This was a bicycle mobility promotion concept I tried to sell to one of the DC area's biggest apartment managers*, to no avail

* They are also a big developer

====
After the failure trying to push this idea of what I call "bike provision" -- the bundling of a bike, lock, and helmet into a lease for an apartment, along with some sort of on-site access to bike maintenance and high quality bicycle parking -- to a major apartment development and management firm, located on a multi-use trail, starting in 2011, but with a couple of iterations later, I was really pissed to (1) go to an Urban Land Institute presentation and see the mention of a related program in Seattle; (2) followed by the publication of a report by the Urban Land Institute on best practice bicycle related elements in development projects, Active Transportation and Real Estate: The Next Frontier. (Although the Seattle project did do one thing I didn't suggest, was to include extra large elevators, the better to accommodate bikes.)

... I struggle over thinking that I must just be absolutely terrible at explaining things (selling), because I push ideas to seemingly leading, innovative companies and they don't bite.

Although I did learn some important stuff about (1) how when you try to talk to a company about this in advance of ground breaking it's too early; (2) by the time they're ready to talk about it, near the end of construction, it's too late; (3) especially because of how they contract for interior finishings, e.g., bike racks are "metal" and they contract with one firm to do "all the metal"; and (4) by that time, various buildings may be sold off even though they are managed under one name and management firm, but each new owner needs to sign off on something like this and usually they aren't in the mental innovation position of being able to do so.

... Notions Capital calls our attention to the new Wheelhouse Apartments building in Baltimore, ("Rent an apartment, get a bike: Baltimore developers pitch a new, carless way to live," Baltimore Sun). From the article:

When tenants begin signing leases for apartments in the Wheelhouse in Federal Hill this July, the landlord plans to give them a bike along with the keys.

The developer of the 28-unit, five-story complex on South Charles Street, 28 Walker, hopes to discourage tenants from even owning cars and needing a place to park.

“We’re taking a step further than providing a bike room,” said Scott Slosson, development director for 28 Walker. “We’re giving everyone a bike.” Slosson said that will remove “a major barrier for people who maybe just moved here, haven’t ridden in awhile, want a bike but don’t know what to buy. ...We don’t think anyone living here will have a car.”

Around the country, developers like 28 Walker have decided it’s good business to build close to bike lanes and trails, as well as public transit. Their buildings often offer places to store, fix and wash bicycles as amenities beyond a pool, pool table — or parking space.

Ironically, the same company I am complaining about had two projects in Baltimore around the same time, for which I also suggested this kind of implementation.

All of the projects were a minimum of 10x larger than the Wheelhouse Apartments.

I've also made the same suggestion to some big public/social housing operators too, with a similar lack of understanding/response.