Are all luxury apartment buildings rental buildings? Any links to luxury high rise apartments in Boston one can buy?

When I was last in Boston, about a year ago, I saw quite a few newly built and under construction condo high rise projects in the area between the Boston Common and the downtown area, on Tremont Street near the theater district and adjacent to Copley Square. I don't remember the names of the buildings.

Thanks.

Analise, I strongly recommend that you spend more time learning about living in (as opposed to visiting) Boston before you make major decisions. From your questions, it sounds like you're looking to recreate your NYC life in Boston, which may not make sense.

Boston is a very different city in which to live than NY. For one, Boston has a much lower proportion of high rise residential buildings -- rental or purchase -- than does NY. Apartment dwellers in the Boston area are far more likely to live in low rise buildings, or in row houses or larger houses that have been converted into apartments -- more akin to living in Brooklyn than Manhattan. (Also, I suspect a much larger proportion of young families in the Boston area move to the suburbs than NY families, as the Boston suburbs are more affordable and more accessible than NYC's suburbs -- even if the commuter rail services aren't nearly as good.)

My own experience: when I first decided to maintain an apartment in Boston in addition to NYC, I too tried to recreate a NYC experience by finding a luxury apartment in a sophisticated downtown high rise with garage parking and a 24-hour concierge/doorman. (The building is called One Charles, which I highly recommend you look at. Even though I was a renter, it is condos, well constructed and well maintained, in a great location, just a block from the Boston Public Gardens.) After living there for two years, my landlord decided to sell, and I moved to another luxury high rise, 24 hour doorman building, this time in an all-rental building: The Colonnade in the Back Bay, very close to the South End. After one year there, I looked at how much I was paying -- $5,400/mo. plus $350 for parking -- and decided it was absurd for a home I was spending, maybe, a couple of nights a week in, and decided to explore options other than the downtown 24 hour doorman high rises. My search led me to Cambridge, where for $3,450/mo., I rent a wonderful newly constructed townhouse in a [r]real[/i]neighborhood (again, more of a Brooklyn feel), halfway between Central Sq. and Inman Sq. (For those looking to buy, a comparable home can be found in the $750,000 to $950,000 range.) I am unbelievably happy in this home and can't believe it took me so long to make this move.

Don't get me wrong: it was not that I was unhappy in the luxury 24 hour doorman high rises, but (1) that's not the primary housing model in the Boston market, and (2) I realized only after I made the move the benefits the alternatives have to offer. Sure I no longer have someone to sign for packages (so I usually have them delivered to the office or to NY, where I do have a 24 hour doorman) and to take in my mail when I'm on vacation (Bostonians use neighbors instead of doormen for that), and I have to take out my own garbage (a real hassle because Thursday in garbage day in my neighborhood, and I'm usually in NYC on Thursdays!), but I live in a home that feels like a home, not just an apartment, and I live in a neighborhood that feels like a neighborhood (something I didn't feel when I was in town).

So certainly look at the high rise condos -- again, I highly recommend One Charles -- but also keep an open mind and explore the neighborhood options: the South End if you want to be right in town, maybe Beacon Hill, and Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, Brookline, and others recommended here, if you want a more authentic Boston experience.

+1000

The folks asking questions about high-rise buildings demonstrate that they don't understand the rental market in Boston. Not a knock on them, they're just uninformed. Boston is *very* different than Manhattan. More like Brooklyn in many respects.

I appreciate and agree with your post about spending time in Boston before making the jump. Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts.

Maybe I do want the NYC conveniences like driving only when we want to go away. I don't want to be concerned with driving commute time. Yuck. In a perfect world, I'd love to be able to walk to the office but I'm happy taking the T.

I have never wanted to move to Brooklyn even though we could have much greater space. Same with Queens. Forest Hills is very nice but too far. I do want to live in a high rise (doesn't have to be 40 floors—I'm happy with 14) with a 24/7 doorman for security.

Right now, it's all just talk. Neither of us has a job offer in Boston but we're open to it.

To us, our apartment IS our home. It's not a weigh-station to a house. We've never wanted to be in a house. We're in a rental building now and we have neighbors who have lived here for over 35 years.

