To Lure Buyers, Developers Add Wine Storage Facilities

As Manhattan condominium developers compete to lure luxury buyers, several buildings now under construction are incorporating increasingly elaborate on- and off-site wine storage facilities.Developers at Element Condominiums on West 59th Street saw wine storage as a must-have amenity, but found that space was at a premium. Instead of installing a cellar on-site, they entered a partnership with Morrell & Co. for wine valet services.Residents can store their collections at Morrell’s 175,000 squarefoot warehouse in Long Island City, Queens, at a monthly fee of $1.60 a case. Bottles will be delivered to their doors upon request. They will be able to view photos of their collections and keep track of their “liquid net worth” in real time through a Web interface program.Inside the individual units, under-the-counter wine storage spaces can hold about 50 bottles.“We’re selling a square foot for $2,000,” a managing partner at the building’s developer, COALCO, Edward Baquero, said. “The last thing you want to do is occupy that space with wine if you don’t have to.”Mr. Baquero said buyers have responded well to the arrangement and 75% of the building ‘s 200 units, which start at $900,000 and go up to $8 million, have been sold. “We put a squash court where we probably would have put a wine cellar,” he said.The sold-out, 202-unit residential development, 15 Central Park West, will boast 30 private wine rooms, each of which will hold between 900 and 5,000 bottles, and there is a communal tasting area that seats eight people.Meanwhile, the second floor of the 30-story residential tower going up in the Financial District, the Setai New York, will be dedicated to a restaurant and wine gallery. The hallways leading to the restaurant are lined with two 10-by-30-foot wine cases with temperaturecontrolled glass. Between these cases, and the building ‘s 200-square-foot wine storage facility, there’s enough room to store as many as 1,500 bottles.If the residents don’t want to leave their apartments, they can have bottles of wine delivered from Setai’s facilities to their doors. Residents can also opt to have their own glass wine cases installed in their apartments. The building will be ready for occupancy early next year.A longtime wine collector who is launching the Wine Television Network, Beckett Cantley, bought one of the building’s penthouses. “It’s almost like a museum display. It’s extremely impressive for guests,” he said of Setai’s storage facilities.The building’s 167 units, which are 35% sold, range in price from $700,000 to $6.75 million. For several thousand dollars a year, nonresidents can purchase a membership to the Setai’s private club, which includes access the building’s wine facilities, restaurant, and spa.Mr. Javeri estimated that the club, including its wine facilities, adds 5% to 10% to the value of the units.“It’s probably been our most successful selling tool,” the director of investments at Zamir Equities, the building’s developer, Atit Javeri, said of the club, with its wine facilities. “When the sales agents take people down to that area, that pretty much is what seals the deal.”

To Lure Buyers, Developers Add Wine Storage Facilities

To Lure Buyers, Developers Add Wine Storage Facilities

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