New York City is a metropolis known for its iconic skyline and abundance of tall buildings. Like other cities with tall buildings, there are a plethora of building codes to regulate and govern the design, construction, and modification of buildings and ensure the safety of residents. One such building code is the requirement for any building five stories or more in height to have at least one elevator that provides access to all floors. As such, most mid- to high-rise buildings in New York City will have at least one elevator bank that residents can access on a daily basis. Apartments for rent with elevators in New York City are readily available. Indeed, elevators are one of the most common building amenities that one can find when browsing on apartment rental sites like RentHop.
The benefits of elevators
Anyone who has lived in a walk-up building with no elevator access will recall memories of lugging laundry or grocery bags up and down the shared stairwell during the peak summer months in New York City. New Yorkers with such shared memories will either love or hate them. Consequently, having elevator access is an amenity that many desire for its added convenience, and for those with accessibility issues, is a must-have building amenity.
One hidden benefit of having an elevator in your building is that it can significantly reduce your cost when moving. Moving companies may add a surcharge, sometimes called a stair fee, for having to carry your belongings up and down stairs. If your building has an elevator, or even better, a freight elevator, then chances are, you’ll save a bit on moving.
Another benefit is efficiency. Elevators are far more efficient at getting you up and down the flights of stairs in any building. Some may welcome the additional exercise, but for most, getting home fast after a long day of work and saving the trouble of walking up a few flights of stairs is a great benefit.
The cost of an elevator as an added amenity
Have you ever wondered how every unit feature or building amenity is calculated into your total rental cost? We have. Back in 2017, we ran a study to research the correlation between different building amenities and your rent in major cities across the United States. Our study showed that having an elevator had the second most amount of impact on raising your rent. This isn’t exactly surprising. Depending on the size of the building, the number of elevators, maintenance frequency, and the type of elevator system, elevator maintenance can cost anywhere from $3500 to $10,000 annually to maintain. So although it is a common feature in New York, the cost of elevator maintenance can and has been passed on to renters in the form of their rent.
In our 2017 study, the calculated added cost was $120/month. With inflation and with rent at its highest peak in years, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to estimate that elevator access can cost a renter a couple hundred dollars additional per month. If you would like to save on rent and don’t require elevator access, try searching for apartments in a building without elevator access or search for apartments on the first floor of a building without an elevator.
Are elevators dangerous?
There is a saying “Be prepared to live as high as you are willing to walk”. While the saying itself can be taken figuratively, in the case of elevators, it can be taken literally. Many are concerned about how they’ll be able to access their units on a higher floor should access to the building’s elevator(s) be interrupted. For example, maintenance issues can occur. Or a fire could break out, in which, standard safety rules dictate the use of the stairs rather than an elevator. High floors can be a great inconvenience should your access to elevators be blocked. The inconvenience grows especially for those with pets or young children. Thankfully, it is rare for such situations to occur. However, it is ultimately up to the tenant and their personal preferences as to which floor they choose to live on in an elevator building.
In addition to continued accessibility, some fear about the safety of the elevator itself. Elevator accidents can occur and have caused severe injury and sometimes death. Thankfully, the city has implemented strict elevator maintenance requirements. Making such scenarios more and more rare as the years go by.
Luxury apartments with elevators
Most newly developed luxury apartment buildings these days come standard with elevator access. Luxury apartments are usually either mid- to high-rise. They may have more than one elevator to accommodate the large number of tenants in the building. There are even buildings with multiple elevator banks with some elevators programmed to service different floors. Even more rare, certain luxury buildings feature key-locked elevator banks. These ultra-secure elevators will only open their doors if you have an access key. In fact, some don’t even have buttons on the inside of the elevator. They will bring tenants directly to their floor or open directly into the tenant’s full-floor unit.
Search terms like “apartments with elevators near me” on Google, Bing, or any other major search platform will likely show you a ton of advertisements from local landlords and management companies. To easily find a list of apartments with elevator access, try using rental platforms like RentHop. Simply head to the website, check off the building feature filter selection for “Elevator”, and browse!
For your convenience, we’ve included the following selection of available apartments for rent with elevators:
As of 2015, there are over 70,000 elevators in New York City. It is probably a surprise to no one that over 58% of these elevators are located in Manhattan alone. Following Manhattan’s mantel is Brooklyn with 18%, Queens with 13%, and Bronx with 10% of the elevators.
Here is a list of Manhattan apartments with elevators:
For Brooklyn apartments with elevators, see here:
Check out a list of Queens apartments with elevators:
Browse this list of Bronx apartments with elevators:
