Press
"Geek-driven gentrification threatens San Francisco’s bohemian appeal"
The Romans used to celebrate victory by building triumphal arches through which troops would march, blowing trumpets. California‘s new technology lords are not quite so flamboyant but there is no denying the sleekness of the citadels springing up across San Francisco.
Twitter and Yammer have led the way by moving into Market Square, a downtown art deco landmark where employees enjoy gourmet food, yoga studios, arcades and rooftop gardens.
...More"One Size (Small) Fits All"
The so-called micro-pad is now a buzz phrase and a cultural touchstone, thanks to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. But when single-room living was being sketched out in the floor plans of Manhattan’s first apartment buildings, particularly during the boom years of the 1920s, it was called the studio apartment.
Designed for the eager young women and men on a budget who were flocking to the city, the romantic label was intended to evoke the glamour and Bohemianism of the artist’s preferred mode of living. Studio was a “magic word,” as Anatole Broyard once wrote about his own dive apartment on Prince Street in the 1940s.
...More"8 Tips for Making Your Own Micro Apartment"
With all the hoopla around the adAPT NYC competition and other micro-apartments around the country, it’s clear there’s a demand for smart, small apartments. In fact, people write us daily asking if we have apartments available to rent or buy.
While LifeEdited is working with development teams to get you your micro-apartments with the greatest haste (be sure to sign up for our list), many of the developments are years away. This leaves the question: What do I do now if I want a micro-apartment?
...More"Jones Lang: San Francisco Is a Global ‘Super City’"
Boston Properties Inc. is so bullish on the future of San Francisco that it is investing more than twice as much capital in the city’s office market as it is in the rest of the country combined.
“It is a thick market with a tremendous labor pool coupled with barriers to entry,” said Raymond A. Ritchey, national director of acquisitions and development for the real estate investment trust. “We are betting long.
“Virtually all of our major new investments are coming to San Francisco,” he said.
The Boston-based company has owned the iconic Embarcadero Center since 1998, is redeveloping 680 Folsom St., which is leased to Macys.com and Riverbed Technology, and is building the 1.4 million square foot Transbay Tower with the Hines company. “We are designing it to appeal not only to technology tenants but also to be equally attractive to law firms at the top. A building that size, you have to expand your base to a large pool of prospective tenants,” he said.
...More"Startup dreams meet pop-up rentals"
Daniel Marienthal, 23, lives in a Twin Peaks mansion with 11 other men, where privacy is so scarce that for a few months he lived in a canvas tepee he had built.
Josh Furnas, 23, has taken up residence in a converted closet, near the living room, in a Bayview apartment that he shares with an Ecuadoran family of seven.
Dan Stifler, 24, wakes up – under two faucets – in a Mission District laundry room.
This is the reality of pop-up housing in San Francisco, where young entrepreneurs, drawn to the promise of startup riches yet finding few affordable housing options, are inventing homes of their own – often in violation of zoning codes.
...More"Next big thing in real estate: 300-square-foot apartments"
In response to skyrocketing rents in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a challenge to the city’s best architects: to design a space no bigger than 350 square feet into a comfortable and affordable micro-apartment. NBC’s Stephanie Gosk reports.
By Ben Popken, TODAY contributor
New Yorkers are famous for their teeny apartments, but a new trend in dwelling seeks to tranSForm those tiny spaces into big assets. They’re called “micro apartments,” and they make a few hundred square feet feel like over a thousand.
...More"Men and the Rise of Micro-Apartments"
About a decade ago, right out of college, I visited my friend John in Manhattan. We ordered pizza that night, and the following morning I tried to heat up the leftovers. But I couldn’t get the oven to work. How do you turn the oven on, I asked John, who had been living in his one-bedroom apartment for about six months. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ve never tried to use it.”
...More"1321 Mission Offers Students Tiny Apartments"
There’s loads of housing proposed for SoMa, and 1321 Mission Street is set to throw a bit more into the mix, courtesy of tiny apartment master Patrick Kennedy. The proposed Smartspace Mission project, which demos a one-story furniture store, will construct an 11-story-over-basement, 120-foot building with up to 160 units, 120 of which would be designated as efficiency dwelling-units with reduced square footage. The unit floorplans look pretty familiar, but we guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Currently a minimum of 80 units will be for student housing units, but the project sponsor has the flexibility to change the rest to student housing up until the first Certificate of Occupancy.
...More"In Winning Design, City Hopes to Address a Cramped Future"
The apartment of New York City’s future, as the city imagines it, has all the amenities of modern life: wheelchair-accessible bathroom, a full kitchen, space for entertaining and access to a gym, communal lounge, front and back porches and a rooftop garden — all in 250 to 370 square feet.
...More"Life Edited: Tiny NY Studio Functions like a 1,100-square-foot Space | At Home"
This 420-square-foot studio has a moveable wall that hides a guest bedroom. (Photo: By Matthew Williams for Life …People who live in big cities are used to small spaces — and to longing for larger ones . One green-minded entrepreneur may have found the perfect solution: He renovated a 420-square-foot studio in New York City to function like a 1,100-square apartment.
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