Was your bowling lane born in a PR conference room?

Over drinks last spring, an exec at one of the city's better-known real estate PR firms confessed that during the boom, she and her colleagues spent many hours brainstorming the amenities that would make the biggest media splash for a new development: Developers preferred that calculus to the potential effect on unit owners' common charges down the road.   CurbedNY's "Amenity Deathmatch" poll,  asking readers to vote on which condo--15 Broad (downtown) or The Aldyn (UWS) has the better bowling lane --reminds us of that conversation. In Curbed's "building vs. building showdown based solely on the things that drive up maintenance costs and never get used," The Aldyn has received 76% of the votes for best lane at last check. 

One commenter rejects the notion that bowling alleys, pools and other amenities drive up prices: "I live at 15 Broad, and can tell you that the maintenance costs are very reasonable..Try finding another building in NYC where maintenance is less than $1 sq/ft.. while having an elevator, doormen, Pool, Jacuzzi, Bowling Alley, Steam room, squash court, movie theater, Gym, and basketball court, and a 5000+ sq/ft common roof deck.."