations along the Evergreen/Millennium Line Extension & Expo Line Hastings Extension.

If the development is on a lot on the Downtown peninsula/Broadway Corridor, have them include X amount of commercial FSR (that doesn't count towards the total building FSR) in exchange for extra residential FSR that can be included on that site, or on residential-specific sites well beyond the boundaries of the CBD (maybe a 50-50 split between the two sites).

Money towards improving/expanding the aquarium.

Money towards Vancouver buying Science World, and renaming it "Science World" again.

Special exceptions made for those redeveloping the DTES/East Gastown (increased height limits into viewcones, increased FSR, etc) barring architectural excellence on par with the Woodward's development, preservation of remaining historical facades, rebuilding historical street walks (like blood alley) etc.
It's rather naive to think that the developers are ponying up the dough for CACs, etc. Those monies get treated just like any other development cost that gets thrown into their pro-forma.

End result? End-users pay for the cost, not the developer.

And we wonder how/why housing is so expensive here. It's not just demand, but also the City's blindered belief that they can stick it to those nasty developers.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 11:28 PM
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It's rather naive to think that the developers are ponying up the dough for CACs, etc. Those monies get treated just like any other development cost that gets thrown into their pro-forma.

End result? End-users pay for the cost, not the developer.

And we wonder how/why housing is so expensive here. It's not just demand, but also the City's blindered belief that they can stick it to those nasty developers.
By chipping in dollars, say a certain about per FSP point, they get the benefit of more money out of any one given property. The trick is figuring out what amount is cost-effecitve, where the developer still makes money while giving the city money for the development.

It's the same for historical restoration. That shit costs money too. And it's all about the developers giving up a little so they can build extra, not them giving up so they can build the baseline.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 28, 2012, 2:43 AM
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A coffee bar as an amenity in a condo seems like an awful idea to me.

If it were actually free it would be nice, but as officedweller pointed out ultimately the condo owners are going to be paying for it. It's very likely that a small number of residence will use it heavily while most others will hardly if ever use it.

I'll echo some of the opinions already expressed; developers should choose amenities that have little or not cost to maintain. Outdoor space and a gym with a decent range of equipment is nice and has minimal maintenance cost. A pool would be nice but I doubt the added costs would be worth it, but an outdoor hot tub would be nice. I also like the idea of a communal workshop space.
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