The residential-amenities race is getting weird. It used to be that a new apartment complex or condo building would lure residents with a pool or a patio. Then came the era of indoor basketball courts and game rooms. Now, it seems, developments hope to bring in renters and buyers by providing a well-lit room for making TikTok videos.
In projects around North America, developers are adding new amenities to big multi-family residential projects aimed at least partly at meeting the demands of people more interested in posting a dance video than grilling a hot dog.
There are podcasting studios, video rooms with built-in green screens, and acoustically-protected rooms for recording and producing. For a YouTuber looking for even lighting or a musician hoping to post an echo-free video to their Instagram account, these social media-focused production spaces may just be the kind of amenity that leads to a lease agreement.
“We’ve got this whole generation now that is permanently entrenched in social media and online living,” says Alex Valente, senior vice president at High Street Residential, a subsidiary of the real estate company Trammell Crow, based in Southern California. “We thought we’d lean into this trend.”
In Etobicoke, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, a two-tower residential project now under construction has also planned some of its amenity space to be more social media friendly. The project includes a “content studio,” equipped with separate video and audio production spaces. The video room will have a series of pull-down backdrops and a green screen for special effects, production-grade lighting, and acoustic panels on the walls and ceilings. The audio room will be soundproofed and outfitted with an “On Air” sign to indicate when recording is happening. The project, which is open for sales this month, will be completed in 2023.