Micro-lofts: are they here to stay?

[Sheba]

Six years ago, Jon Stovell and Reliance Properties built the first micro-lofts in Vancouver, turning a defunct Gastown single room occupancy (SRO) into a 30-unit rental project with suites ranging in size from 219 to 291 square feet.

Tiny by standards of the day.

But within no time — and advertised only on Craigslist — Burns Block was all rented.

...

Next it’s Surrey’s turn.

This, month the company is offering 200 micro-lofts as part of its 371-unit Prime on the Plaza development to be across the street from the Surrey’s new city hall.

...

Reliance is in the process of presenting plans to Vancouver city hall for 294 micro-lofts in a 30-storey condo to be built at Davie and Hornby. It has to be for the rental market because Vancouver — unlike just about every major city in North America, says Stovell — won’t allow a condo to be sold that is less than 398 square feet in size.

This scuppered the company’s plans to build the city’s first micro-loft condo tower, which would have had 370 units.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business...756/story.html

[quobobo]

Seems like a predictable and unfortunate consequence of binding FAR limits.

[TourOdeon]

They're definitely here to stay, this is good to keep the prices low for young ppl to buy. An added benefit is that the strata fees will be extremely low.