Space to spare

New condos offer buyers room to spread out

BY LAURA KOSS-FEDER | Special to Newsday

February 15, 2008

Daniel Bahr, with his wife Marilyn, says when his new Center Moriches condo is ready, it will have more space than the house he is leaving. (Newsday / Jim Peppler)

Just because Judi and Kenneth Burnstein wanted to downsize a bit and simplify their lives didn't mean the empty nesters wanted to give up the kind of space they had at their 2,600-square-foot Roslyn Estates home. In addition to all the amenities a condominium complex would offer - they particularly liked the clubhouse, pool and gym - they wanted plenty of room for their possessions and for hosting family dinners and gatherings for their two grown children and two grandchildren.

So they decided on a home in Westbury's 720-unit Meadowbrook Pointe. The couple moved in July to their 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath condo, which also has a den and formal living and dining rooms.

"I was able to basically bring all of my belongings that are important to me and still have enough room to entertain and have four people sleep over comfortably," says Judi Burnstein, 61, a homemaker. "The space is not that different from what I had in my house."

Demand for space

Meadowbrook Pointe's developer and other local builders are heeding the call of today's condo buyers: Give them bigger units with more extras. Baby boomers who are downsizing and younger buyers who are moving into their first or second homes don't want to be confined to 1,000 square feet or so. In fact, Meadowbrooke Pointe developer Michael Dubb of The Beechwood Organization, says that since the development began two years ago he has had to reconfigure the construction of some units to make them bigger. Units range in price from the mid-$500,000s to $1.25 million.

In some markets, condos must be more spacious to compete head-on with single-family homes for senior buyers and for busy, young professionals who want a brand-new residence without maintenance and upkeep, says Alec Ornstein, president of Ornstein Leyton Co., a Garden City builder of condos, houses, mixed-use developments and commercial buldings.

Home offices popular

"We're also seeing buyers need room for home offices, as more and more people work out of their condos," says Alex Latham III, principal of ADL III Architecture in Northport, who currently has 247 units in the approval process for Fairfield Properties in Rocky Point, as well as more than 500 units on the boards, some of which are planned for Manhasset, Glen Cove and Blue Point. "Some condos are even designed so that units can be combined into one for even more space."

The size of condo units has gone up 10 percent to 15 percent over the past five years, and now averages about 2,000 square feet, says Robert Wieboldt, consultant and former executive vice president of the Long Island Builders Institute, a local professional association for builders.

Among the most upscale condos, now running $1 million and more, it is not uncommon to see 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, while a decade ago high-end condos generally topped out at 2,500 square feet, says Lea Frank, vice president and manager of the Roslyn office of Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty.

"Buyers of condos may not want a backyard, but they do want space and room for entertaining and very well-equipped units with extras right in the actual homes," Wieboldt says.

For instance, the new 36-unit Aqua project in Long Beach has condos ranging from 1,900 to 2,600 square feet, and apartments can be combined for up to 5,500 square feet.

"These days, more condo owners want to really enjoy their homes and are spending more time than ever actually in their homes - entertaining and relaxing - and they want room to have that big-screen TV and other items that require space," says Ellen Antonucci, vice president of marketing for Garden City-based Engel Burman Group, which is building Aqua.

Or take, for example, the new 55-plus, Center Moriches community called Vineyards at Moriches, which offers 92 semi-attached condo villas ranging in size from 1,900 to 2,800 square feet with lofts, two-car garages, a fireplace in the living room and an unfinished basement, says project developer Ornstein. Construction began in December 2006, and prices are $459,990 to $549,990.

If he had developed this community five years ago, the units would have been only 2,000 square feet at the most. "Today's buyer wants much of the same space and appointments in the condo itself as they would want in a single-family house," Ornstein says.

At the Vineyards at Moriches, buyer Daniel Bahr, 61, a labor relations consultant, says he's getting more space than he had in his house. He is moving into his 2,400-square-foot, two-bedroom condo this month, after living in a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom house in Bellport for 15 years.

Space for entertaining

With six children and six grandchildren, Bahr and his wife, Marilyn, 65, an assistant in the Suffolk County comptroller's office, wanted ample space in which to entertain.

They paid $461,000 for the residence. The maintenance fee is $320 a month.

"We still want our home to be the family gathering place, even if we're not in a house anymore," Bahr says.

Condos need to provide the most upscale amenities today, such as spacious kitchens with stainless steel appliances, and whirlpool tubs in the master bathrooms, says Joyce Coletti, licensed sales associate with Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Long Beach.

In addition, more complexes are accepting pets, not the case just a few years ago, she says.

"People will do anything for their pets, and that doesn't change if someone buys a co-op or condo; they want their pets to be welcomed into their new home," Coletti says. "And, they want those homes to have the nicest of everything with room to relax and spread out."

Where they put all that room

Many newer condos are offering: