Amenities proved to be the hot topic during Illinois Real Estate Journal’s Metro-Chicago Apartment Summit held yesterday at Germania Place. More than 200 attendees listened to such multi-family pros as Milan Rubenstein from windy City RE; Ken Motew, Mo2 Properties; Mike De Rouin, FitzGerald Associates Architects; Michael Slater, Slater Realty & Investments; Aaron Galvin, Luxury Living Chicago Realty; and Todd Stofflet, Kiser Institutional Group discuss the state-of-the-art amenities that today’s renters, especially Millennials, want. Those apartment developers and owners who want to attract today’s urban renters? They need to focus on the amenities — everything from high-end fitness centers to rooftop gardens to high-tech media rooms — if they expect to thrive.
“The number one thing you can do is respond to the tenants,” said Michael Slater, chief operating officer of Slater Realty & Investments. “Everyone in our office is on-call and must respond immediately. We’ll also update the finishes in the apartment because that’s the pop when they walk in. The other areas where we’ll spend money is on the entrances of a small walk up, 30-unit building.”
According to Ken Metow, principal of Mo2 Properties, LLC, the company gets its biggest bang for their buck from placing washers and dryers in every unit. “We own smaller residential properties on the north side. We put washers and dryers in ever unit–even 500 square foot studios, or 1 bedrooms. Tenants want to be able to do their laundry in their apartment, and not have to leave.”
Aaron Galvin, managing broker/owner of Luxury Living Chicago Realty, pointed out that closet space is a huge factor for renters, especially couples. “There’s nothing more important to them. As nice as an apartment can be, know that they are looking at several different ones. Good closet space will help when it comes to decision making, because the reality is they have a lot of things and need to put it somewhere.”
So what exactly is the next value-add play, and what are some of the members of the panel buying? Motew said he’s sticking to what he knows. “I just stick to what I know because when I go outside of that box I get burned in real estate. So I stick to the smaller walk-up properties. It is a lot harder, but we find them.”
“It’s been a challenging market, as there are a lot of players in it,” Slater said. “We do like the complex world, and that’s where we are finding more value and opportunities based on leveraging the volume of assets.”
