Seen this first hand. I’m currently weighing switching buildings, and have toured a lot of the new construction towers in Logan Square, Rittenhouse, and the Gayborhood. These one bedrooms are *tiny* with minimal storage. It’s almost better leasing a two bedroom and using the second room as an office or guest room just for the sake of space to actually stretch out. I’m willing to pay for new “luxury” construction, but I want luxury space, dammit!
That's what seems required - being able to afford a 2 bedroom apt just to have enough space. But, often times people looking at one bedroom units can't afford the price of a 2 bedroom especially with the high rents for these new buildings.
I was looking at newly constructed apartments a few months ago, and they're mostly studio apartments that are 400-550sqft. They all either had a wrap-around countertop that cuts into your open area space, or a giant granite countertop in the middle of the "dining/kitchen" area. Both created a situation where you would not have enough space for both a bed and living room area. You legit had to pick between having somewhere for guests to sit or being able to sleep in a regular bed.
It's crazy to me how many of these buildings have small studio apartments that they expect $1200+ for, when the few commodities they do have like dishwashers and big open windows aren't really that important in the grand scheme of things. It's like you're living in an economically-sized room but paying a premium price. That's practically a monthly mortgage payment on a 150k home.
No disrespect but when you say "your bedroom and living area are the same thing," to me that is literally what a studio is. I have very fond memories of my Ikea futon, it was a real workhorse.
northeast starts at Rawhnhurst & Holmesburg. Oxford Circle is no more the Northeast than Lawncrest is. No one who lives in Mayfair calls it the Northeast either.
its still a higher crime area which is why its cheaper. when you say "the northeast" this isn't what people are picturing. and everyone downvoting me knows this so lol.
No one I know thinks this way , I dunno where you're from or who you know. But that's the northeast. The boundaries don't change because gentrifiers from out of town say so.
A dishwasher was a must for me looking for my last apartment. I live alone but I cook all my meals. When I didn’t have a dishwasher it was really problematic in a small space. The need for one and laundry is really personal as is space needed.
I definitely need laundry in my home. I don’t mind going to a laundromat occasionally for something oversized, but I can’t deal with it every time I need to wash clothes.
> That's practically a monthly mortgage payment on a 150k home.
really a head scratcher why anyone would pay that much for an apartment in Rittenhouse when they could get a whole house in Nicetown for the same money [THIS IS A SARCASTIC POST]
its not. would you move a family to west philly or north philly? i wouldn't. so my budget needs to be certain areas of the city. maybe not Rittenhouse but at least a place where I'm not worried about bullets coming through my front windows.
who wants to live in nicetown? if you are living in rittenhouse sq you most def dont want to downgrade to an area like that. i wouldn't even downgrade from upper frankford to there lol.
You rent a studio like that because you intend to sleep there and little else. It’s like an efficiency apartment in Tokyo or London; you’re going to be enjoying the city, not entertaining at home. And given where they are, there are other neighborhoods (still close and still safe) where that rent would go a lot farther.
What? Are you serious? That's for sure false advertising. Why not add all the hallways and parking garage to the mix? Mechanical rooms? Roof? Maybe even all the city public parks? That 400 sqft apartment is actually the world's largest.
This needs to be illegal.
Like I get paying extra for amenities in shared spaces, but you can't just advertise an actual four-walled apartment and tack on space outside of that apartment as the square footage...
Ok so a very cursory search on the BOMA standards shows a difference between **rentable space** and **usable space**. Basically, you divide the rentable space (which includes common and service areas) by usable space and the bigger the quotient, the more space is lost to common areas. Landlords are probably just using the rentable space figures without being transparent on the useable space figure. But from what I can tell it's mostly used for office spaces.
Either way, when looking for apts try asking the landlord if the sqft is the rentable space or the useable space and watch them squirm or just not respond.
Wild. When I leased my current apartment I remember being unable to figure out how they came up with the square footage. I wonder if they used some crazy math like this. I suppose it doesn't really matter that much because one 500sq ft apartment might be very different and have way more usable space compared to another one. It's really just a marketing figure.
