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MI developer 'struck oil' with micro-apartments
http://www.constructiondive.com/news/mi-developer-struck-oil-with-micro-apartments/408817/ | November 9, 2015 | Kim Slowey |

Posted on 11/12/2015 5:44:56 AM PST by equaviator

The Grand Rapids, MI, planning commission — which sees small apartments as a way to alleviate the city's affordable housing shortage — is adding the term "micro-unit" to its zoning ordinances and allowing developers to provide less vehicle parking than usually required in exchange for building them. Developers, however, must provide two bicycle parking spaces per unit.

Micro-units, the planning commission’s solution for people who make too much money to qualify for subsidized rent yet not enough to afford new, market-rate apartment, must be 475 square feet or smaller and be incorporated into a mixed-use commercial building, according to MLive.

Developers in Grand Rapids are already seeing high demand for the small apartments, in some cases advertised as "artist lofts" by developers. Max Benedict of Third Coast Development told MLive that seeing the response for the company's two available micro-units in downtown Grand Rapids was like "striking oil."

Providing developer incentives to build micro-units is "a market-based approach to get at affordable housing because if you're paying by square-footage, the smaller the unit the less you're going to pay," Suzanne Schulz, city planning director, told MLive.

"In an urban context,” she said, “your social life is outside your unit," she said. "(Your home) is a place to rest your head and maybe make a bowl of cereal."

Micro-homes, be it small apartments or tiny houses, are becoming the go-to affordable housing solution in many cities. Portland, OR, and Hawaii have both seen micro-apartment developments this year, and the tiny house movement is on the rise with lawmakers in Missouri, New Jersey and Washington, DC considering loosening regulations for, and sometimes encouraging the construction of, the smaller living spaces.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: 3rdcoastdevelopment; grandrapids; maxbenedict; michigan; microunit; microunits; thirdcoast
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To: equaviator
Living in such close quarters will almost certainly be conducive to there being less fighting, fewer arguments and squabbles over money and the prospect of having children, especially after the first five years...Am I right?


61 posted on 11/12/2015 7:45:11 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: equaviator

Ted Kaczynski would have loved it.


62 posted on 11/12/2015 7:47:07 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: DUMBGRUNT
From the Dan Ryan expressway the burn and smoke marks was visible on most of the upper units.

I remember seeing the row of those Robert Taylor high-rises along the Dan Ryan during my military assignment at MEPCOM in North Chicago in the early 1990s. My wife's family is from the Kankakee area and when we'd travel down there we'd hope and pray the car didn't break down. The was the era before cell phones.

And yep.. I remember seeing the burn residue from some windows. What a friggin' mess.

Also (and you might remember this too), I was told the part of Comiskey Park facing RTH had to be enclosed because some of the "residents" were shooting from the upper floors into the stadium.

63 posted on 11/12/2015 7:49:35 AM PST by ScottinVA (If you're not enraged...why?)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Write him a letter and ask him how much he likes it now.


64 posted on 11/12/2015 7:50:57 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
Capsule hotel!

Good God.. that looks like the makings of a mausoleum.

65 posted on 11/12/2015 7:54:42 AM PST by ScottinVA (If you're not enraged...why?)
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To: ScottinVA

I had heard many versions of the Comiskey targets story, never knew if it was factual?

One of the projects near a factory with large refrigeration units on the roof, a favored target for the locals!

Putting a hole in a copper refrigerant coil produces a large plume of freon!
Oh how exciting!

They mounted plate barriers on the side next to CHA building.


66 posted on 11/12/2015 8:01:35 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT (BINGO!)
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To: equaviator
For the low, low price of $350K, you can buy this little beauty near downtown San Francisco. Single family home living in the heart of the city -- what's not to love? /s


67 posted on 11/12/2015 8:05:55 AM PST by ScottinVA (If you're not enraged...why?)
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To: ScottinVA

Also Ed Vrdolyak, a Chicago heavy hitter attempted to move the CHA offices to the vacant upper floors of Taylor Homes!

For many years the CHA population would have made it the third largest city in Illinois!


68 posted on 11/12/2015 8:07:13 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT (BINGO!)
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To: ScottinVA

Isn’t that where the Grateful Dead started off?


69 posted on 11/12/2015 8:10:53 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I remember Ed Vrdolyak well.. he and Ty Wonsley had an afternoon talk show on WLS-890.. I used to call in there from time to time.


70 posted on 11/12/2015 8:32:44 AM PST by ScottinVA (If you're not enraged...why?)
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To: equaviator
They are being made to believe that it makes “perfect sense”.

So exactly what doesn't make sense about this housing?

71 posted on 11/12/2015 8:32:55 AM PST by Mogger (Independence, better fuel economy and performance with American made synthetic oil.)
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To: Mogger

“So exactly what doesn’t make sense about this housing?”

What you get for your money and why anyone should aim so low...in the United States of America.


72 posted on 11/12/2015 8:54:19 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: Springman; cyclotic; netmilsmom; RatsDawg; PGalt; FreedomHammer; queenkathy; madison10; ...
I could live in that small of a space but it can't be an apartment and I need my own yard and room to park.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Michigan legislative action thread
73 posted on 11/12/2015 9:02:19 AM PST by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: SeeSharp

18 wheels of justice :)


74 posted on 11/12/2015 9:09:09 AM PST by AllAmericanGirl44
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To: a fool in paradise

Hah!
This close an environment looks like a breeding ground for micro-aggressions ;(


75 posted on 11/12/2015 9:15:43 AM PST by Sioux-san
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To: SeeSharp

That rig is probably worth more than my home. At least I have a basement ....


76 posted on 11/12/2015 9:17:10 AM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: equaviator

It’s not such a terrible thing. If I were single 20-something I would rather have this than share a larger apartment with a couple other people.


77 posted on 11/12/2015 9:18:38 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Liberals support high taxes on alcohol, tobacco and wealth. And all for the same reason.)
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To: ScottinVA

Ed and Ty, the pinnacle of radio!

Many days I would sit in my driveway, so as not to miss a word!

Clinton’s Secretary of (?) The guy could not answer a simple question and they put him in the trick bag! He then said ‘ I have to go to the washroom’ and never returned!

Yet another time it was some guy calling from a bar in a snow storm ( I was stuck in traffic),.
Ed says ‘oh you had a few’? and they had a pleasant conversation, it was enjoyable.

Sadly Ty died a few months back; they were the best!


78 posted on 11/12/2015 9:20:21 AM PST by DUMBGRUNT (BINGO!)
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To: cripplecreek

how bad” is it in Grand Rapids?? this looks like something that Detroit might come up with....for the Syrian “refugees”


79 posted on 11/12/2015 9:23:23 AM PST by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><> GO CRUZ!!!!)
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To: Flick Lives

awesome m ovie-


80 posted on 11/12/2015 9:43:31 AM PST by Bob434
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