Thousands of tiny apartments the size of glorified walk-in closets will set a new s🌃tandard for cramped New York City living ♏under a plan that would end how small homes are required to be, city officials said on Monday.
Mayor de Blasio wants to shrink the city’s curr🧸ent 400-square-foot apartment-size limit as part of his ambitious plan to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housin♏g.
The comes as 60,000 people have applied for just 14 below-market-rate “micro-apartments” in Ki🐷ps Bay, where the city launched a building experiment.
Scores of space-crunched apartments as small as 265 square feet — just half the sizꦓe of a subway car — could spro🃏ut up citywide if the mayor’s plan is approved.
It’s not going to happen overnight, however. While the City Council could vote on the matter 𝔉as early as February, developers would have to submit proposals, and construction approvals could take years.
City officiꦉals say scrapping the 400-square-foot minimum apartment size limit — set in 1987 to prevent overcrowding — will better serve the thousands of singles who flock to the Big Apple searching for reasonably priced homes.
“The place we have is tiny enou🍬gh,” said Karen Zaretzky, 58, of Murray Hill. “I couldn’t see down-sizing to one room. There’d be no privacy. You need your own space.”
The teensy units sound too much like a dorm room — or a jail cell, other New Y꧂o🐈rkers said.
“It might be good for students,” said Brendon Nimphius, 29, of Bush𝓡wick. “It wouldn’t make sense to me. I have a dog.”
The city building experiment, Carmel Place, made 55 units of tiny apartme🦩nts ranging in size from 265 to 360 square feet ava🐎ilable at 335 E. 27th St. Some of the uni♏ts cost $950 to $1,490 per month — r𓃲oughly half the market-rate rent.
Due to open next year, 𒆙the small homes come complete with little balconies, tall ceilings, dishwash🅷ers and storage space.
In the crunched spaces, the kitchen🔴s meld into the livin🃏g rooms.
Carmel Place developer Tobias Oriwol cheered City Hall’s plaꦜn to shrink the minimum apartment size. He and his team got a waiver to skirt the current 400-square-foot miniꦡmum for Carmel Place.
The 400-square-foot limit is “well-inte🌜ntio𒀰ned” but behind the times, he said.
Rachaele Raynoff, of the Department of City Planning, said the the new plan would 𝄹“provide greater flexibility in the sizes of units to better serve a more varied population in response to need and market dem𝓰ands.”
Additional reporting by Natalie O’Neill