With demand for the city’s first micro-units red hot, officials are looking for ways to add more.
Planning officials have proposed axing New York’s requirement that new apartments span a minimum of 400 square feet.
Trashing the regulation could make way for more “micro-apartments” like Monadnock Development’s Carmel Place, a new development in Kips Bay that has 55 apartments ranging from 265 to 360 square feet, the Associated Press reported. Under the proposed changes, buildings made up of entirely of micro-units would still need waivers from the city, but buildings would be able to mix smaller studios in with apartments of varying sizes.
Carmel Place is expected to open next year, and leasing started in November. More than 60,000 people have entered a lottery for the development’s 14 affordable units and 20 people have applied for the eight market-rate units.
“The city’s changing, with a lot more seniors and single-person households,” Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in a statement. “We need our housing stock to adapt, so we’re taking a hard look at how to give more flexibility with apartment sizes, especially for affordable housing.” [AP] — Kathryn Brenzel