Owning a mansion in Manhattan was once considered the ultimate status symbol.
But rising crime rates, the migrant crisis and the plague of squatters have caused the top one percent to begin abandoning their domestic dream homes in favor of the guaranteed security that comes with doorman buildings.
Between the last three months of 2022 and the fourth quarter of 2023, townhouse sales fell 25 percent — with an average discount of 18 percent, according to housing listing service REBNY RLS.
Phillip Salem, 37, is a luxury coastal real estate agent with Compass focusing on new developments, condos and co-ops, told DailyMail.com: ‘People know that the houses in the West Village, Upper East Side and Upper West Side are the houses where people with money live, so they are an easy target.
‘It is a lot more difficult to break into a gatehouse with a secure elevator entrance than it is to break into a window in the middle of the street.’
Meanwhile, some townhouse residents are so concerned that they are paying a small fortune for 24-hour security and even installing panic rooms. New York Post reported. Another New Yorker told DailyMail.com that she was so scared that she once slept with a hammer next to her bed.
Owning a mansion in Manhattan was once considered the ultimate status symbol
Phillip Salem, a luxury real estate agent with Compass, said new developments allow for privacy and a better quality of life
Alejandra Sanchez (pictured), 36, said she suffered from severe anxiety throughout the night due to the lack of security at her building. She started sleeping with a hammer next to her bed because she was so afraid of burglaries
The migrant crisis and the rise of squatters have caused concern among the wealthy
A recent Citizens Budget Commission poll found that only 37 percent of New Yorkers rated public safety in their neighborhood as excellent or good, a decline of 50 percent from six years ago.
Salem said: ‘With new developments you don’t have to worry about people sitting on your doorstep, you don’t have to worry about people looking through your window and it’s just a better way of life when it comes to safety, while crime increases. New York.
“They also have amenities, from dog spas to movie theaters, that make it a much easier way to live than dealing with the mansion.”
Herman Weisberg, a former NYPD detective who now heads the security consultancy Sage Intelligence Group, told the New York Post that his clients living in mansions have spent more than $50,000 on security upgrades.
In addition to installing reinforced doors and windows, Weisberg said the super-rich will pay $100 an hour for 24-hour security, or share the cost with their neighbors.
‘Suppose there are twelve families in a block and each of them has a driver. All they have to do is leave one of the drivers on overnight and rotate it,” he said.
‘That’s how you divide it. The driver can call 911 in real time, instead of waiting for a security cameraman who probably got up to get coffee when the man dressed all in black sneaked in through the basement window.”
Weisberg said some wealthy mansion owners have gone the extra mile and requested high-end panic rooms with a price tag of $30,000.
“Since COVID, we’ve created a number of panic rooms in townhouses,” Weisberg said.
“They don’t look like panic rooms, but offices, complete with walls full of books, beautiful desks and mahogany walls. We amplify everything and add all the flashy stuff like secondary communications and battery packs that almost look like a Tesla battery.
“And it’s funny: half of my clients love to show their panic room to their friends and the other half want it to be so that no one will ever know it’s a panic room.” Those are my smarter customers.’
Jaclyn Bellini (pictured), 26, moved from a doorman building in Columbus Circle to a stroll in the West Village, but misses the extra security she had
The wealthy are moving out of mansions and into gatehouses because of concerns about crime
“It’s much harder to break into a doorman building with a secure elevator entrance than it is to break into a window in the middle of the street,” Salem says.
Patricia Heller, 73, bought a penthouse in Midtown East in 2004. She said she didn’t even consider a townhouse when she wanted to buy real estate in Manhattan because of the guaranteed security
Some longtime residents of New York City have always preferred to live in a gatehouse, that is, if they could afford it.
Doormen are considered a luxury, with tenants often charging a higher rent to offset the cost of having the entrance to the building patrolled.
On average, residents of doorman buildings pay 12 percent more in fees than residents of walk-ups City real estate.
Patricia Heller, 73, bought a penthouse in Midtown East in 2004, years before the city’s crime resurgence. She said she hadn’t even considered a townhouse when she wanted to buy real estate in Manhattan.
“Doormen are the only way to go. Once you get a doorman, you can never go back,” she said.
She doesn’t think it’s unreasonable for the ultra-wealthy to pay for 24-hour security.
“If I lived in a wealthy mansion, I would pay anything to know my safety was assured,” she said. “Unless someone is watching the cameras 24/7, your safety is not guaranteed.”
Jaclyn Bellini, 26, a global equity finance sales executive at a major bank, moved from a doorman building in Columbus Circle to walk in the West Village.
Although she decided to move because of the location, she said, “My building has cameras, but if someone were to follow me home now, I wouldn’t have the same protection I had.”
Alejandra Sanchez, 36, is a professional chef who had lived in three different locations between Astoria and the East Village during her ten years in New York. She said she suffered from severe anxiety all night due to the lack of security at her building.
“When I moved to my second apartment in Astoria, the fire escape was at street level and led straight to our bedrooms,” she said. “Even though Astoria is a relatively safe area, I still couldn’t fall asleep unless my roommate was home.”
Sanchez said her neighbor once used the fire escape to climb through the building’s window when they were locked out. Then she realized that strangers could do just that.
And when crime started to increase, Sanchez began taking drastic measures to ensure her safety.
“I used to sleep with a hammer next to my bed,” she said. “That experience really scared me.”
When the opportunity arose to move into a reasonably priced gatehouse, she didn’t have to think long about signing the lease.
“What you’re paying for is peace of mind,” she said. “The perception of safety is there, even though I’m not there.”
Joe Giovengo, 48, senior vice president of ad sales at Sony, said he believes safety issues are cyclical and that the recent increase in crime in New York City is a direct result of the economy, city politics and the mental health crisis.
“There is a big gap between rich and poor, and the rich need to take extra measures to ensure they feel safe.”
Joe Giovengo (pictured), 48, said he believes safety issues are cyclical and that the recent increase in crime in New York City is a direct result of the economy, city politics and the mental health crisis.
Alexis Ancel (pictured), 27, said she would have liked to live in a doorman building but couldn’t afford it, but she hasn’t had any problems living in a walk-up
However, Kevin Wilemski, 26, a social media coordinator for Barstool Sports, said he recently left his doorman building to cut costs.
“It’s much cheaper to live in a building without a doorman,” he said. “Doorman may be good at preventing package theft, but if someone wants to commit a violent crime against me, is a doorman really going to stop them?”
Alexis Ancel, 27, an operations manager for a start-up, added that while she would like to live in a gatehouse if she could afford it, despite the panic among Manhattan’s wealthiest, she doesn’t feel uncomfortable.
“The only reason I don’t live in a gatehouse is so I can afford it,” Ancel said. ‘Packages sometimes get stolen, but other than that I love my building and I never feel unsafe.’