Still, I don't know...we want to be closer to Maine but not sure if we could live there full-time. Boston would give us the best of both worlds—being in world-class city but only ~70 miles from the Maine border. That's VERY attractive.

But who knows. Thanks again, Blumie.
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Meant to mention this earlier, I found thess websites that has been quite informative about the availability, location and types of high-rise condos in Boston. http://www.highrises.com/city/boston

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...1c3a3bd87&z=13

Again, Boston is different. You can't compare living in Brookline or Cambridge to living in Forest Hills. And if you're insistent on the high rise with the doorman, you'll be able to do that, but you'll find your options very limited. I am fairly familiar with the Boston market, and I can't think of any high rise condo building other than One Charles that I would be interested in. Others that might be considered comparable -- such as The Residences at the Four Seasons and Heritage on the Garden -- are too Brahmin, too snooty, and too expensive. The Residences at the Ritz Carlton, built by the same developer as One Charles, is too Ritz Carlton (I'm happy to stay at Ritz's when on vacation, but I wouldn't want to live in one. Also, the location isn't nearly as good as One Charles, even though only a couple of blocks away.

Boston just isn't a high-rise culture; it's a brownstone culture. And that's part of the charm. It's part of what makes it *different* than New York.

You might want to check the Otis and Ahearn site too and you can search by neighborhood or by building. fwiw, Manny Ramirez's apartment at the Ritz-Calton (10 Avery) is now on a short term lease for $24,000 per month through the summer, but likely to be back on the market in the fall. Maybe this would be a good place to hang your Tino posters. ;)

That you know that I have Tino posters....^^^

So people live in the Ritz Carlton hotel. So it's a rental building, albeit an expensive one given Manny has a lease. ;)

Thanks for the link.

Interesting, I found one that I liked but it's in the Ritz Hotel. So does that mean maintenance costs are reduced because the hotel makes PLENTY of money as a hotel? :D

1 master bedroom "suite", 2 baths, an office/study, spacious new kitchen (hideous paint on the kitchen walls), granite breakfast bar, corner apt, 1 parking space in a garage....this looks too good to be true. Probably is. Asking price is $695K.

No mention of maintenance costs, no picture of bedroom "suite", so there obviously is some kind of catch. ;)

I really don't know those answers but you certainly can buy at the Ritz, not just lease. Manny's condo/apartment was for sale for $8.5 mill about 2005ish iirc and then it was put on the market again when he went to the Dodgers but since reduced to $7.9 mill and there were no takers hence the short term lease. Apparently it is the penthouse in the Ritz and had views in all directions and plenty of Manny memorabilia if you want to update your collection.

I've been in Manny's suite and it's quite cool. If one has the means, I highly recommend it as a living location. :)

My knowledge of rentals/condos in Boston is minuscule compared to others who have posted here. However, when I worked at Lotus 15 yrs ago, a colleague did have a pied-a-terre in the high-rise, doormanned condo building across Rogers St. Good (not great) access to the T, walking distance to lots and lots, and a terrific location next to the Charles River.

Depending on where you might end up working, Brookline might be worth a look Analise. Prices are higher than other suburbs due to the schools, which I don't think are directly applicable to you, but at the same time, I think the properties hold value a little better too.

You mentioned 'security' as a concern. Never having lived in NYC I can't comment, but I've lived in Boston and Brookline, and never had security concerns. Although we do have a car, many of our friends don't, especially if one lives near the T. We rented for a while at the 'Brook House' in Brookline village -- a sl. older property, with doorman, 24hr security etc, about 12 floors if I recall correctly. V. close to both E/D lines of the green line. We were happy there, but moved further afield when we had our daughter, to have more space, be able to have summer barbecues etc! Another possibility is 'Longwood towers', again in Brookline -- v. close to D line. Odd but impressive in its own way lobby, pretty swish interiors, but not Ritz-Carlton-esque. However, Brookline and even Back bay are not comparable for the sheer range of possibilities that Manhattan has to offer. Boston is 'sort-of' a world city. Manhattan is very near the top of that category.

If the only reason you want to be in Boston is to be closer to Maine -- I think it means you have nothing invested (emotionally) in Boston itself, and may therefore be disappointed.

tb

Yup.

I'm coming to see that vividly. Thank you for taking the time to write.