Baltimore Community Adds Cool Perk
2Hopkins is the first apartment community in the U.S. to implement the Smiota PoD smart lockers. These allow residents to use food delivery services and have round-the-clock access to their shipments by use of their smartphone.
By Keith Loria
LIVEbe has added refrigerated lockers to 2Hopkins, a 183-unit luxury high-rise in Baltimore, becoming the first apartment community in the U.S. to implement the Smiota PoD smart lockers.
The lockers will allow residents to use food delivery services such as Blue Apron, HelloFresh and Instacart, and have round-the-clock access to their shipments by use of their smartphone.
In total, 2Hopkins will have eight refrigerated and 62 dry package lockers, all managed by Smiota’s Locker Operating System, and designed to accept fresh produce without insulated packaging, and also offer chill to frozen temperatures.
“At LIVEbe, we try to anticipate residents’ current and future needs,” Elaine De Lude, LIVEbe’s vice president, told MHN. “As we observe the growth of companies in the prepared-food and food-delivery sector, such as Hello Fresh and Boxed, we believe it is important to provide refrigerated lockers as an option.”
Located at 2 Hopkins Place, the community is situated in the heart of downtown, and many residents live a vehicle-free lifestyle and take advantage of food delivery options. The lockers make things easier, as people don’t need to be home to refrigerate the items right away and couriers can drop off the product at any time.
“It complements our community, makes living with us easy and supports our brand,” De Lude said. “We also have a package area next to the lockers where residents can prepare their packages for sending and returns.”
A look at the market
The meal delivery business has exploded over the last year, as has the rise in meal kits A Harris Poll from earlier this year showed that 25 percent of adults purchased a meal kit in 2016 and 70 percent of meal kit purchasers have continued to buy them.
“There is a much bigger time window for delivery since the resident can order online and the couriers can deliver fresh produce, milk and eggs directly into refrigerated Smiota PoDs,” Waheed Rasheed, Smiota’s cofounder & CMO, said. “Residents get the convenience of not waiting at home for the delivery and couriers save time by aggregating all orders and delivering once. The lockers also provide an ecofriendly method of storage, as Styrofoam and dry-ice packaging aren’t needed to keep the goods fresh, thus reducing waste.”
The refrigerated lockers aren’t the only big amenity for 2Hopkins. It also features picturesque views of the city thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, a 21st-floor resident lounge and fitness center, yoga studio, state-of-the-art bike storage and repair area, a pet spa with large and small dog areas, a community host/concierge, garage parking and resident-curated events. Meanwhile, those on the penthouse level have access to remote controlled blinds and special corridor designer finishes.
“We have a community host who also makes living at our communities easy and provides the ultimate concierge services,” De Lude said.
According to De Lude, Downtown Baltimore continues to have a significant amount of new supply and the landscape of multifamily has changed dramatically over the past 10 years.
“However, the lack of services for residents living in the downtown area is challenging and the refrigerated lockers solve a few of those challenges for purchasing household and grocery goods,” she said.