They may not be within walking distance of a train station, but the complex has meet-the-neighbors cocktail parties at a resort-like 25,000-square-foot clubhouse, as well as doormen, wine coolers in the lounge, a 30-seat theater, a golf simulator, a banquet room, a gym, spin and yoga studios, indoor and outdoor saltwater pools, saunas and steam rooms and concierge services.
The buyers’ ages range from 25 to 79; some are relocating from Manhattan, though most come from within a 10-mile radius, Emily Bock, a project manager for RXR Realty, said.
Prices in the first phase of the development have been raised three times, now ranging from $1.5 million to $6 million. And there are 35 names on the reservation list for the 120 units in the second phase, which started construction in early November.
Mr. Rechler, of RXR Realty, said he saw the Ritz-Carlton Residences and another of his projects, Garvies Point in Glen Cove, as opportunities to “create an urban type lifestyle for suburbia while at the same time embracing the elegance suburbia has to offer,” adding that “people are looking for more of a full-service, highly amenitized version of living.”
The reinvention of suburban living appeals to empty nesters and professionals in their 40s and 50s. “It is people that don’t want to live in Manhattan or own the traditional suburban home,” Mr. Rechler said. “We are creating that alternative for them.”
Credit
Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times
After nearly two decades of planning, and the issue of $125 million in public infrastructure bonds by the city of Glen Cove, RXR broke ground this month on Garvies Point, a $1 billion 56-acre waterfront development of 550 condominiums and 550 apartments, 10 percent of which is work-force housing. It will include three marinas, 75,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 28 acres of parks and nature trails and a waterfront esplanade. A terminal for a high-speed ferry to Manhattan is already complete.
“It works better today than it might have 20 years ago,” Joe Graziose, a senior vice president at RXR, said. “That is what people are looking for now.”
In Amityville, people started moving this fall into the first of eight Hamptons-style gambrel-roof buildings at Greybarn, an amenity-laden rental development with 500 one- or two-bedroom units built on the site of a former 380-unit trailer park. One-bedrooms start at $2,275 a month; two-bedrooms, $2,825 a month.
“People who grew up in the suburbs don’t want new urbanism; they want that sense of community we had growing up,” said Mitchell Rechler, a managing partner of Rechler Equity Partners, the developer, and a cousin of Scott Rechler of RXR Realty. Instead of designing a multifamily community that looks and feels urban, with a focus on streets with sidewalks and proximity to retail, Rechler Equity hopes to create a “new suburbanism” that fosters a sense of community through outdoor common spaces like gardens and bocce courts.
“As opposed to building something that feels like you are living in Williamsburg, our customers are people who love the suburbs and want to live that lifestyle in a multifamily rental setting,” Mr. Rechler said. To that end, Greybarn has a modern barn-style clubhouse with a movie theater, a fitness center, a yoga room and a communal kitchen offering cooking lessons, with plans for two pools, an outdoor kitchen, barbecue stations and a dog park. A Starbucks and an urgent care center are the development’s first retail tenants; a dry cleaner, restaurant and wine shop are expected to follow.
Karen Romanelli, 41, a vice president of account management at a marketing agency, moved to Greybarn from a house she had rented in Hicksville, drawn by “the community aspect and the activities they offer.” Likening the complex to a “cool trendy hotel,” Ms. Romanelli said she had met some of her new neighbors at a cocktail party in the clubhouse and could not wait to watch football games and movies in the screening room.
“It is a fun place to come home to,” Ms. Romanelli said.
