New York experiments with tiny “micro” apartments
New York City’s first “micro” apartment complex is open for business, challenging the limits of minimalist living. What the tiny dwellings lack in square footage, they try to make up for in amenities.
Carmel Place, a 55-unit complex that opened June 1 in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, represents the first time in decades that the city has allowed apartments to be built this small — ranging from 260 to 360 square feet. That’s roughly the equivalent of a one-car garage.
It’s the latest entry in a national trend toward smaller urban housing. The rise in single-person households — now nearly a third of New York City’s households — and ever-higher rents led the city to approve the experimental project. Carmel Place got city land and a waiver from New York’s 400-square-foot minimum on new apartments, set in 1987.