War has come to Boston.

It’s not a war fought with tanks, planes, bullets and bombs. Instead, it’s a non-conventional war waged with doggie spas, rooftop cabanas, media-entertainment centers and private lounges with catering kitchens. It’s a war for the hearts, souls and wallets of Bostonians seeking luxury living.

“It’s an amenities war,” said Sue Hawkes, managing director of The Collaborative Companies, a Boston real estate design and development firm in the thick of the burgeoning and evolving luxury living market in the city and surrounding communities.

So-called luxury living used to entail swanky new residential buildings with 24/7 concierge service, valet parking, a small fitness center and perhaps the occasional dog walker to take the family pet for a stroll down the street.

But with the recent flood of new and proposed residential apartments and condominium buildings coming on line in Boston, the competition for renters and buyers has only intensified in recent years – and thus the introduction of residential amenities not previously seen in Boston.

Of course, there’s now the almost standard “doggie spas” now being built within new residential buildings, from the soon-to-open Pierce Boston in the Fenway to the recently opened One Greenway near Chinatown to the planned One Dalton tower to be managed by Four Seasons in the Back Bay. (Yes, they really are called dog spas, though they’re more like small shower rooms with tubs for precious pooches to freshen up.)

Creating Community

But today’s in-building amenities are much more than carving out closet-size space for dog baths or special mail rooms to receive all types of delivered goods in this Amazon era.

It’s now about dedicating thousands of square feet, sometimes even tens of thousands of square feet, within buildings for shared common areas that serve as private cocktail lounges, dining rooms, libraries, media-entertainment rooms, office centers and other exclusive places where residents can hang out together or alone, if they so wish. Rooftops are being converted into outdoor lounges, even privately owned cabanas, such as those planned for Pierce Boston.

Jim Kelleher, chief investment officer at New Boston Fund, developer of the 217-unit One Greenway at 99 Kneeland St., said residents are now expecting nothing but the best for the high rents and prices they pay for sometimes lush accommodations.

But he also said there are practical economic reasons for the escalation of amenities within buildings. Chief among them: The cost of construction has risen too high for individual apartment renters and condo buyers who can’t afford all the bells and whistles within individual units, so developers are offering more shared common spaces for use by residents. Thus the spike in private lounges, work stations, TV and cocktail lounges, rooftop pools and cabanas, and other amenities within buildings, including, yes, doggie spas.

“All apartments are getting slightly smaller because construction costs have risen so much,” said Kelleher. “When you make apartments smaller, amenities become more and more important to residents and developers.”

Amy Korte, a principal at Arrowstreet, a Boston-based architecture, interior design and graphic design firm, said designers and developers struggle with how best to maximize the income from apartment rents or condo sales – while at the same time offering enough shared in-building amenities to attract and keep residents.

“It’s a constant balancing act,” said Korte, whose firm is now involved with the planning and design of the future 304-unit Parcel K residential building near the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion (previously the Bank of America Pavilion) in Boston’s Seaport area.

But just when you think there couldn’t possibly be more amenities squeezed into new residential buildings, along comes Dick Friedman and his now under-construction, 61-story One Dalton project near the Christian Science complex in Boston’s Back Bay.

“We’re going to be at a completely different level,” said Friedman, head of Carpenter & Company Inc., the lead developer of One Dalton, which will have hotel rooms, apartments and condos, all managed by Four Seasons. “It’s going be like something you only see in New York, London and Hong Kong.”

And he rattles off a long list of amenities at the future One Dalton: private elevators; private restaurant and club; a swimming pool with sauna, spa and massage room; a golf simulation room; a full theater; private terraces; work and office centers; 24/7 room and concierge services; and, yes, a dog spa.

“Whatever someone needs, their needs will be met,” Friedman said. “We’re dealing in a very rarified atmosphere.”