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Going up? The rise in popularity of private entry elevators

Special to the Daily News

Saturday, February 21, 2004

For centuries man has continued to demonstrate a fascination for rising above his earthly connection to enjoy breathtaking views. And, it would seem that there is no better visual illustration of this inclination than the high-rise building, first constructed in the third century B.C. in Egypt during the Greek and Hellenistic cultures. The huge stone tower, referred to as The Pharos of Alexandria, was the great lighthouse built for Ptolemy II. Nearly as high as the great pyramids of Giza, the tallest of which was 481 feet, The Pharos of Alexandria remained the tallest building until the 19th century.

It was the installation of the first safe passenger elevator and the development and use of the steel structural frame that made possible the earliest American high-rises. First appearing in Chicago during the 1880s, high-rises later enjoyed a second great age soon after World War II due to an explosion in the world economy. Buildings that rose vertically rather than horizontally answered a need for occupying less precious land space.

Dancing cheek to cheek across the silver screen in the 1940s, Hollywood's golden era stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers frequently portrayed wealthy socialites attending chic cocktail parties in Manhattan high-rises. Met by uniformed doormen and elevator operators, they were whisked upwards only to step directly out into a grand penthouse residence.

"The private elevator entry is a very luxurious concept whose time has come," said president and CEO of The Trump Organization, Donald Trump, in a recent documentary, "The Edge of Entry," which was produced by Miami Beach-based Robert M. Swedroe Architects.

Swedroe, who brought the private elevator entry concept to major residential buildings in Florida, creates multiple elevator cores to eliminate long walking corridors.

"The concept came to me after years of doing double-loaded corridor buildings," said Swedroe. "We were always trying to twist and turn to be efficient and economical with the spaces while watching the cost rise for land and construction."

By positioning the elevators near the center of a building, every unit is around the core of the elevator, thereby opening up 180- or 360-degree sunrise and sunset vistas.

A forerunner of the private entry elevator concept for luxury high-rises in Southwest Florida, WCI Communities unveiled the Swedroe design with a new private elevator foyer twist in 1993 at The Remington at Bay Colony.

Chris Hanlon, regional president for WCI Communities' West Coast Tower Division, said, "I believe the private elevator soared to popularity for a variety of reasons. First, it allowed luxury tower living to more closely resemble high-end single-family home living. Second, there's no common area to be maintained by the homeowner's association."

Hanlon sees the private elevator foyer, used today in the majority of WCI high-rises, as an added feature for homeowners. "They can decorate the foyer to fit their personal taste and set the expectation level for their guests," he said.

Bonnie Manson, president of Interior Design Associates in Nashville, Tenn., has 23 years of experience in setting expectations. Manson recently completed the lobby elevator foyers and elevator interiors for WCI's La Scala, a high-rise tower in The Colony Golf & Bay Club in Bonita Springs, Aversana at Hammock Bay Golf & Country Club in Naples and One Watermark Place in West Palm Beach.

"We set a sense of arrival beginning at the garage elevator lobby," said Manson. "Then it builds in the custom-designed elevator cab. Expectations could be further elevated by a possible stop to take in an appealing lobby space and culminating in the resident's private elevator foyer."

Manson designs around her "three to five second rule" for lobby elevator foyers. "I believe you get three to five seconds to set the expectation level and grab people's attention. For example, when you stay at a new hotel, you form an opinion seconds after you walk through the lobby. It should only take moments to make chins drop," said Manson.

Eddie Hall, WCI's construction manager in charge of Tuscany Reserve, a luxury community in North Naples, and Castillo at Tiburón in Naples, shared insights gleaned from his 23 years in high-end construction.

"At Castillo, where each residence occupies an entire floor of the three-story building, we mirrored the walls and ceiling, added detailed wood trim and tiled the floors of the elevator cabs to give them the luxurious look of a fine hotel," said Hall. "At the request of a few Castillo residents, we installed clear doors on their cabs, which added to the sense of arrival when they reached their private elevator foyer."

John Taylor, president of Taylor Elevator Corp. in Naples has been creating custom elevator cabs since 1992, the largest of which has been a 10,000-pound, three-landing vehicle lift for a Naples car museum. The most unusual cab was a round mahogany bird-cage cab with a wrought iron enclosure. "Elevators are gaining popularity, not just in high-rises but in single-family residences," said Taylor.

Jeff Zielinski, Tampa sales manager for elevator company ThyssenKrupp, sees private entry elevator systems as an improvement in both privacy and security. "Eliminating long corridors, which are associated with hotels, heightens the sense of privacy for homeowners," said Zielinski. "The luxury of stepping off the elevator into a private foyer was once reserved for only the owner of the penthouse residence; but now, in towers using the core concept, every resident, whether on floor two or 20, takes advantage of this special treatment. Homeowners who live in end units also don't have distances to walk."

Private elevators also offer security benefits. For example, when a homeowner at La Scala steps into the elevator on the garage or amenity level, they key in their residence number followed by a code before the elevator will begin its ascent. If the homeowner is expecting guests, they can turn off the need for a code. The privacy mode can also be turned on while homeowners are away, which adds another security element; elevator doors will not open without a keyed command from the homeowner.

Another feature that WCI employs in the majority of their luxury towers is a separate service elevator. The service elevators have the same security features as the passenger elevator with the added convenience of depositing the service staff in a back hallway that usually allows access to the residence through the utility room. In addition, service elevators alleviate any damage to the custom-decorated cab of the passenger elevator that might be caused by moving furniture.

"Technological advances and private entry elevators have made it possible for high-rise homeowners to experience all the benefits of single-family home living, experience more prestige and live with better views," said Zielinski.

According to Swedroe, the private entry elevator system is a necessity for competing in the high-rise market once a certain price range is reached.

Said Swedroe, "Location, location, location is everything but once you have the location, then it's view, view, view. This system allows for the floor plan to take precedent. Residences are designed from the inside out so that the majority of rooms have spectacular views."