Eastone Equities

John Chu

Construction Delivery Authority

Designing for Everyday Living

For the next project, these are the things I would skip/repeat/add to the list…..

Any features we build require useable space, cost time and money. Any feature we add after the completion cost more time and money. We want to spent where they matters more. And the following list do scale based on their utilization.

What I’d Skip

Swimming pool, Hot tub & Sauna~ these look great, but are not utilized as anticipated. They are costly to build, require more premium space. They are costly to run; need to be ADA compliant and especially if the regulation requires, a life guard.

Game Room, Multimedia Room, Pool Table, Public Lounge, Roof Top Gardens, Outdoor Fire Pit, Outdoor TV Screen~ they look fantastic, not utilized as anticipated. They are great for transient use, not so much for dwellings.

Gas Stove~ while the marketing love the look and feel of cooking with flame, I would skip gas all together inside the residential units. This also eliminated the need for Carbon Monoxide alarm/detector. I would still have gas to the building, but only for the retails needs and roof top gas emergency generator.

Dog Run~ a nice amenity if the building is pet friendly. But the dog run is likely small and not a pleasant place, not nicely scented from all the #1 and #2.

What I’d Repeat

Depending on the targeted clientele, I would do Golf Simulator. These do get used frequently. They have a Wow factor and only require a room, usually in the basement. Low initial cost relatively and low cost to operate. And most likely tenants need to book and reserve the use, creates additional premium experience on top of the association with the sport.

Outdoor Barbeque Grill~ a nice amenity tenants do use. This may supplement the lack of cooking with fire if we skip the gas stove mentioned above.

Dog Wash~ for a pet friendly building, the dog wash is a great place. Somewhere in the basement, with ventilation. And since it is for washing pets, the hair trap there prevents frequent clogged drain in the residential units otherwise.

Washer and Dryer~ a tiny closet for washer and dryer is a good value. As for the size, I would go for small. A project we did have a standard size for all units, 3 bed room or studio. Not to criticize the design of being lazy and larger may not always is better. I would, in addition, have a relative small laundry room, in the basement, larger washer and dryer with charge, to handle items that are too large for the ones inside their apartment.

What I’d Add

Additional sound proofing ~ especially if it’s next to public street. We had a building in NYC. When you need your sleep in the city that never sleeps, you need to block all noises as much as possible. Delivery and street cleaning happen from 4 in the morning. We ended up adding additional glass panels, attached to existing window frames. That could be easily removed so the window could still function as a window and/or second means of egress to the fire escape.

If the street noise is not the issue here, do it for the comfort and privacy. How often can you hear the next door in your unit or public hallway? Adding additional sound barrier in the partition walls between units, the walls next to the elevator shafts and garbage chute can avoid a lot of bad reviews. Don’t miss the major sound leak from under the entrance door gap. There are products addressing this particular issue, like automatic drop down door bottom.

Vibration damping/isolation from gym equipment~ we had a mix-use building, where the gym for residential was on 3rd floor, above the 2nd floor office space. We have padding under the treadmills, but the vibration alone was still noticeable. There were construction across the street, and they tolerated the noise thinking it was unavoidable. When the construction was completed across the street and the noise persisted… you get the gist.

I saw one project where the whole gym floor slab was suspended on springs, isolated from the rest of the floor slab to avoid transfer of vibration.

Accent lighting~ we often stick with just a simple, sufficient lighting. While additional lighting is cost; and if we do cove lighting, the cove itself is an additional line item; modern LED can make it easier on that department.

The features we offer create marketing value. Better yet, to create a WOW factor. That should make it easier to sell. But then again, we are talking about residential spaces and not hospitality, where wow factor matters less.