Not content to focus on supersize soft drinks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has set his sights on apartments. In this case he appears to be taking an unorthodox approach to the chronic shortage of affordable living spaces in New York City.
Bloomberg announced a contest to design livable 275 to 300 square foot micro-apartments for singles or couples. From The New York Daily News:
The new closetlike flats will be just 275 to 300 square feet — larger than a jail cell but smaller than a mobile home — and will have special permission to ignore city rules requiring newly built apartments to exceed 400 square feet.
“The city’s demographics have changed,” Bloomberg said. “It used to be the average household was a family, a couple of adults and some children.”
That meant that the city was filled with larger dwellings, leaving just 1 million studios and one bedrooms — not nearly enough for the 1.8 million one-and two-person households.
At a news conference Monday, the mayor announced a contest seeking a developer for about 80 micro units at a city-owned parking lot on E. 27th St. in Kips Bay.
Rent will still be too damn high, with these micro-units going for upwards of $2,000 a month. If the program is successful if could spread to other locations in the city. As someone who knows several young people living in the city, these micro-apartments might well be something they would consider, as their current living quarters are more expensive, and probably not significantly nicer.
