A Look at Boston’s First Sky Cabanas

A Pierce Boston sky cabana / Photo courtesy of Samuels & Associates

A good view of the Boston skyline is priceless, right?

In Pierce Boston‘s case, it’s a mere $300,000 or so. The luxury apartment complex that’s slated to be completed in 2018 just began marketing a new feature to its future residents—sky cabanas.

The precious rooftop space of the 30-story tower is being divvied up: one side will offer an outdoor pool and lounge, and the other will contain 12 glass-enclosed spaces. While these spaces are called sky cabanas, they’re not actually huts with roofs. Instead, the 150- to 250-square foot cubes offer open-air, sweeping views of the city.

The first of their kind in Boston, the cabanas come with a wet bar, complete with a refrigerator and sink. Owners are tasked with choosing their patio furniture, whether that’s a set of chaise lounges, a seating area, or a table and chairs.

Pierce Boston’s units go for anywhere from $1 million to beyond $6 million. When the Boston Globe first reported Pierce’s introduction of sky cabanas, the newspaper noted the 16-by-16-foot pods’ prices per square foot aren’t too far off from the unit prices themselves. The cabanas range from $300,000 to $350,000, with the larger corner units commanding higher prices. And while the square spaces are indeed expensive, four of them have already been purchased.

Leslie Cohen, COO at Samuels & Associates, says creating the sky cabanas was a way for Pierce Boston to differentiate itself.

“How do we deliver something different and unique here…and create an urban oasis?” she says of the initial thought process.

She notes the importance of offering an outdoor amenity to buyers who are downsizing from the suburbs, where outdoor space was more plentiful.

“People, especially in New England, really crave open space because our season is so limited,” she says.

For when it’s not so balmy, the cabanas are winterized to prevent frozen pipes in the wet bars. There’s also a space where the furniture can be stored away in the off season.

Sure, $300,000 could nab a reasonably sized house in the suburbs, or even contribute to half of a Beacon Hill parking spot, but these novel floating lounges offer up ownership of the airspace overlooking Fenway. Why pay for a ground-level abode when the sky’s the limit?

A Pierce Boston unit / Photo courtesy of Samuels & Associates