A “detox vestibule” sounds like something you might find at a high-end rehab center—or at the very least an inventive day spa. Instead it’s what you have to enter to purchase a unit at the W New York Downtown Hotel and Residences in Manhattan’s financial district. One-bedroom apartments in the building start at $1.1 million. The dark chamber is a dramatic introduction to the development’s sales office which opens November 7. The space is decorated in red black and white and has a full bar a hip ambient soundtrack and a raft of interactive technology inspired by modern museums. In a crowded high-end-condominium market sales offices are incorporating sophisticated technology and elaborate marketing techniques in order to stand out from the crowd. Gone are the days of blah brochures ho-hum artist’s renderings and Styrofoam models. At the W sales center visitors spin a special globe connected to position sensors; stop on Europe and a high-definition video of W’s properties there is projected onto a curved wall. Sensors in the floor launch other presentations: Step on one colorfully lit area to learn about luxury shopping in the neighborhood; step on another for information about nightlife. A gesture-tracking system allows buyers to point to different areas on a screen to learn more about amenities and apartments.“With technology we’re bringing back a lot of the excitement into home buying,” says Michael Shvo principal of the real-estate-marketing firm Shvo Group who is handling the W’s sales. “It expands our conversation as marketers to the buyer; it gives the buyer a lot more reasons to want to buy into the building.”Offering buyers an over-the-top memorable experience is especially important in the current real estate market which has seen demand for condos—particularly high-end condos in many places—soften throughout the country. While Manhattan’s condo market remains buoyant according to the National Association of Realtors sales of existing condos and co-ops nationwide fell 4.3 percent between August and September which represents a 14.7 percent decrease since September 2006.“Technology is more or less required in the current environment,” says Jo Miller a New York technology consultant who designs sales offices. “Obviously it’s a much more competitive market now. The boom is over when you could just sell a condo from a xeroxed Schedule A. Today you have to lure buyers almost take them on a Disney ride.” That’s what happened to Vu Nguyen a physician from South Bend. Indiana who in 2006 was shopping for a pied-à-terre in downtown Chicago. He had looked at several properties but it was the Legacy at Millennium Park a 72-story tower rising just off Michigan Avenue in which one-bedrooms start in the mid-$400,000s that really impressed him. The sales center which has views of Lake Michigan features four 42-inch interactive touchscreens where buyers can examine floor plans and a particular unit’s future view (courtesy of photographs taken by a miniature remote-control helicopter) and receive up-to-the-minute information on the availability of desired units.
“It was really user-friendly and you didn’t feel pressure,” says Nguyen who purchased a two-bedroom unit priced in the mid-$700,000s. “It made it really easy to make a decision.” In fact though Nguyen signed a contract last summer he still drops by the sales center occasionally to check on how the remaining units are selling. The Legacy’s sales office which cost $1 million to create. “shows you care a little more,” says Andrew Warner vice president of Chicago’s Equity Marketing Services. “People think that if you take this much care in the sales office you’ll take that much care in the building.”At 77 Hudson a luxury condo building rising in Jersey City. New Jersey the 10,000-square-foot sales center has views of Manhattan the Hudson River and the condominium’s construction site as well as interactive displays that allow buyers to select their ideal layout floor finishes and view. “The customers want an interactive experience,” says Tom Graham senior community manager at the building where prices start in the $500,000s. “It gives them a sense of ownership right when they walk in the door. They pick the finishes; they pick the view. They feel they’re participating in the sales dynamic—it helps advance the sale.”Indeed as a major goal for developers is to sell most units before a shovel hits the ground technology leaves little to a buyer’s imagination. In Los Angeles the Century condominium has the special challenge of persuading well-heeled buyers to trade sprawling estates for vertical homes. (Prices in the development at the site of the former St. Regis Hotel start at $3.5 million for a two-bedroom.) “Views have always been one of the most coveted attributes of any property,” says Susan de Franca president of Related Residential Sales. So the Century’s sales office has an interactive model of the 42-story development; potential buyers can select a unit view the floor plan and see the condo’s actual view thanks to a miniature blimp that captured the views from all floors. “We’re demonstrating the dream,” de Franca says. Technology also allows for more flexibility than ever before. At Luxuria a 26-unit development in Boca Raton. Florida with prices starting at $4.7 million potential buyers can customize their layouts on a screen. “I can touch the floor plan and move all the walls,” says Michael Goldstein president of the Trump Group (no relation to Donald). “I can show people how it looks if they want a bigger kitchen or bathroom.”Buyers can also sketch furniture and even superimpose images onto the floor plan. In fact some have already brought their designers to the sales center. “Buyers in the high end don’t like to wait until the building is done,” Goldstein says. “They write the check; they want instant gratification.”
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