Socially-distanced Santa: one Miami development has modified it’s annual holiday pop-up.
Francisco Aguila
With more people staying home for the holidays, some high-end residential developments are going all out on their holiday amenities, while making sure they’re safe and socially distanced.
In New York City, for example, the luxury condo 50 West is creating its own Elf on the Shelf scavenger hunt, providing winter holiday boxes with hot chocolate kits, holding a building-wide sugar cookie decorating contest and socially-distanced Sufganiyot event and holding a building-wide Secret Santa.
At nearby luxury rental 525 West 52nd Street, residents can take part in a grab-and-go holiday happy hour, complete with cheese and charcuterie and dessert in mason jars.
In Miami, the Reach and Rise Residences at Brickell City Centre is still hosting its annual “Santa’s Post Office” pop-up through December 24. Residents of the mixed-use development recently had a day to exclusively take pictures with Santa at a COVID-19-mandated 8 feet away.
Christa Dabkowski, vice president of marketing for Swire Properties, the developers behind Brickell City Centre’s Reach and Rise residential towers, said the property has changed its traditional holiday celebrations to focus on its local residents.
“Specifically, with COVID-19 impacting international tourism – which typically is a huge traffic and sales driver in this region, particularly taking into account that so many Latin American families make their homes here for good parts of the year, particularly winter – we really needed to rethink our holiday programming,” Dabkowski says. “Our focus is our foundational audience – those who live and work in Brickell. As a mixed-use lifestyle centre, our residents – who literally live atop the retail – are our family and want, more than ever, for their home to be everything they need. As such, we’ve instituted things like private nights with Santa, with one family at a time, in our innovative, socially-distant Santa’s Post Office experience, as well as ways to support local small businesses with our rotating ‘Holiday Pop-Ins.’ In short, no one has to go far to get a little holiday magic.”
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Residents of Drewery Place in Houston will have a social event as last year, but the developers are making it an outdoor street party.
“We had a Christmas celebration last year for the residents, it’s great for them to meet their neighbors,” says Emma Alexander, acting chief operating officer and director of sales and marketing for Drewery Place developer Caydon. “Celebrating this year is even more important we believe because it’s been such a tough, tumultuous year for so many due to COVID. It’s nice to have something to look forward to, even if you do have to social distance.”