Ultra-rich people in NYC demand apartments with (gasp) driveways

The hot new amenity that NYC developers are building into their plans for luxury apartment buildings is a porte-cochire, aka a fancy driveway. In fact, in Manhattan an opulent private drive may actually add more value to a new property than using that same real estate for additional living space. Then again, why choose! From Bloomberg:

The trend towards motor courts has accelerated notably in the last two years, according to Kent Security's Alon Alexander, who has seen a major uptick in inquiries from luxury developers on how best to incorporate the feature in an architectural brief. They're driven, of course, by twin concerns: privacy and security.

There's also a less concrete allure to motor courts: in a city where developers want to wring maximum value from every square foot, there's an extravagance in leaving such a large space empty. It tacitly telegraphs a developer's largesse and indulgence, at least according to Alon Alexander's twin brother, Oren. He is a sales executive for 565 Broome. "A regular developer might squeeze a retail site, or extra amenities like a larger lobby, from that space but a driveway is the definition of luxury," Oren says by cellphone, "It's space where you don't typically get it." Jasmine Mir, CMO of Corcoran Sunshine, puts its more simply. "Buying a penthouse at the top of a building is one thing, but the sense of extravagance and luxury associated with having space at street level in a congested place like New York? It gives an amazing sense of wow! to any arrival, a real grandeur," she says by phone from her office.

"New York's Latest Must-Have Luxury Apartment Craze Is Driveways"