Exclusive | Splashy outdoor pools are coming to NYC rentals luring tenants with resort-style hangouts

The hottest amenity in New York City’s luxury rental market is making a big splash this summer.Developers and landlords across the five boroughs are crowning their projects with bigger and better outdoor pools.Long a staple in high-end city living, it’s now must-have feature for high-end apartment seekers who are increasingly willing to sign a lease — or walk away from one — based solely on whether their building comes with a place to swim in the sky.The latest entrant making the biggest waves is Sky Three Residences Club.

The sprawling new luxury rental complex in Brighton Beach, just 8 minutes from Coney Island, boasts a saltwater rooftop pool clocking in at a nice 2,600 square feet.That being said, its developers say this is the largest residential pool in all of Brooklyn.The 500-unit complex, which spans over 1 million square feet, launched last November and is already more than 30% leased, according to Aaron Polinsky, a principal at Cammeby’s International and Rybak Development, the partnership behind the project.The property occupies what was once a Trump family-owned site that Cammeby’s purchased in 2004 before redeveloping the West Brighton neighborhood.Rents run from roughly $3,500 to $4,000 a month for one-bedrooms, $4,000 to $5,000 for two-bedrooms, and $5,000 and above for three-bedrooms — a pricing structure the developer touts as roughly half what comparable luxury product fetches in Gowanus or the Hudson Yards corridor.“We wanted it to feel and to be viewed as a high-end experience,” Polinsky said.

A shallow shelf built into one lane of the pool is designed for young children, watched over by two lifeguards.The pool sits on the building’s fifth-floor wellness level, with Atlantic Ocean views stretching in one direction and the skyline — from downtown to Midtown to the Verrazano Bridge — in the other.The amenity suite surrounding the pool spans 100,000 square feet and includes a quarter-mile outdoor running track, a hammam sp...