Condo Innovation from the Big Apple

Rick S., an SCR reader, sent me info about this cool condo in New York which features "En Suite Sky Garages."  Apparently, owners can drive their car into a car elevator and park their car in their condo. I suppose the advantage is you don't need to lug things from your parking spot to the elevator and through the hallways as well as general convenience of having a reserved spot steps from your kitchen (the idea of getting stuck in the elevator seems kinda scary though). 

Check out the movie here (click in "en suite sky garage" link on the left) to see it in action - it's definitely cool.  This is indeed a very forward thinking feature. I would imagine you will be sacrificing more unit space for the convenience of hoping into your car whenever you are ready to go.  Not sure how they'll deal with emissions / security either but the creativity that goes into a design like this is definitely provocative.  Come to think of it, I wonder what happens if a bunch of people are arriving home from work. It's not like you can put more than one car in the elevator at the same time?

Perhaps this will be one of those things that gets design awards but isn't embraced by most buyers.  Thoughts?

Comments

[Leann Sparks]

Oh my gosh. The idea of being stuck inside your car which is stuck inside an elevator is utterly terrifying. Claustrophobic's nightmare. Cool idea but I'm not convinced the convenience outweighs potential cost.

[Simon]

In NYC, potential cost, no matter how high, is negligible when compared with convenience for some people. So if you can make something more convenient there will be a market for it even if it's astronomically expensive.

But I get your point. :)

[LD]

The European Tower in Bellevue has a similar kind of parking. This is popular in many countries in Europe where space is tight, since you don't lose ramp space for your garage. However it wasn't very popular in Bellevue. That project is on hold I believe...

[old timer]

Thank you for showing this incredible property. Hudson river view, elegant design, great floor plans, beautiful website. The garage pales in comparison to the whole.
With only 16 units in the building, I don't think the owners would be the kind of people who 'come home from work'. You can imagine the HOA assessments on a building of this size, in NYC, with 24/7 concierge, split amongst 16 owners.
I couldn't even guess the purchase price of these modern day castles.
It might be fun to have that much money, but it sure was great to spend 1/2 hour or so playing 'just pretend'.