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The latest amenity in NY apartment rentals is services for your dog. That’s right, not just dog runs and dog spas, but also pet concierges who can arrange for your pooch’s every desire, even BACON!
“More and more of our residents have dogs and treat them as their own kids,” said Jamie Kaufman, the manager of the concierge and amenity program at Rose Associates.
NYC apartments for rent just aren't the same without an in-house dog groomer.
Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street JournalGroomer Marta Antil grooms Paisley, a Labradoodle, at Wag Club.
According to The Wall Street Journal,
Later this summer, Rose Associates will unveil a concierge program in an initial 20 properties across the city that includes a partnership with the Spot Experience, a growing dog services provider with four locations in the city.
Residents will be able to arrange for drop-off and pick-up service at their apartments, home training sessions and priority access to Spot’s other services, including anesthesia-free dental work.
Membership fees, normally $200, will be waived for residents, who will also receive a 20% discount on services.
Catering to tenants with dogs is a smart move for New York apartment building owners. Buildings that exclude pets are excluding a large number of potential renters, particularly a lot of high net work individuals for whom the pet is definitely part of the family.
No official count exists for the number of dogs in New York City; though 97,568 dogs were licensed with the Health Department in 2011, dog groups put the number closer to 1.4 million.
“These dog amenities are just the next evolution,” said Robert Marino, president of NYCdog, a coalition of about 60 dog groups in the city.
On a recent evening, Dee Maxfield faced a situation dreaded by dog-owners across the city. The 35-year-old mother was at home, her six-week-old daughter had just fallen asleep and her husband called to say he was running late and couldn’t pick up their dog from the day-care center.
But instead of panicking, she picked up the phone and called downstairs. Two minutes later, Paisley, the couple’s labradoodle, stood at the door—complete with a report card detailing her day, and glowing from an earlier bath, full brush-out and blueberry facial.That is because the dog spa and day-care center, Wag Club, was located on the first floor of her Brooklyn apartment building, One Brooklyn Bridge Park. “The convenience is paramount,” Ms. Maxfield said. “It’s great.”Other developers noted that their policies toward dogs had loosened over the years.
During the 1980s, buildings owned by Related Cos. limited residents to a single dog weighing about 50 pounds.
In 2005, the company built an unstaffed grooming and washing station for dogs into One Carnegie Hill. When developing the Caledonia three years later, developers incorporated a separate building entrance for dogs that opened into a grooming facility, so pets could dry or wash off after snowstorms or muddy days.
Last year, the company created “Dog City” at MiMA, which carved out indoor and outdoor place space on the third floor, including access to training, spa services, dog walkers and puppy playdates.
A $500 annual membership fee covers 24-hour access to the facilities and 10 emergency walks, along with other services. Owners are encouraged—and many have complied—to join a Facebook service for their dogs, called Dogbook.
Pet-centered amenities are “the next frontier of services,” said Daria Salusbury, a senior vice president at Related, adding that there are no longer any hard weight limits at their buildings. Officials are planning to include the Dog City concept in two buildings under development in Chicago, and in their next Midtown property. “We want to make it easy for you to live in an urban environment with a dog,” Ms. Salusbury said.
As dog lovers at RDNY.com, we think this new trend among building owners to not only tolerate dogs, but actively plan for them to be part of the tenant community is great. This is one real estate trend we’d like to see grow larger across the city.
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