How Do You Sell Luxury Apartments in NYC? You Dance…

Oct. 5, 2015 — With all the new construction happening everywhere you turn in Manhattan — and co-op and condo prices dipping slightly again in August — you have to get a little creative when it comes to grabbing the attention of potential buyers. William Reue Architecture wanted to inject a sense of human scale into the open rooms of a newly constructed $12 million West Village townhouse at 372 West 11th Street. To that end, the architectural firm collaborated with Norbert Waysberg, the building's developer, to commission a dance that would be performed inside the building. The final result is the four-minute video "Elevation," an art-performance piece that seeks to explain the building in a kinetic way, much more descriptive, real, and alive than any photographs ever could. Is this the beginning of a new trend in real-estate sales? The tone in this one certainly speaks to the luxury market set. It may still be, however, something for co-op and condo boards to keep an eye on when they have their own spaces to sell.