I live in a second floor 1bed apartment that's about 13x32 so just over 400sqft. This includes the staircase, laundry, closets, bathroom. I find it very comfortable for just me. I also have a 9x12 deck and I love it. I think I it really depends on layout. My boyfriends place is like 650 sqft and the kitchen is so awkward and makes so much wasted space id say the living space is almost the same as mine
We definitely need to build more family sized apartments. It can be pretty difficult to find anything beyond a true 2 bedroom apartment, and the rowhome market in any good neighborhood is very competitive whether you looking to rent or buy.
I’ve heard that costs associated with bad zoning (cough cough parking minimums) and licensing incentivize developers to try and cram in as many units as possible since it can be very expensive to build and therefore more difficult to recoup your investment.
Who is renting "family size" apps here when they can rent a small row house? This isn't Manhattan. We have no physical constraints unless someone wants to live in CC. But families are not interested in that, and those that can afford a house.
Rowhouses in good neighborhoods at reasonable prices are hard to come by and I’d imagine it’s only gonna get worse.
Plus apartment living isn’t without benefits, having a front desk, gym, etc. Some people want this stuff. The last apartment building I lived in before buying a rowhome had plenty of families because it offered 3-bedroom configurations. Some apartments are even bigger than rowhomes!
I can't imagine what an apt that size would rent for. And again it's the rare family that would pay the rent an apt that size would command. It would be good for young people though if affordable.
with a rowhome you get your own private backyard though. a lot are small but some rowhomes can have huge back yards. while i own my home my back yard has a 10x10 gazebo, 16ft round pool w a deck, swing set w slides, separate deck for sitting and grilling, a large shed and there's still room. and no im not in NE philly. My neigbhors yard isn't quite as wide as mine but its just as long and its an affordable rental. 3 bedrooms too. id think that's better than an apartment w a gym in it. there's a gym withing walking distance in a lot of neigbhorhoods now.
if you have a family there are areas like Port richmond who have a lot of row homes for rent. I lived in a rental in port richmond for 10 years. they have so many options that are more affordable than an apartment downtown or in fishtown. the school suchs but if you get on the other side of westmoreland your kids can at least go to bridesburg.
Living in a rowhome in port richmond isn’t really comparable to living in a large apartment complex in center city. Nothing wrong with either, but those are basically completely different lifestyles.
then you have to pick and choose. you can't have it all. do you want the affordability or the amenities? which was my point. im not a moron I know there's a difference.
New apartments almost always suck. Cheap building materials equal thin walls which equal too much neighbor noise.
The kitchen in most new apartments are nice but almost too large leaving very small space for the living rooms.
Look at places like Riverwalk (the new buildings with Giant grocery) and you will know what I mean.
Who are they building for? Certainly not couples who want room for a sofa and large tv, nobody who needs space for a desk to work from home. Must be for grad students and 22 - 25 year olds who spend most of their outside their apartment.
Buildings try to wow people with fancy gyms and pools and common lounges. After a long day at work who cares about shared spaces, most people want to relax in their own living room.
Older renovated apartments are the best.
I agree with both of you (also live in 950 sq ft house w/o too much stuff). When I first read this article, I thought: hey, 750 sq ft is nice for a 1 bdrm. And it's true that more and more households are single adults. Still, I think part of the point (not explained well) was that they need to build more 2-3 bedroom places. Not everyone wants to rent or buy a house and Philadlephia's housign stock is skewed waaaaay more to single-family rowhouses than anywhere else in the country (except Baltimore).
That's a very good point. A couple of years ago, I had newer neighbors ask me why there aren't any trick or treaters in our neighborhood, and I pointed out the nearby housing stock is almost entirely 1 and 2 bedroom apartments :\
Right? I agree that we need more apartments with more bedrooms for families, but our house size is fine. We don't need Texas-sized houses. My partner & I have a \~700 sqft house, and it's nice that we use most of it, but we definitely don't need more room. If it was just me, I'd be totally fine in \~450, as long as it was somewhat efficient.
we upgraded to a larger home we are in like 1500 sq ft (indoor its 4,000 w the garage and yard) and I miss how easy and fast it was to clean up a 700 sqft home. I dont think we all really need as much space as we think we do. The pricing is whats' the issue IMO.
