As the Fourth of July holiday nears and temperatures soar across the country, apartment residents look for opportunities to stay cool while enjoying the outdoors.
To meet this demand, designers, owners and operators are expanding the possibilities of the exterior. These include making improvements to staples like the pool and lounge area, adding unique attractions, bringing traditionally indoor amenities outside or creating indoor-outdoor spaces that residents can enjoy year-round.
One major design choice facing properties that choose to incorporate a pool is where to put it — with the most common choices being in a central courtyard or on a rooftop deck.
“When designing an outdoor pool, a developer needs to consider the accessibility of the pool, what the view will be and the ambiance of the site,” Diana Pittro, executive vice president at Chicago-based RMK Management Corp., told Multifamily Dive
Edward Stand, principal and director of quality management at New York City-based design firm HLW, notes that a property’s pool placement can depend on the demographics of its tenants and the intended purpose of the pool.
“If an owner is angling for families, amenities will be tailored toward children,” Stand said. “If the building is 20-plus stories high, parents might not want their children throwing a beach ball around on the roof.”
Fun and games
Active programming that promotes social interaction through entertainment and gaming options — such as bocce, cornhole, volleyball and movie nights on a lawn or rooftop space — continue to be very popular during the summertime, according to Mary Cook, founder and president of Chicago-based design firm Mary Cook Associates.
Those activities could be paired with opportunities to kick back and relax. For instance, an upcoming $100 million apartment complex on Purdue University’s Fort Wayne, Indiana, campus, developed in a public-private partnership with Providence, Rhode Island-based builder and developer Gilbane, is set to start construction in October and open by June 2026. In addition to green spaces, grilling stations, fire pits and sand volleyball and basketball courts, the property’s 600 future residents will also have access to a “hammock farm” for outdoor relaxation.
For serious workouts, one of the most popular new amenity moves is the extension of the indoor fitness center into an outdoor space, often taking the form of a multipurpose lawn specifically for exercise. “We’re seeing fitness centers with dedicated outdoor space — gym equipment and turf areas on covered outdoor terraces,” Alan Barker, principal and residential market leader at Chicago-based design firm Lamar Johnson Collaborative, told Multifamily Dive.
Mary Cook Associates has incorporated retractable glass walls separating indoor and outdoor editions of fitness and lounge spaces at two of its properties — Oleander, a luxury apartment property in Brookhaven, Georgia, and Lapis, a student property in Miami. These walls can be opened in order to extend or blend the spaces or closed during the off-season.
Optima Kierland, a 362-unit property in Scottsdale, Arizona, has taken this idea to the next level with an expansive array of outdoor fitness equipment.
“We offer… a 40-yard dash, battle ropes, wall ball, tires and slam balls, plyoboxes, and large freestanding training systems for [high-intensity interval training], cardio or weightlifting,” said architect David Hovey Jr., president and COO of Glencoe, Illinois-based real estate firm Optima Inc. “Additional amenities include an indoor and outdoor pickleball court, indoor golf simulator with outdoor putting and chipping green, indoor and outdoor saunas and indoor and outdoor yoga studios. We want our residents to be able to enjoy as much outdoor time and fresh air as they choose.”
Going to the dogs
Not every property is going to have loads of outdoor space to take advantage of — especially older buildings or those in urban areas. Still, careful programming can make what little space there is a successful part of residents’ lives.
Chicago’s 1350 North Lake Shore, built in the 1950s with no amenities, added two outdoor amenities — a rooftop deck and a dog park — in 2017. The park’s popularity exploded after the property began allowing pets in both of its towers, rather than just one, according to Kelli Stuart, general manager for Chicago-based real estate firm Draper and Kramer.
The dog park has fostered a tight-knit and passionate community of pet lovers, to the point where, the last time the park’s mulch was refreshed, residents popped champagne to celebrate.
In addition, the property’s location more than compensates for the lack of on-site options, Stuart said.
“We’re right on Lake Shore Drive, [Lake Michigan] is right there,” Stuart said. “And we’re smack in the middle of the beach… [and] there’s the Lake Shore Drive running path or walking paths. It’s not our property’s amenities, but we absolutely draw residents here because of our location.”
