New apartment buildings accommodate pets, owners

New apartment buildings accommodate pets, owners

DES MOINES (AP) — Rebekah Mabrey's greyhound Otis lumbered around the oval dog park at Cityville on 9th Wednesday evening, hardly acknowledging the energetic French bulldog nipping at its legs.

Mabrey moved into Cityville this summer when her nursing job brought her to Des Moines. The downtown apartment came with many of the amenities upscale apartment developers now offer — a club room, a theater, granite counter tops — but the fenced dog park was the major selling point for Mabrey.

'I can never let her off the leash because if she sees a rabbit or a squirrel she gets tunnel vision and I'll never get her back,' she said, petting the subdued, musclebound dog. 'I mean, she can run like 40 miles an hour.'

Not long ago, landlords shunned pets, worried about scratched floors, stained carpets and late-night barking.

The Des Moines Register reports that as more renters, especially younger generations, arrive with pets, apartment developers are finding it's good business not only to allow animals but to build amenities catering specifically to pet owners.

Hubbell Realty Co., which developed Cityville, says more than a third of the tenants in its pet-friendly apartments have animals.

'Am I going to turn away 35 percent of my market?' said Kris Saddoris, Hubbell's vice president of development.

'That doesn't make any sense at all, so of course it makes business sense' to cater to pet owners.

High-end apartment and condo buildings in New York, Chicago and other major markets have added pet salons and doggy daycare facilities in hopes of luring wealthy, pet-loving tenants. Increasingly, the trend is taking root in smaller markets like Des Moines.

The first phase of Cityville, which opened last year, included a dog park. The second phase under construction now will include a pet wash station — a shower room where tenants can clean their pets without drenching their own bathrooms.

The Des Moines Building, an apartment complex renovated from a 1930s office building in the heart of downtown, includes a rooftop dog park lined with artificial turf recycled from a football field.

Bici Flats, an apartment complex planned near the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, will include a dog park and a dog wash room.

Harbach Lofts, an apartment complex being renovated from two old furniture manufacturing buildings, also will include a dog wash room.

'If you can add an amenity like the pet washing station, it's all about trying to provide what the market wants and needs,' said Kent Mauck, an owner of Harbarch Lofts.

By appealing to pet owners, apartment developers are tapping into a growing market. Some 65 percent of U.S. households, or nearly 80 million homes, own at least one pet. That's up from 56 percent of households in 1988, according to the American Pet Products Association.

Millennials — the generation of people roughly 18 to 35 years old — are helping drive the demand for pet-friendly rentals. Stunted by the recession and more prone to change jobs and cities than their elders, millennials have put off homeownership, marriage and children longer than previous generations.

Pets, though, are coming earlier. On average, millennial pet-owners get their first pet as an adult at age 21, compared with age 29 for baby boomers, according to Wakefield Research.

For apartment developers, attracting tenants with pets can help the bottom line. Apartment owners legally can't charge tenants extra for having children, but they can for pets. Most charge a pet deposit and a monthly pet fee.

Mabrey put down a $250 deposit and pays $50 a month extra to keep Otis. She adopted the former race dog from a shelter. 'It's worth it,' she said of the fees.

Alexander Grgurich is a development analyst with Nelson Construction and Development, which owns the Des Moines Building and is developing Bici Flats. The company charges similar pet fees, and while it hasn't conducted an in-depth analysis, it seems the fees at least cover the cost of allowing pets, he said. 'The reason why you wouldn't want to have pets is damage to the building and we haven't seen that,' Grgurich said. 'Overall, I think it's a good business move.'

A dog park is cheaper to build than a pool or a clubhouse, and for many pet owners it is a more attractive amenity, Grgurich said. Dog parks offer the kind of communal activity many millennial renters are seeking.

'It's very social activity to have a dog park,' Grgurich said. 'That's the thing our tenants are wanting, not just the ability to have their pets in their apartments, but a community where they can meet people who have a shared interest.'

No data were available on what portion of Des Moines area rentals allow pets, but apartment developers say it is becoming more common.

Dog parks and other pet-friendly amenities not only attract tenants but also help keep them longer, apartment managers say. For many pet owners, though, finding a rental is still a challenge. The lack of affordable, pet-friendly housing is the second most common reason, behind only behavioral problems, that people bring pets to the Animal Rescue League of Iowa's shelter.

Many of the new apartments being built in Des Moines advertise as pet friendly, but most have weight restrictions or don't allow certain breeds like pit bull terriers, said Stephanie Filer, a spokeswoman for the ARL of Iowa.