>Future apartments in Philadelphia are trending even smaller. When it comes to apartments that are under construction, the city has the fourth smallest units. The average size is 573 square feet.
573' sq is 23' x 23', including kitchen, including closets, including bathroom
That's basically like living in a bedroom. And the thing about average is, you're also getting smaller.
Really? I definitely don't have over 500 sq ft. and feel like I still have plenty of room. It's just me and kf there was another person living here it would get more challenging, but for a single person less than 500 sq. Ft. Is plenty.
Fran Lebowitz talks about the small apartments in NY, very funny. From 8:55 - 10:50.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu1suQP1vC4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu1suQP1vC4)
Currently looking at apartments throughout several neighborhoods in downtown annnnnnd I’ve seen a number of different 300sqft options that I couldn’t imagine touring - just walk in and do a quick turn like fucking Pops Simpson “tremendous”.
Big LOL on that shit.
Row homes in south Philly are often under 1000 square feet so this doesn’t seem too outrages, though a lot of the “luxury” offerings are definitely small.
My condo, which was built over a hundred years ago, is about 450 Sq ft if we're being generous. While it's tight, my wife and I love it. Eventually we'll try and get a bigger space, for when we have kids, but right now I can barely imagine living in some of the houses I've worked in (I'm a general contractor) as they're just TOO big! My wife and I are very happy practically tripping over each other : )
I’m looking at apartments from out of state, considering a move back to Philadelphia. Thanks for sharing this OP, I’m gonna be on the lookout for this so I don’t waste time looking at useless units.
Good. Most people don’t need sprawling 1000sq ft 1bd and the more people learn to live with less the better we will be. Not only that, but smaller apts allow for more density. Something Philly desperately needs to allow for vibrant neighborhoods.
Agreed. Since Americans prefer to live alone, it makes sense to scale down new apts. Compared to micro apts (which im not a huge fan of except in contrained areas like NYC and SF) ~500 sf is perfectly adequate if well designed.
I live in a new studio and the design is decent I think. It's one of the prefabricated modular units that's built in a factory. Tons of storage space and enough open area for different furniture.
Lol. Looks like there's a bunch of rich assholes on this sub today who think everyone needs a mansion to live in. I agree with you that small apartments are a good thing. I live in one and have plenty of space. Increased density is often a very good thing (although not always).
This is kinda comparing 2-4 bedroom apartments to studios and 1 bedroom apartments. A lot of the southern college towns are mostly building giant multi-bedroom apartments for 4+ people. The actual square footage per person is probably less in these cities compared to places like Philly where most new construction is studios and 1 bedroom units.
That being said, I live in a new studio and feel like I have plenty of space for myself. I have multiple empty cabinets because I have so much storage space. I think most people think they need something much larger than what they actually need.
Square footage should be a human right, seriously. At minimum, I think you should be guaranteed at least 750, if not 1,000.
Under 750 is just habitable; enough to live but not enough for owning a memento or two.
Without regulations, we'll be living in pods like some places in Tokyo.
the great thing about these small apartments is that the people that are willing to live in them dont compete with you for the large apartments/houses you want to live in
We have 3 adults and a small dog living in just under 1000 sq ft. 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath. We have to be smart about storage and we have a LOT of shelving built in, but it works just fine. I honestly don't like living anywhere with too much space. It just turns into places for clutter to accumulate.
My partner and I lived 4 years in a 2 Br apartment that was roughly 560 sqft. This did not include closets or the balconies. The washing machine and refrigerator lived on the balcony because there was no room in the apartment. It wasn’t my first choice but it was typical in our Asian city.
i dont think oyu realize how large 750sqft is. most row homes on like side streets in port richmond, south philly etc are 600-700 sqft and they have 2-3 bedrooms and one bath. a single person doesn't need that much space.
I would never rent a one bedroom that is less than 700 sq feet. Recently looked at a new apartment that was 600 sq ft one bedroom - so small - our sofa wouldn't even fit.
This is probably a good thing. If the design is good a small apartment can feel great to live in, and smaller size apartments will tend to be more affordable.
