Jeff Ellerbrock Speaks with Units Magazine About Trends in Residential Design

Jeff Ellerbrock, Senior Director, spoke with NAA’s Units Magazine about lessons learned in residential design with the continued trend of renters working from home.

Renters require different things now that roughly half of them work from home at least part of the time. Years after the pandemic, millions of residents are still working out of their apartment homes. To attract these renters—and keep them—property managers need to offer a new set of features. Communities need common areas where renters can plug in laptops and make a quiet phone call. They need floor plans that allow renters to create a separate space for work inside their apartments —even in smaller units. And they need to make absolutely sure that renters can get reliable internet service and cellular phone service in their homes and the common areas of the property. 

“We see more designated co-working or work from home spaces in these developments…” like at Lyra in Hudson Yards, “we also find the other amenity spaces need flexibility to provide for this function at any time as well,” says Jeffrey Ellerbrock, Senior Director at MdeAS Architects, based in New York City. 

As more people work from home more often, many are willing to live further away from job centers.  For example, apartment developers are creating new apartment properties in the smaller, urban communities outside of New York City like One Clinton Park in New Rochelle, NY and AVE Hamilton Green in White Plains, NY. “These communities offer more space and amenities for the same cost,” says Ellerbrock. “And renters have a manageable commute to the city when they have to be in the office.” 

Read more in the full article from Units Magazine.