“This new tool that Google has created will be an extremely valuable resource for those of us who work in the world of real estate,” says Mignosi. “Tours has given us the ability to virtually allow an individual to immerse themselves in a space without physically seeing it. They can easily move around in a unit or building, explore the highlights, and then share the experience with their peers.”

He adds, “In New York, leasing an apartment can be a very stressful time. Renters typically have small windows of availability for touring places, so we do our best to get them the information they need before they even set up a tour. This helps our leasing team get a better understanding of what the prospective renter is looking for before they walk into our buildings.”

The developer will launch the tool at Sky, its 71-story, luxury rental apartment located at 605 W. 42nd St. The building's website lists rents ranging from a studio priced at $3,220 up to a one bedroom at $4795. The Moinian Group next plans to use Tour Creator at Oskar, its newest luxury rental building at 572 Eleventh Ave. Move-ins for that building are scheduled to begin this spring. The developer will then implement the tool for viewing its entire real estate platform, across the country.

In addition to offering a virtual reality experience with the lenses or headsets, the tool allows sharing tours with a unique URL. The Moinian Group can embed the videos directly on the properties' websites, and host them on Google Poly.

The Google technology is free for both The Moinian Group and any viewers. This is one of several of the real estate firm's technology partnerships. Through its technology investment arm, Currency M. Companies, it has invested in the co-living startup Ollie, the flexible office space provider Knotel, and on-demand painting start-up Paintzen.