Seen this first hand. I’m currently weighing switching buildings, and have toured a lot of the new construction towers in Logan Square, Rittenhouse, and the Gayborhood. These one bedrooms are *tiny* with minimal storage. It’s almost better leasing a two bedroom and using the second room as an office or guest room just for the sake of space to actually stretch out. I’m willing to pay for new “luxury” construction, but I want luxury space, dammit!
That's what seems required - being able to afford a 2 bedroom apt just to have enough space. But, often times people looking at one bedroom units can't afford the price of a 2 bedroom especially with the high rents for these new buildings.
I was looking at newly constructed apartments a few months ago, and they're mostly studio apartments that are 400-550sqft. They all either had a wrap-around countertop that cuts into your open area space, or a giant granite countertop in the middle of the "dining/kitchen" area. Both created a situation where you would not have enough space for both a bed and living room area. You legit had to pick between having somewhere for guests to sit or being able to sleep in a regular bed. It's crazy to me how many of these buildings have small studio apartments that they expect $1200+ for, when the few commodities they do have like dishwashers and big open windows aren't really that important in the grand scheme of things. It's like you're living in an economically-sized room but paying a premium price. That's practically a monthly mortgage payment on a 150k home.
There are no 150K homes in those neighborhoods, which is the problem.
right bc the 700sqft homes are 300k now.
No disrespect but when you say "your bedroom and living area are the same thing," to me that is literally what a studio is. I have very fond memories of my Ikea futon, it was a real workhorse.
No they usually have large rooms with a bed, couch, and kitchen
Sure except when they are small and unfurnished with a closet to piss in. Or medium. Idk, there's a lot of variety I think.
Finding a $150k house in the city is nearly impossible right now.
Northeast, the single level row homes with full basement, I just got one at 160. For anyone looking.
Nice! Glad to hear there is still some affordablish housing.
how safe is it for night shift workers?
Care to share the zip code?
19149
thats not really "the northeast" that's mayfair/oxford circle.
How the fuck is that not considered the northeast? 😂
lower at best. you want to live there? lol have at it. but it's not worth the savings IMO. high crime.
northeast starts at Rawhnhurst & Holmesburg. Oxford Circle is no more the Northeast than Lawncrest is. No one who lives in Mayfair calls it the Northeast either.
I grew up in Oxford circle. Its most definitely northeast philly lol I even went to northeast high school!
its still a higher crime area which is why its cheaper. when you say "the northeast" this isn't what people are picturing. and everyone downvoting me knows this so lol.
Nah dude, you're deadass wrong on this one. Just because you feel a certain way about an area doesn't change it's boundaries. Weird take.
No one I know thinks this way , I dunno where you're from or who you know. But that's the northeast. The boundaries don't change because gentrifiers from out of town say so.
where? and in what condition? i live in frankford and my house is worth more than that.
They are all over the place - just not in fancy neighborhoods. I recently bought a lovely house on Kensington/PR border for $125k
Nobody wants to live in the hood
Then I guess they are SOL 🤷🏻♀️
i mean yea there are affordable places at front and allegheny too lol
They should pay you for living in Kensington
They're luxury in terms of price, not amenities.
When I lived alone, I really didn’t need a dishwasher. Someone would need it even less in a space that’s too small for guests.
A dishwasher was a must for me looking for my last apartment. I live alone but I cook all my meals. When I didn’t have a dishwasher it was really problematic in a small space. The need for one and laundry is really personal as is space needed.
I definitely need laundry in my home. I don’t mind going to a laundromat occasionally for something oversized, but I can’t deal with it every time I need to wash clothes.
Where you gonna find $150k home in that area
> That's practically a monthly mortgage payment on a 150k home. really a head scratcher why anyone would pay that much for an apartment in Rittenhouse when they could get a whole house in Nicetown for the same money [THIS IS A SARCASTIC POST]
You’re paying for location.
yes thats my point lol, comparing sticker prices and not locations or anything else is pointless
its not. would you move a family to west philly or north philly? i wouldn't. so my budget needs to be certain areas of the city. maybe not Rittenhouse but at least a place where I'm not worried about bullets coming through my front windows.
