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The winner in particular has 55 units (40% affordable/subsidized) with apartments that range from 250-375 sq ft and:
•Includes a gym
•Laundry room
•Nine to ten foot ceilings
•Juliette balconies
•Social/Entertainment spaces on most floors
•A deck
•Multi-purpose lounge for dinners and events
•Bike storage
•General storage area
•Rooftop garden/patio
•Ground floor retail (A cafe in this case)
•Multiple use primary room (Hybrid Living/Bedroom)
•Storage innovations in each unit
In an urban, very dense, prime location neighborhood. Built adjacent to SBS (BRT) bus service and nearby walking distance to a subway station, and tons of amenities like restaurants, museums, schools, nightlife, parks, ect.
The winner in particular has 55 units (40% affordable/subsidized) with apartments that range from 250-375 sq ft and:
•Includes a gym
•Laundry room
•Nine to ten foot ceilings
•Juliette balconies
•Social/Entertainment spaces on most floors
•A deck
•Multi-purpose lounge for dinners and events
•Bike storage
•General storage area
•Rooftop garden/patio
•Ground floor retail (A cafe in this case)
•Multiple use primary room (Hybrid Living/Bedroom)
•Storage innovations in each unit
In an urban, very dense, prime location neighborhood. Built adjacent to SBS (BRT) bus service and nearby walking distance to a subway station, and tons of amenities like restaurants, museums, schools, nightlife, parks, ect.
Thoughts?
Great solution for those who want to live urban, are young and have few possessions, do not want a lot of space to maintain and ony require their abode be in the middle of the thick of things. I can't imagine why someone woukd object to these being built.
The winner in particular has 55 units (40% affordable/subsidized) with apartments that range from 250-375 sq ft and:
•Includes a gym
•Laundry room
•Nine to ten foot ceilings
•Juliette balconies
•Social/Entertainment spaces on most floors
•A deck
•Multi-purpose lounge for dinners and events
•Bike storage
•General storage area
•Rooftop garden/patio
•Ground floor retail (A cafe in this case)
•Multiple use primary room (Hybrid Living/Bedroom)
•Storage innovations in each unit
In an urban, very dense, prime location neighborhood. Built adjacent to SBS (BRT) bus service and nearby walking distance to a subway station, and tons of amenities like restaurants, museums, schools, nightlife, parks, ect.
Thoughts?
What is the rent per month and/or cost per square foot?
What is the rent per month and/or cost per square foot?
[the critical question]
"Affordable" units range from $940 to $1800 per month with income caps. The other 60% are only listed as market rate. Keep in mind:
•Rent controlled apartments reduce the area median contract rent.
•High end luxury apartments increase the area median contract rent.
•In this community, zip code 10016, studios are hard to find.
•The average contract rent in Manhattan is now $3,418.
•Consider the available amenities you find inside the building.
•New construction.
At the moment, New York City has 1.8 million one and two-person households, but only has one million studios and one-bedroom apartments. And according to the city’s projections, the population is expected to grow by 900,000 residents by 2030, and most of those residents won’t be part of traditional nuclear families.
Consider the following statistics determined by the American Community Survey in 2009:
•33 percent of New Yorkers live alone
•24 percent of NYC households share their home with an additional adult or family
•9 percent of New York City households are single parents with children under 25
•17 percent of NYC households are a couple living alone, with no children
•17 percent of NYC households are a nuclear family with children under 25
"Affordable" units range from $940 to $1800 per month with income caps. The other 60% are only listed as market rate. Keep in mind:
•Rent controlled apartments reduce the area median contract rent.
•High end luxury apartments increase the area median contract rent.
•In this community, zip code 10016, studios are hard to find.
•The average contract rent in Manhattan is now $3,418.
•Consider the available amenities you find inside the building.
•New construction.
My monthly house payment is about $1200. I have 1945SF of space which matches or exceeds the attributes in red:
Quote:
•Includes a gym
•Laundry room
•Nine to ten foot ceilings
•Juliette balconies
•Social/Entertainment spaces on most floors
•A deck
•Multi-purpose lounge for dinners and events
•Bike storage
•General storage area
•Rooftop garden/patio
•Ground floor retail (A cafe in this case)
•Multiple use primary room (Hybrid Living/Bedroom)
•Storage innovations in each unit
The other attributes are inconsequential.
[i probably doesn't help that I hate studio apartments]
My monthly house payment is about $1200. I have 1945SF of space which matches or exceeds the attributes in red:
The other attributes are inconsequential.
[i probably doesn't help that I hate studio apartments]
Your neighborhood doesn't compare in land value, so obviously it's much cheaper.
Your comparing apples and oranges. The type of people who would move into these micro-apartments are singles and couples not seeking a home in Southern California. They want a car free, walkable, diverse, dense, energetic urban neighborhood with an unlimited number of nearby cultural, nightlife, restaurants, museums, schools, ect. Most of those structural amenities I pointed out are normally only found in newer high end luxury condos here.
Comparing the afforded by someone else rent levels on these micro-apartments to market rent is irrelevant. All that matters from a public policy standpoint is what the real cost of them is, which is generally quite expensive. As an example, the Maydestone Apartments was refabbed with $4.6 million in public money, half of which ($2.3 million) forgiveable loan and the other half a low-interest loan. It's a 32-unit building, so that's $72,000 in gift money and another $72,000 in low-interest loans. Rents range from $700-1500 with most of the units being very small (300 sq foot range). It's not all that difficult to find market rate apartments in the area for $700/month. Given, they won't be nearly as nice... but given the shortage of welfare housing funds, I question the point in giving away $72,000 per unit and tying up another $72,000 per unit to provide welfare housing that has the same rents as market rate apartments in the same area.
San Francisco has a pilot project for 220 sq. foot apartments with rents ball-parked in the $1200-$1500 range. It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure I really see the appeal.
Your neighborhood doesn't compare in land value, so obviously it's much cheaper.
Your comparing apples and oranges. The type of people who would move into these micro-apartments are singles and couples not seeking a home in Southern California. They want a car free, walkable, diverse, dense, energetic urban neighborhood with an unlimited number of nearby cultural, nightlife, restaurants, museums, schools, ect. Most of those structural amenities I pointed out are normally only found in newer high end luxury condos here.
Fair enough. But I'm single and can be in downtown LA in about 1.5 hours if I needed to (and I have done this many times without issue); I'll take the orange over the apple anytime.
Without comment on subsidy and what a better deal it is to live somewhere 90 minutes away:
I've seen some very creative designs for this type of place. The small square footage serves as an inspiration to use every available inch, and also as a deterrent to accumulate lots of stuff.
I once lived in a ~125 sq foot place in a renovated SRO hotel. It was not fancy but laid out in such a way that it wasn't cramped for one person. I really liked it.
It's all about location. Would I live in such a place in downtown Ames Iowa? No. San Francisco? Sure. It's a good way for folks who are perhaps fans of spartan living already to spend within their means and still get to live where they want.
Those are some pretty clever ideas; kinda makes me want to go minimalist.
My first apartment out of college was 15 x 20, not counting the bathroom -- which, ironically, was the largest bathroom I've ever had.
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