Creativity can take advantage of under-used space.

With the current cost of real estate so high and the price of entry into the market for new acquisitions so great, many owners are looking for ways to leverage the value of an existing property. The ideal solution for many could be to "stretch" a building they already own.

Building stretches add value and can add profitability to an owner's long-term ROI from an existing building. Our firm has identified three often overlooked opportunities to stretch a building architecturally: vertical enlargements--adding more floors, which can generate more long term income; re-thinking and re-drawing old floor plan configurations for today's use and changing lifestyles; and making use of underutilized cellar space, which can have significant added revenue payback in both retail and residential buildings.

Each of these building stretch strategies can add value, increase revenues and boost an owner's long-term returns from a currently owned property. Building stretches are especially sensible because of today's sky-high real estate market and, in many instances, because of the long-term protections in place for tenants under rent controls in many urban buildings.

With a fresh architectural review of a property's potential, it may be possible to add a significant dollar return by adding several new floors to an existing property. A vertical enlargement can sometimes be done even while a building is occupied.

Of course, vertical enlargements were done occasionally in the past, often with one-off projects such as small penthouse add-ons. But with creative architectural design and proper light-load materials, along with careful application of building codes and regulations, several floors can sometimes be added within existing air rights. Total square footage and income can be increased greatly, from nearly doubling the height of a townhouse to adding several new income-producing floors to an already fully 12-story apartment building.

Getting the approval for a vertical enlargement in New York City today is a much more straightforward process than it has been historically. Depending upon the height and original construction style, current building codes require careful evaluation of criteria such as existing footings, foundations and earthquake code compliance, as well as planned new fire safety elements, egress, sprinklers, fire detection systems and water supplies. From a building code and construction point of view, a new structural element such as a vertical enlargement may not be supported by an element of lesser construction quality. However, with proper understanding of both the limitations and opportunities of materials, building codes and regulations, many architecturally creative solutions are possible.

Re-thinking and re-drawing old floor plan configurations for today's use and changing lifestyles are considerations that apply to both older residential properties and to fresh commercial-to-residential conversions.

Architectural "curb appeal" as a sales tool is just as important in an urban residential property as it is in a suburban home. The first 30-second experience of a potential buyer should be exploited if desired sales goals are to be accomplished. In an apartment, one of the most basic examples of vital "curb appeal" strategy is establishing a direct line-of-sight from the entry past the kitchen to daylight.

In brownstone buildings, where footprints are typically small and narrow and vertical stacking is required, a frequent architectural challenge is connecting rooms and spaces vertically. Enlarging a stair opening, for example, or creating a mezzanine style floor cut-through can create a remarkable sense of openness. Of course, each individual situation requires a unique architectural solution.

In most cases, a desirable architectural solution is nearly always a successful sales solution, too. Sometimes floor plan re-designs can be made prior to a sale by the architect in collaboration with an owner or real estate agent as a means to make a sale more attractive.

For renovations, the architectural re-design of an existing apartment floor plan or a combined two-apartment layout can turn a dark, old, "ugly duckling" apartment into one so desirable that it creates a bidding contest. Architectural opportunities include opening and brightening a kitchen, enlarging and modernizing a bathroom, adding storage or designing a home office space. Older apartments can often benefit greatly from knocking out old closets and unused maid's rooms to visually open up floor plans into more contemporary loft-like spaces. Many owners completely avoid their own cellars, especially those with low ceilings and numerous small rooms, nooks and crannies. Cellars are sometimes considered unattractive throwaway spaces, but they shouldn't be disregarded in either residential or commercially zoned buildings.

Cellars and basement floor plans are often considered areas where little improvement can be made because of essential mechanical rooms, closets, equipment, boilers, tanks, pumps and various service entry lines. Yet cellars and basements are worth a second look.

Technological advances have made new generations of building infrastructure equipment both smaller and modular. New boilers, for example, now require about one-half the space of previous models. Elevator machine rooms can be relocated and significantly reduced in size.

With careful attention to foundation integrity and some underpinning, we dug down more than two feet in a mixed-use building on Madison Avenue in the East 60s. By excavating and gaining two feet of headroom and relocating physical plant equipment, we were able to make the cellar floor area into a well-lighted commercial space with a 10-foot ceiling.

Adding a simple stairway cut-in between the cellar and ground floor then changed what had been a single-level, ground-floor commercial studio into a two-floor retail rental.

In a residential building, digging down can create a space gain that makes possible duplex-style additions for a home office or a child's play room, either of which are within code compliance. Digging out a cellar space makes it possible to architecturally stretch a building and gain new uses and retail revenues for decades.

Stretch your building and you can also stretch your ROI. Property owners who now have buildings in their portfolios and who want to look for new opportunities should start by re-evaluating their existing properties to see what can be done with them.

Five years ago, when real estate values were much lower, there were many financial enticements to consider buying new buildings rather than stretching the value of existing ones, so many owners quickly dismissed as an inconvenience the idea of a building stretch or a vertical expansion.

However, today, the price of entry into the real estate market is so high that it's worthwhile for most owners to take another look at their portfolios. Anyone who currently owns a "stretchable" property already has a capital investment that can be leveraged architecturally for added value and a significant long-term additional payback from an existing property.

STEVEN KRATCHMAN

FOUNDER AND CEO 

STEVEN KRATCHMAN ARCHITECT, P.C.