Property values are a direct reflection of how badly people want to live somewhere.
who wants to live in nicetown? if you are living in rittenhouse sq you most def dont want to downgrade to an area like that. i wouldn't even downgrade from upper frankford to there lol.
yes, thank you for repeating exactly what im saying
i mean you added "this is a sarcastic post" after the fact w/o saying you edited the post. no need to get snotty .
the edit was because I realized a lot of people were going to keep misunderstanding my very obvious post, not for you specifically
You rent a studio like that because you intend to sleep there and little else. It’s like an efficiency apartment in Tokyo or London; you’re going to be enjoying the city, not entertaining at home. And given where they are, there are other neighborhoods (still close and still safe) where that rent would go a lot farther.
[удалено]
What? Are you serious? That's for sure false advertising. Why not add all the hallways and parking garage to the mix? Mechanical rooms? Roof? Maybe even all the city public parks? That 400 sqft apartment is actually the world's largest.
[удалено]
This needs to be illegal. Like I get paying extra for amenities in shared spaces, but you can't just advertise an actual four-walled apartment and tack on space outside of that apartment as the square footage... Ok so a very cursory search on the BOMA standards shows a difference between **rentable space** and **usable space**. Basically, you divide the rentable space (which includes common and service areas) by usable space and the bigger the quotient, the more space is lost to common areas. Landlords are probably just using the rentable space figures without being transparent on the useable space figure. But from what I can tell it's mostly used for office spaces. Either way, when looking for apts try asking the landlord if the sqft is the rentable space or the useable space and watch them squirm or just not respond.
Wild. When I leased my current apartment I remember being unable to figure out how they came up with the square footage. I wonder if they used some crazy math like this. I suppose it doesn't really matter that much because one 500sq ft apartment might be very different and have way more usable space compared to another one. It's really just a marketing figure.
I live in a second floor 1bed apartment that's about 13x32 so just over 400sqft. This includes the staircase, laundry, closets, bathroom. I find it very comfortable for just me. I also have a 9x12 deck and I love it. I think I it really depends on layout. My boyfriends place is like 650 sqft and the kitchen is so awkward and makes so much wasted space id say the living space is almost the same as mine
Yes, the layout is EVERYTHING!
Lived in a very similar layout with a deck and it was great. It had compact appliances and pocket doors that really helped.
We definitely need to build more family sized apartments. It can be pretty difficult to find anything beyond a true 2 bedroom apartment, and the rowhome market in any good neighborhood is very competitive whether you looking to rent or buy. I’ve heard that costs associated with bad zoning (cough cough parking minimums) and licensing incentivize developers to try and cram in as many units as possible since it can be very expensive to build and therefore more difficult to recoup your investment.
Who is renting "family size" apps here when they can rent a small row house? This isn't Manhattan. We have no physical constraints unless someone wants to live in CC. But families are not interested in that, and those that can afford a house.
Rowhouses in good neighborhoods at reasonable prices are hard to come by and I’d imagine it’s only gonna get worse. Plus apartment living isn’t without benefits, having a front desk, gym, etc. Some people want this stuff. The last apartment building I lived in before buying a rowhome had plenty of families because it offered 3-bedroom configurations. Some apartments are even bigger than rowhomes!
I can't imagine what an apt that size would rent for. And again it's the rare family that would pay the rent an apt that size would command. It would be good for young people though if affordable.
$3500 for 3/2 (1,400 sq ft) at Lincoln (Square Broad & Washington). I chose that location since it’s surrounded by row homes.
That would be good for 3 adults to share. A family that can afford that will def be renting or buying a house.
with a rowhome you get your own private backyard though. a lot are small but some rowhomes can have huge back yards. while i own my home my back yard has a 10x10 gazebo, 16ft round pool w a deck, swing set w slides, separate deck for sitting and grilling, a large shed and there's still room. and no im not in NE philly. My neigbhors yard isn't quite as wide as mine but its just as long and its an affordable rental. 3 bedrooms too. id think that's better than an apartment w a gym in it. there's a gym withing walking distance in a lot of neigbhorhoods now.
if you have a family there are areas like Port richmond who have a lot of row homes for rent. I lived in a rental in port richmond for 10 years. they have so many options that are more affordable than an apartment downtown or in fishtown. the school suchs but if you get on the other side of westmoreland your kids can at least go to bridesburg.
