Amenities plus November 14 2001

There's a movie theater inside Jackson Square apartments in Decatur, a convenience store that serves hot food inside Oakwood Apartments on West Peachtree Street and batting cages and a putting green at Amili at Spring Creek in Roswell.

Apartment renters all over Atlanta are demanding more for their money, and luxurious, state-of-the-art amenities are what they're getting. From billiard rooms to business centers equipped with Internet access, DSL, fax and copy machines, apartment complexes are quickly adding and innovating to keep up with renters' demands.

"People don't just want a place to live anymore, they want extras," says Tanya Holland, a leasing agent at Highland Square apartments. The most popular trend today, she says, is fitness centers. For many residents, like Steve Feit of Jackson Square, they're mandatory.

"I wouldn't entertain a place that didn't have a fitness center," says Feit, who runs on the treadmill every day. "At Jackson Square, I don't have to spend $50 a month for a gym membership that's not even open 24 hours a day."

Many apartment complexes, like Highland Square and Jackson Square, also have tanning beds inside their fitness centers. Some complexes, including the Park at Briarcliff and Amili at Spring Creek, offer kickboxing classes, and Harrington Farms in Suwanee even has a personal trainer on site.

Oakwood Apartments boasts an elaborate fitness center, which has become a big draw for potential tenants. Stationary bikes and treadmills overlook an outdoor running track, tennis court, pool and basketball court. A personal circuit trainer and massage therapist come five days a week, and each of the locker rooms are equipped with a steam room.

"I've been spoiled living here," says Oakwood resident Fidel Denis, who was raised in New York and has lived in apartments all his life. "In the Bronx, the only basketball court was asphalt, and the whole neighborhood had access to it," he says.

In Atlanta, apartment living is becoming more attractive to a larger variety of people. "We're seeing people age 25 to empty nesters who just want to invest their money in other things rather than a new home," says Janie Maddox of Post Properties. These renters want to be able to do things within the apartment complex without having to get in their cars, she says.

For instance, some Post properties began creating urban vegetable gardens so "people can grow tomatoes, and whatever they want," says Maddox.

To appeal to families with children, Copper Mill in Norcross and Amili at Mill Creek in Buford both have a playground on the premises. The Village at East Cobb has a sand volleyball court, and Alta Park in Alpharetta has an indoor basketball ball court.

For apartment complexes where executive centers, club rooms, car washing facilities and fitness centers have become standard, the next new thing is movie theaters, like the one in Jackson Square and Jefferson on Peachtree in Chamblee.

But Tim Mays of Jackson Square says amenities are not the main selling point for apartment seekers. "Amenities clinch the sell," he says, "but without everything else, there's no way."??