New York City's tight real estate market is getting tighter – literally!
The New York Times reports that the city is sponsoring a competition to design an apartment building for the Kips Bay section of Manhattan that includes ‘micro-units’ with 275 to 300 square feet of living space. The units would have a kitchen and bathroom, but no closet space.
The city is waiving its zoning regulations to accommodate this project – the current minimum size for apartments is 450 square feet. The city says the new competition is inspired by lopsided local housing demographics: There are approximately 1.8 million one-person or two-person households in New York City, but only 1 million studios and one-bedroom apartments.