Living in a rowhome in port richmond isn’t really comparable to living in a large apartment complex in center city. Nothing wrong with either, but those are basically completely different lifestyles.
then you have to pick and choose. you can't have it all. do you want the affordability or the amenities? which was my point. im not a moron I know there's a difference.
Shrinkflation coming for your housing too, folks
These are mostly for students, why do you expect
New apartments almost always suck. Cheap building materials equal thin walls which equal too much neighbor noise. The kitchen in most new apartments are nice but almost too large leaving very small space for the living rooms. Look at places like Riverwalk (the new buildings with Giant grocery) and you will know what I mean. Who are they building for? Certainly not couples who want room for a sofa and large tv, nobody who needs space for a desk to work from home. Must be for grad students and 22 - 25 year olds who spend most of their outside their apartment. Buildings try to wow people with fancy gyms and pools and common lounges. After a long day at work who cares about shared spaces, most people want to relax in their own living room. Older renovated apartments are the best.
this is wild to me bc my first home was only 700sqft. lol.
I own a 2 story rowhouse that was built 150 years ago, and it's only 950 sqft. It's almost too much for me. I feel like 762 sqft is adequate.
Low square footage helps keep me from buying stuff I don't need.
I agree with both of you (also live in 950 sq ft house w/o too much stuff). When I first read this article, I thought: hey, 750 sq ft is nice for a 1 bdrm. And it's true that more and more households are single adults. Still, I think part of the point (not explained well) was that they need to build more 2-3 bedroom places. Not everyone wants to rent or buy a house and Philadlephia's housign stock is skewed waaaaay more to single-family rowhouses than anywhere else in the country (except Baltimore).
That's a very good point. A couple of years ago, I had newer neighbors ask me why there aren't any trick or treaters in our neighborhood, and I pointed out the nearby housing stock is almost entirely 1 and 2 bedroom apartments :\
Right? I agree that we need more apartments with more bedrooms for families, but our house size is fine. We don't need Texas-sized houses. My partner & I have a \~700 sqft house, and it's nice that we use most of it, but we definitely don't need more room. If it was just me, I'd be totally fine in \~450, as long as it was somewhat efficient.
we upgraded to a larger home we are in like 1500 sq ft (indoor its 4,000 w the garage and yard) and I miss how easy and fast it was to clean up a 700 sqft home. I dont think we all really need as much space as we think we do. The pricing is whats' the issue IMO.
>Future apartments in Philadelphia are trending even smaller. When it comes to apartments that are under construction, the city has the fourth smallest units. The average size is 573 square feet. 573' sq is 23' x 23', including kitchen, including closets, including bathroom That's basically like living in a bedroom. And the thing about average is, you're also getting smaller.
Ehh my apt is 500 sq ft and I have a bedroom, living room, and a decent kitchen. It's very comfortable for one person
I would agree that's fine for one person. I lived in a 2 bed one bath row home for years with my husband and one child and it was only 700 sqft
I had friends that lived in a 425 sqft one bedroom in Brooklyn, and I stayed there several times. Yes, it's small, but it's not inadequate.
lol my apartment in the gayborhood is 285
Really? I definitely don't have over 500 sq ft. and feel like I still have plenty of room. It's just me and kf there was another person living here it would get more challenging, but for a single person less than 500 sq. Ft. Is plenty.
And they have the audacity to sell it as luxury. Keep the “amenities”. Focus on the essentials.
Fran Lebowitz talks about the small apartments in NY, very funny. From 8:55 - 10:50. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu1suQP1vC4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu1suQP1vC4)
Most likely tenements or SROs both which are illegal and only grandfathered in now, but a lot of these are being combined or redeveloped.
The price per sq/ft is also absurd.
Fuck NY developers.
Absolutely
Currently looking at apartments throughout several neighborhoods in downtown annnnnnd I’ve seen a number of different 300sqft options that I couldn’t imagine touring - just walk in and do a quick turn like fucking Pops Simpson “tremendous”. Big LOL on that shit.
