Apartment rentals New York with Luxury Rentals

New York City has been not so quietly waging a war (quite successfully) against smoking. Mayor Bloomberg banned smoking in bars and restaurants during his first term, and since then, others, including real estate management companies, have decided to establish their own bans on smoking. Now, a nonprofit is reaching out to landlords and tenants, encouraging them to ban smoking in their rental buildings.

New York City is at the forefront of real estate innovation; a fact that can be seen in each of the city’s five boroughs--Manhattan is known for its dazzling skyscrapers while Brooklyn emanates a quirky charm. It’s Queens however, that is about to rise above the rest. TF Cornerstone recently announced that development of its 41 story rental at 4545 Center Boulevard in Long Island City is well ahead of schedule. The building is an integral part of the company’s 21 acre East Coast Development project; earning the title of TF Cornerstone’s fifth and largest building.

Extreme Makeover: Luxury Rental Apartment Edition? That seems to be what many New York City landlords are going for. Luxury Rentals Manhattan has tirelessly covered the market’s high demand for rental units, with rates reaching all-time highs throughout the spring. This, along with a shift in the demographic of renters towards the higher-end, is prompting many landlords to finance million-dollar renovations in hopes of raising rental rates by 10 to 40 percent. And really, many of them are nervous that they aren't keeping up with the rising standards for rental apartments in Manhattan. This is good news for residents looking to live in luxury apartments without having to buy, even if their rent rises with the quality level.

The December 2011 rental market report showed that prices for luxury Manhattan rentals were considerably higher than they had been the year before. Experts said this indicated how much the real estate market had recovered from the 2007 market crash, but most agreed it was abetted by a particularly scarce rental inventory. And while rental availability always ebbs and flows, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that new rental buildings could literally run out of space. Manhattan neighborhoods are running out of areas currently zoned for residential construction.

We’ve written that rental inventory will continue to be scarce in 2012, but we can report that there are two new buildings full of luxury apartments for rent currently scheduled to open this year. The first is the Windermere, located in the Upper West Side at 666 West End Avenue. It’s scheduled to open sometime this month. The other is 396 Broadway, a pre-war in Tribeca that should be finished by the fall. We took a look at these two buildings, to see how the Manhattan luxury rentals will look to the inhabitants who will eventually live in them.

The Windermere is a 23-story pre-war building on 92nd Street, originally constructed in 1927. It boasts 374 luxury units, and a limestone and brick façade. The building was purchased by Stellar Management near the end of 2010 for $68 million, and the company has spent an additional $10 million renovating the space and adding amenities to it. The Windermere now includes wireless internet, a gym, a lounge, and a roof deck.