Luxury Buildings Crave High-End Brand Alliances

When real estate tycoon Joseph Moinian needed a business partner, he didn’t turn to a prominent architect or cutting-edge engineer. Instead, he chose the unlikeliest of allies: American Express.The Moinian Group, the real estate development firm of which Mr. Moinian is president and chief executive officer, announced in September a groundbreaking deal with the financial conglomerate. Apartment buyers at Atelier, the Moinian Group’s residential condominium, can use American Express cards for the 10% down payment. According to the Moinian Group’s director of residential assets, Elad Dror, 10 buyers have used this option since its announcement.The offer allows buyers to accrue bonus points with the credit card company. “You just got yourself a free trip to Paris for buying a condominium,” Mr. Dror said.“Where you live is a reflection of who you are,” the founder and president of Shvo Marketing, Michael Shvo, said. With that in mind, developers are pairing their buildings with companies that project an image that prospective buyers aspire to achieve, and all around town, co-branding partnerships between the real estate industry and high-end organizations are becoming more common.At the Element condominium near Columbus Circle, luxury toy store F.A.O. Schwarz will provide all of the toys in the children’s playroom.On the Upper West Side, the Extell Development Co. has crafted a deal between its Avery condominium and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Aside from receiving memberships and discounts to the organization’s programs, buyers will also receive access to Lincoln Center’s Patrons Desk. Normally reserved for those who donate upward of $2,500 to the organization, the service assists patrons in acquiring highly coveted locations for performances.“Not only will Avery residents receive cultural benefits at all of the center’s constituent organizations, but Lincoln Center performers will come to the building with special performances,” the marketing director of Extell Development Co., Tamar Rothenberg, said.At 20 Pine: The Collection, a condominium being developed by Shvo Marketing, each of the building’s 38 stories will be furnished by Armani/Casa. (Remember those 1980s power suits?) Aside from the building’s own concierge service, residents living on the 25th floor and higher will have access to Quintessentially, an elite concierge service whose services run the gamut from booking last-minute reservations to the hottest restaurants in town to obtaining first-row tickets to fashion week. An in-building subway station is also under way. Without having to step outside the lobby, residents will have access to a number of trains.“We want you to never leave the building. You never have to see the light of day,” a sales associate for 20 Pine, Michael Monterosa, said.Affiliations don’t even need to be with a corporate organization. In Chelsea, the structure located at 16 W. 19th St. is more widely known as Jade by Jade Jagger. “She’s who these buyers are aspiring to be,” Mr. Shvo said. With amenities such as Jade Jagger for Yoo furniture, reflecting pools, a sun deck, and lounges with plasma screen televisions, residents can imagine their lives as that of a high-flying daughter of an even higher-flying rock star.But as odd as some convergences may seem, members of the industry say, the successful partnership is hardly arbitrary.“It has to be the right brand, in the right building, in the right location, for the right customer,” Mr. Shvo said.According to Mr. Shvo, had the locations for the Jade and 20 Pine been reversed, sales would not have been successful. “You can’t just take a brand and slap it on a building, and call it a success,” he said. Toward that end, his team spent two and a half months identifying Armani/Casa as an ideal partner.The time and effort are truly worth the higher prices developers can expect to receive for the apartments, sources say, because the goal is more than about selling bricks and mortar. “We’re selling a lifestyle,” Mr. Monterosa said.

Luxury Buildings Crave High-End Brand Alliances

Luxury Buildings Crave High-End Brand Alliances

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