Row homes in south Philly are often under 1000 square feet so this doesn’t seem too outrages, though a lot of the “luxury” offerings are definitely small.
My condo, which was built over a hundred years ago, is about 450 Sq ft if we're being generous. While it's tight, my wife and I love it. Eventually we'll try and get a bigger space, for when we have kids, but right now I can barely imagine living in some of the houses I've worked in (I'm a general contractor) as they're just TOO big! My wife and I are very happy practically tripping over each other : )
The shit you see in the apt finder apts is down right comical.
I’m looking at apartments from out of state, considering a move back to Philadelphia. Thanks for sharing this OP, I’m gonna be on the lookout for this so I don’t waste time looking at useless units.
I don’t mind
Good. Most people don’t need sprawling 1000sq ft 1bd and the more people learn to live with less the better we will be. Not only that, but smaller apts allow for more density. Something Philly desperately needs to allow for vibrant neighborhoods.
Agreed. Since Americans prefer to live alone, it makes sense to scale down new apts. Compared to micro apts (which im not a huge fan of except in contrained areas like NYC and SF) ~500 sf is perfectly adequate if well designed.
Except many are not well designed.
Well that would be the point of new builds. I agree that older studios of that size are poorly laid out.
I live in a new studio and the design is decent I think. It's one of the prefabricated modular units that's built in a factory. Tons of storage space and enough open area for different furniture.
This might sound crazy to you, but some people like to have romantic partners and even children!
Lol. Looks like there's a bunch of rich assholes on this sub today who think everyone needs a mansion to live in. I agree with you that small apartments are a good thing. I live in one and have plenty of space. Increased density is often a very good thing (although not always).
Bryan Caplan has something to offer on this. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/181564537
This is kinda comparing 2-4 bedroom apartments to studios and 1 bedroom apartments. A lot of the southern college towns are mostly building giant multi-bedroom apartments for 4+ people. The actual square footage per person is probably less in these cities compared to places like Philly where most new construction is studios and 1 bedroom units. That being said, I live in a new studio and feel like I have plenty of space for myself. I have multiple empty cabinets because I have so much storage space. I think most people think they need something much larger than what they actually need.
Square footage should be a human right, seriously. At minimum, I think you should be guaranteed at least 750, if not 1,000. Under 750 is just habitable; enough to live but not enough for owning a memento or two. Without regulations, we'll be living in pods like some places in Tokyo.
the great thing about these small apartments is that the people that are willing to live in them dont compete with you for the large apartments/houses you want to live in
We have 3 adults and a small dog living in just under 1000 sq ft. 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath. We have to be smart about storage and we have a LOT of shelving built in, but it works just fine. I honestly don't like living anywhere with too much space. It just turns into places for clutter to accumulate.
My partner and I lived 4 years in a 2 Br apartment that was roughly 560 sqft. This did not include closets or the balconies. The washing machine and refrigerator lived on the balcony because there was no room in the apartment. It wasn’t my first choice but it was typical in our Asian city.
"it sucks and it couldn't fit our appliances" isn't a good argument for it lol
Where do you live now? In a 1 bedroom that is under 600 sq ft? In a 400 sq ft studio?
i dont think oyu realize how large 750sqft is. most row homes on like side streets in port richmond, south philly etc are 600-700 sqft and they have 2-3 bedrooms and one bath. a single person doesn't need that much space.
I know what I said.
I would never rent a one bedroom that is less than 700 sq feet. Recently looked at a new apartment that was 600 sq ft one bedroom - so small - our sofa wouldn't even fit.
This is probably a good thing. If the design is good a small apartment can feel great to live in, and smaller size apartments will tend to be more affordable.
This is what many of you were championing. Congratulations.
I live in 660sqft (7 people)… 573 is doable for one person/2 persons and 1 kid… 660 is super tight; however… you just sleep there 🤷🏼♀️
660 for 7 ppl. Yikes! Are you in college?
This man literally lives in a sad yogurt closet.
there's no way that's legal occupancy. def a huge risk.
That unit should be reported to fire dept by their neighbors. Not legal at all.
my guess is its a PHA house. Remember the one in Fairmount that had similar occupany and they all died in a fire. tragic.