Luxury buildings are adding extravagant amenities just for kids, from video-game rooms to elaborate playrooms with trampolines and pools

Luxury developers in New York City are designing high-end residential buildings with kids in mind.
These luxury buildings are offering outrageous amenities just for children, including elaborate playrooms, video game rooms, music studios, study rooms, teen lounges, separate pools, and "imagination centers."
Developers hope these perks will attract millennial parents.

High-end residential buildings in New York City are offering luxury amenities just for kids, including elaborate playrooms, video game rooms, music studios, study rooms, teen lounges, separate pools, and even an "imagination center."

"Buildings are in an arms race to compete to appeal to kids ," Leonard Steinberg of Compass Realty in New York City told Marketwatch.

A survey conducted by SunTrust Mortgage found that 55% of homeowners with a child under the age of 18 when they purchased a home said the child's opinion played a "major role" in their home buying decision. For millennial parents, this went up to 75%.

Developers are likely hoping these perks will attract younger parents in particular. Millennials now make up the largest share of home buyers — 36% — and they live in urban areas at a higher rate than any other generation.

Consider 15 Hudson Yards, a soon-to-be-completed luxury residential tower at Manhattan's Hudson Yards , which offers interactive activities for children in an elaborate playroom called an "imagination center," a club room for billiards and other games, and a workspace for homework and study sessions called the "Atelier."

Condos at 15 Hudson Yards, which was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, start at $3.9 million for a two-bedroom and go up to $32 million for a duplex penthouse.

At a high-rise in Manhattan's Financial District, 130 William Street, to completed by 2020, according to the developers, children will be able to play in a trampoline room, a mini soccer field, and a mini basketball court. Apartments in the building range from $795,990 for a studio to $6.345 million for a four-bedroom.

These spaces might be especially attractive to residents of a city like New York, where it's not an easy task to find a home with a yard or space for a separate playroom.

"Living in a city, the only play areas for children may be the common spaces in the building and then whatever parks or playgrounds are nearby," Lena Katz wrote in Forbes. "Thus, every amenity that's geared toward children , whether it be a playground or a game room or a fully staffed and licensed onsite daycare, is potentially a huge plus for parents."

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