What It's Like to Live Near a Micro-Unit Building

[Eightball]

FROM WEWORK TO WELIVE: STARTUP MOVES MEMBERS INTO ITS FIRST RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

http://www.fastcompany.com/3055325/f...ntial-building

Coworking startup WeWork began testing its first residential offering in New York City over the weekend, a source close to the company told Fast Company.

About 80 WeWork members and employees have moved into 45 apartment units in WeWork’s first "coliving" space at 110 Wall Street, which will eventually house about 600 people on 20 floors,

[Ryanrule]

vampire developers will just charge full price for these, and up the normal apartments 100-300%.

[mhays]

Um, you do realize that buildings compete for tenants, right? They'll charge as much as they can but only to the extent that people actually rent the units. And if rents are high relative to development cost, more buildings will be built until things swing back the other way or equalize.

In Seattle, where numerous micro buildings go up per year, the rents per square foot are high (because development costs are high per square foot for small units), but rents for micros are generally far lower than larger units of the same age. Like (guesstimating) $800 for 200 sf vs. $1,600 for 600 sf with parallel quality and location.

[Eightball]

^^^ exactly! not sure why this is difficult for some to comprehend

[Eightball]

Anybody recently move in to or buy a micro unit?

[mhays]

No, although I lived in a hotel room for four months a while back, and that was basically a furnished micro.

[Eightball]

how was it? did it have a full size stove and fridge or nah? was it economical?

[mhays]

Pretty good actually. The monthly rate was $1,500 including weekly maid service. That was 2008 so it might be over $2,000 now. The kitchen was limited to a microwave, a counter, and a small fridge if I recall (no freezer). Starbucks downstairs. The neighborhood had multiple supermarkets and a couple dozen restaurants and takeout places.

[Eightball]

20 smallest condos for sale in DC rn

https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/0...ondos-sale-dc/

[mhays]

The smallest of those 20 might count as a micro. The bigger ones are just studios.

[llamaorama]

I wouldn't mind living in a micro as long as I had my own bathroom and was allowed a toaster over or microwave.

I've stayed in newly built chain motels along interstates that have modern suite-style rooms, like newer La Quinta's, and you get a nice mini fridge and a microwave on a bar near the entrance. Remove the second bed and put in a seating nook and I could seriously settle down and live in a place like that.

However I lived in a college dorm with shared kitchen and shared bathrooms and it was a complete sty. One time I walked pas the kitchen at night, and there was a huge fire raging inside the oven and the floor was flooded with water. Other times the bathroom would have literal shit on the floor, and even when they cleaned it it still was grody. I don't expect adults to be any better behaved.

There's a law of diminishing returns for making micro units TOO micro, in my opinion. A 300 sq. foot unit with a sink and a microwave is vastly more livable than a 250 sq. foot unit that's only a bed and TV. The later ends up necessitating commons areas that have to be maintained. Its not worth it.

Also I figure there will be a lot of problems with finger pointing as people wonder who trashed up the commons room, and the concept only works when its all yuppies and you don't have any diversity or families or difficult people to deal with. This will be used by some as justification for getting rid of anti-discrimination laws for housing, which is something I would rather avoid.

[fflint]

300 square feet isn't a micro-unit, though, at least not in San Francisco. I lived in a studio that size--with my partner--for a couple years. A nice custom loft bed did the trick.

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I wouldn't mind living in a micro as long as I had my own bathroom and was allowed a toaster over or microwave.

I've stayed in newly built chain motels along interstates that have modern suite-style rooms, like newer La Quinta's, and you get a nice mini fridge and a microwave on a bar near the entrance. Remove the second bed and put in a seating nook and I could seriously settle down and live in a place like that.

However I lived in a college dorm with shared kitchen and shared bathrooms and it was a complete sty. One time I walked pas the kitchen at night, and there was a huge fire raging inside the oven and the floor was flooded with water. Other times the bathroom would have literal shit on the floor, and even when they cleaned it it still was grody. I don't expect adults to be any better behaved.

There's a law of diminishing returns for making micro units TOO micro, in my opinion. A 300 sq. foot unit with a sink and a microwave is vastly more livable than a 250 sq. foot unit that's only a bed and TV. The later ends up necessitating commons areas that have to be maintained. Its not worth it.

Also I figure there will be a lot of problems with finger pointing as people wonder who trashed up the commons room, and the concept only works when its all yuppies and you don't have any diversity or families or difficult people to deal with. This will be used by some as justification for getting rid of anti-discrimination laws for housing, which is something I would rather avoid.

[mhays]

Seattle used to allow units the size of a bedroom, like 90 sf, with kitchen and bathroom down the hall. We don't anymore unfortunately, because the city council doesn't actually care about affordability. But I think those things can fit in 150 sf, and often do.

[Eightball]

I just knew you guys would get your sq ft jabs in, lmaooo

i thought it more interesting that that article neglected a whole large area of the city, EOTR

[Eightball]

How Seattle killed micro housing
http://www.sightline.org/2016/09/06/...micro-housing/

[mhays]

It's a huge tragedy, and speaks to a city (and especially a city council) that loves to talk about affordability but insists on cutting off the ways to achieve it.

The outcome is that the square footages are higher, but we still get a lot of micros.