My Micro NY: Tiny Stackable Apartments to Hit NYC Market Soon
06/11/2015
Curators’ Corner
Everyone knows that space is scarce in New York City. And if you’ve ever been apartment hunting on a budget here, you know how disheartening the options can be.
But there’s a chance that the answer to NYC’s housing crisis is being stacked before our eyes. The My Micro NY housing units at 335 East 27th Street are the city’s first prefabricated “micro-apartments.” With floor areas between 260 and 360 square feet, there certainly isn’t much room for activities in any of the 55 dwellings. However, they do have ample 9- and 10-foot ceilings, charming Juliet balconies and the types of sleek storage solutions you see in design catalogs. Of course the real selling point is the location in the heart of Manhattan.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed the idea in 2012. The modular units were designed by nARCHITECTS, and built assembly line-style in a Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse this spring. They are now in development, which consists largely of lifting and stacking each component. TreeHugger recently captured some cool footage of the process:
https://vimeo.com/129103128
The attempt is to address the huge demand for affordable, efficient studio and one-bedroom apartments. According to am New York, there are approximately 1.8 million one to two person households in the city and only about 1 million studio and one-bedroom apartments.
The My Micro NY complex is expected to begin welcoming its first tenants by the end of 2015. Pricing is still being set, but project manager Tobias Oriwol told am New York that all 55 units should come in at under $3,000 per month. Some units will be designated as affordable housing.
Current NYC zoning rules set the minimum floor area for an apartment at 400 square feet, but the regulation was waived for this pilot project. If officials like what they see in the program, they may consider lowering the minimum.
Awesome - sometimes you just have to stop and love New York, you know?