Virtual reality provides tours of Queens units -- before they're built
FLUSHING, N.Y. (WABC) -- This experience is like none you've had before when it comes to buying a condominium.
3-D technology now can bring to life what it would be like in one of several units in a new Flushing complex, The Grand at Sky View Parc.
It is part of selling the 21-story glass tower of 235 units -- the first of three towers being built in what is the largest mixed-use development in the city.
The first phase has been occupied since 2012, and includes a large retail space.
Helen Lee, sales director for the project, offers an elaborate sensory experience using the 3-D technology - even though the living spaces do not exist yet.
It includes a virtual reality tour of units as though they are already there. Customers can "visit" a large-scale model, and various condo layouts, studio through four-bedrooms. Units range from $500,000 to just over $2 million.
"We want the buyer to get the most knowledge...before they make the purchase," said Lee.
Potential buyers wear a special oculus and can "visit" the courtyard, swimming pool, a balcony and various units. They can take in the view as well as the floor-to-ceiling windows.
It can be dizzying as customers sense the layout, the design features and views that await.
Seventy-five percent of the units in tower one are spoken for, generating $100 million in sales, even though only the support structure for the building has been constructed.
"We want the experience to be different," Lee said. "We want the experience to be one of a kind."
The second and third towers won't open for two more years, and Onex expects sales of those units to move quickly -- in part, Lee said, because the ability to provide tours of various units in a new world of virtual reality.
