Posted on 12/28/2015 6:14:00 AM PST by C19fan
The apartments in a new Manhattan building boast little balconies, tall ceilings, dishwashers and storage space. All in 360 square feet or less. It's micro-living in the nation's biggest city, and New Yorkers could be seeing more of it. Planning officials are proposing to end a limit on how small apartments can be, opening the door for more "micro-apartments" that advocates see as affordable adaptations to a growing population of single people. Critics fear a turn back toward the city's tenement past and question whether less space will really mean less expensive.
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Yeah, I don*t see what*s the big deal. If people want them they will sell.
These things are more like living in an officers ward room in a submarine than an apartment. Three or four days a week while one works in the city might make it bearable though. Some designs to look at would be interesting.
I believe they are doing this in Hongcouver and Tranna.
It had been suggested for Calgary, but with a socialist government on both Ottawa and Edmonton, coupled with where oil is, and will remain for a long time, housing will soon become ‘cheap’ in Calgary without ‘micro-apartments.
My first home was 800 square feet. Cute little Cape Cod style. I see it once in a great while if I’m in Madistan Proper. It looks like a little doll house to me, now!
I don’t mind a small house...coupled with a LOT of land! :)
My wife and I joke about putting a tiny house out in the yard, just so I can "get away" every now and then to watch ballgames, smoke cigars, and scratch myself.
Also, the article mentions the desk that folds out to a dining table for 12. I think that type of furniture is ingenious.
True.
But you might add, if the political class thinks it will benefit them, they will provide the “micro-apartments” for whomever will swear allegiance (votes) to them.
Keeping the perspective, I believe the standard two car garage is 400 square feet.
I presently live in a 800 sq ft apartment (in retirement), and don’t see an issue with something in that range of maybe 500 sq ft. The one positive is heat and cooling will be lesser of an issue, and you won’t waste much money on extra furniture.
The only problem with traditional SRO hotels was the clientele they tended to attract. Upscale, yuppie SRO’s will do just fine. For people crazy enough to live and work in NYC. And until their self-discipline cracks, they buy a couple of books and a spare pair of sock, and need more space.
I rented a 300-square-foot apartment for 15 years. It was fine for me, but I gave it up when I got married and we moved into a 700-square-foot house. Small is OK, though we both tend to keep too much stuff.
Howard Roarke designed those many decades ago.
I think these would be a good thing for single people who dont want to live with a bunch of strangers.
The price is ridiculous but that is the price you pay if you want to live in NYC.
Japan is another place these would work.
Admittedly, if you grew up in other parts of the US there might be psychological issues dealing with living in that cramped of a space.
I couldn’t do it. I lived in a dorm for two years in college. But after I graduated and became an adult making it out there on my own- there would be no way.
I work in Manhattan and commute to a home in the suburbs with the three-car garage, acres of land and all the taxes and expense that goes with it. But if I was young and single again, I would love to live here in a tiny space and I wouldn't even want a car (too much trouble).
800 square feet is indeed quite ample. I live in a hundred year old row house with just over 800 square feet per floor. We have three floors, including the finished basement. Back in the day, there were five apartments in the building. A single person could live quite comfortably on one floor. A couple would do it if they got along well. Two or three kids and a dog would be a little tight, but people used to do it.
I’m with you. I did it years ago and it was a TOTAL BLAST. Given our smaller electronics and not much need for paper, it is VERY EASY to live in a small apartment, particularly when you don’t have a car to deal with. It was the time of my life - even if it is a left-wing city.
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