The 2016 Amenity That Signals a Car-Free Future: The Uber Waiting Room

• December 19th 2016

by Nena Perry-Brown

UrbanTurf usually stays away from publishing rankings or lists…except at the end of the year when we look back at what DC’s residential real estate scene had to offer during the previous 12 months. So, this week we are looking at not only the best but the most intriguing and peculiar things that came across our radar over the course of 2016. Enjoy.

Dog-washing stations. Yoga rooms. Private wine lockers. The amenity race at new apartment buildings heats up every year. And in 2016, a building planned in Mount Pleasant offered an amenity aimed at the 21st-century, car-free tenant.

UrbanTurf learned earlier this year that The Vintage on 16th, an 85-unit apartment building from Valor Development, will include an amenity dubbed the “Uber Waiting Room.” The amenity will take advantage of the layout of the former church at 3146 16th Street NW (map) to create a designated drop-off/pick-up driveway with stairway access to a lounge specifically tailored to the comings and goings of car-free residents.

The room will be outfitted with a fireplace, magazines, and a monitor offering information on nearby public transit, including a map showing how close Ubers are to arriving and where the closest Car2gos are parked in the area.

“If people are already on the fence about whether they should own a car or not, and more or more people are deciding not to own a car, the world is going to keep getting more transit-oriented,” Valor Development principal Joe Bous told UrbanTurf. “More and more people are going to say why would I own a car when I have all these options that provide me just as much freedom with none of the headaches? Then it becomes, what buildings make my life super-easy given that I don’t have a car? And little things like Uber rooms and really good bike rooms will make a difference.”

The Uber waiting room is one of many ways that apartment developers are trying to incorporate the household name into new projects. A property management company in San Francisco is giving residents a $100 monthly stipend to use on Uber and Clipper, the Bay Area’s equivalent of a Smartrip card. Prospective renters will also be offered a free Uber ride to and from the apartment complex.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_best_amenities_for_a_car-free_future/11970.