Interesting article in tonight's LA Times...
L.A. considers building apartments as small as 250 square feet.
Critics say this isn't New York.
By Sharon Bernstein
Times Staff Writer
10:07 PM PDT, July 23, 2007
Is Los Angeles ready for the 250-square-foot apartment?
That's what city planning officials have in mind with a series of
sweeping new zoning proposals that would allow developers to build
smaller condos and apartments than ever before.
The tiny units — studios that officials hope will be as small as 250
square feet — are part of a package of proposed zoning changes aimed
at significantly increasing density in downtown L.A. The rules would
apply to the roughly five miles around downtown but could eventually
be extended elsewhere in the city.
The idea is to encourage developers to continue to build high-rises
downtown even as the market appears poised to slow down — while also
spurring them to build units that are more affordable. Supporters —
who include the city's top planning officials, some developers and
Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district includes downtown — say the
rules will encourage the construction of housing at a time when the
city desperately needs it.
"This is a landmark event," said Dan Rosenfeld, a principal in the
development firm Urban Partners, which is behind several downtown
projects. "The people who care about downtown L.A. have been waiting
for these ordinances for a long time."
But the proposal — slated to come before the City Council next week —
is already drawing criticism from those who see it as another
effort to boost development in a region that is already in a high-
rise building boom stretching from downtown through Koreatown and
into Century City, Westwood and Marina del Rey.
Some land-use experts question whether there is much of a market for
tiny apartments in downtown L.A., which, despite its recent
resurgence, still lacks the cachet of Manhattan, central London or
Paris. Others fear overcrowding and slum conditions if the market
goes sour and the units are too densely packed.
"I see it as creating a neighborhood where parking is horrendous and
families are squeezing themselves into these units which are very
small because they are affordable," said Noreen McClendon, a
developer of affordable housing. "It's just a tenement."
The tiny apartment is a fairly new concept in Southern California,
which has a long history of suburban sprawl and larger spaces.
But in New York, Boston, San Francisco and many European and Asian
cities, residents have squeezed into tiny apartments for decades,
usually because the lure of the downtown area is so great — and the
prices for larger places so high.
Gretchen Broussard, who co-owns Tiny Living, a Manhattan store that
sells furnishings for small spaces, lived in a 200-square-foot
apartment in that New York borough until five years ago.
"I couldn't even turn around in the space," Broussard said. "I maxed
out every inch of the wall space, mounted everything to get it off
the floor.... Every New Yorker is continually purging stuff because
they don't have room."
In San Francisco, Martin Eng rents a 300-square-foot studio in the
swanky Nob Hill neighborhood, across from the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Though Eng has several other homes around the state, the apartment
is his primary residence — and he said it's livable only because it
has a good view and plenty of light.
With a rent-controlled cost of $400 a month — below the market rate —
the studio is a convenient city crash pad for Eng, 53, who works in
investment.
"Mine is a tiny place, not somewhere you would want to entertain or
bring people," Eng said. "It's like a poor man penthouse — you can't
really be proud of it."
Although the new L.A. ordinance does not directly address the size
of the apartments that could be built, it would remove all
restrictions on the number of units that developers could put in a
single building, a move that planners hope will result in residences
as small as 250 square feet — about the size of a hotel room or a
modest living room.
The ordinance would also let developers willing to reserve some
apartments for low- and moderate-income families to make their
buildings 35% bigger than zoning rules normally allow and to opt out
of providing half the open space typically required. Those who build
units for those with very low incomes would not have to offer
parking spaces for those residences.
Perry said the proposed rules would concentrate new housing downtown
while preserving single-family homes elsewhere.
The smallest units, Perry said, might be attractive to young
professionals who want to buy a condo but can't afford anything
larger, or to service workers who couldn't otherwise afford to buy
or rent near their downtown jobs.
Burbank architect Mark Gangi, who also teaches at USC, said the
rules could help mold downtown into a lively metropolitan center.
The new apartments might be used by those who need an affordable
place to live, he said, but they might also become pieds-à-terre for
professionals and others who want a modest place where they can stay
overnight if they are working or seeing a show or ballgame.
But others are more skeptical about how tiny units would fare in Los
Angeles.
Raphael Bostic, associate director of the Lusk Center for Real
Estate at USC, said developers might take advantage of the city's
offer to let them build affordable units without parking spaces,
because the cost of such parking can be prohibitive. "Only the most
adventurous would do the very small units," he said.
Jeff Lee, a developer active in the downtown area, said he was
doubtful there'd be a market for 250-square-foot apartments or
condos.
"That wouldn't be much more than a bathroom and 10-by-10
bedroom," said Lee, who built the Market Lofts downtown.
Jane Blumenfeld, L.A.'s principal city planner, said that in cities
like New York and San Francisco, people live happily in tiny
apartments and condominiums.
But Joel Kotkin, an urban affairs expert, questioned whether such
units would help the city's goal of creating a feeling of community
downtown.
"You're creating tiny spaces that people live in for short periods
of time," Kotkin said.
L.A.'s downtown is still not desirable enough to entice well-heeled
purchasers to buy or rent a studio when they can live in a larger
place elsewhere, Kotkin said.
"They say that in New York and San Francisco people live [in small
apartments] a long time. Well, downtown L.A., you're not New York
and you're not San Francisco."
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