Spa Days: Residents Offered Free Treatments On Site

By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorNew York–Who doesn’t like a little pampering? Everybody appreciates a break now and then, and one multifamily owner is making sure that its residents get the chance to savor some R and R. The Gotham Organization Inc. offers residents at its midtown Manhattan apartment buildings the opportunity to savor free manicures, pedicures, facials and massages–right in their own buildings–once a month on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer. Plus, residents can choose to attend a spa event in another Gotham building if it better suits their schedules. For five hours on a recent Saturday afternoon, residents of the Nicole, located in midtown Manhattan at 400 W. 55th St., enjoyed complimentary manicures, pedicures, facials and massages in the building’s lounge and roof garden. The next day, residents at New Gotham, at 520 W. 43rd St., were treated to the same spa treatments in that building’s common area. However, residents from any of Gotham’s three rental properties (which also includes Atlas New York, which again housed the current round of contestants on the Bravo TV show “Project Runaway”) could attend either day.An open bar at the events served Mimosas, Bellinis and fruit juices while wrap sandwiches and fruit salad were also offered, gratis. Beauty services are provided each time by The Alma Salon.“The most telling feedback is the events’ sheer popularity,” says Katherine Sabroff, vice president of marketing and operations for the Gotham Organization. Interestingly, Sabroff notes, “Some events resonate more at one building than another.” For example, she reports, the spa services seem most popular at Gotham’s smallest, boutique-type apartment building, the 149-unit Nicole.To keep such an event running smoothly, it is important to be organized and maintain an appointment schedule. You don’t want to upset residents as you try to do a good thing for them.To operate a successful event, Sabroff advises, “Try to get a sense of the kinds of events your resident base–your demographic–would enjoy the most and tailor them accordingly. You have to think outside the box and imagine what you might like when living in a certain community, she explains. Our residents work long hours and appreciate these extra perks. Without a doubt, we believe these perks contribute to retaining residents.” The “Gotham City Event Calendar” includes a variety of programming. Sabroff reports they try to do an event once a month at each building. “We try to stay fresh and innovative, while working within the confines of limited common spaces.”Residents have also enjoyed sushi and sake parties, chocolate tastings and a recently launched summer rooftop concert series, called Open A.I.R. (Artists in Residence), that has featured performances from major label recording artists Carina Round, Lady Gaga and current VH1 Artist of the Month Charlotte Sometimes, just to name a few. Complimentary daily continental breakfast is served in the buildings’ lounges. Plus, the Gotham Organization has teamed up with Concierge Service International (CSI) to provide residents with a complimentary on-site, five day a week, personal concierge service that includes everything from securing reservations at New York’s hardest-to-get-into-nightclubs to vacation planning. Established in 1931, Gotham Organization Inc. and Gotham Construction Company LLC is a fourth-generation New York City real estate and construction firm, with portfolio operations of over 1.7 million square feet of residential and retail properties. Gotham’s current residential projects include a new rental tower under construction at West 72nd street & Broadway and the completion of The Langston, a luxury condominium on West 145th street in Harlem.Rents at the high rises range from $2,300 and up for studios at the New Gotham to over $4,800 for two-bedroom units there and from $3,000 at the Nicole and Atlas to over $5,600 for two-bedroom units in those two buildings.To comment on this article, please email MHN Managing Editor Teresa O’Dea Hein at: [email protected].