New York's micro housing opportunities may not be particularly robust, but one new project—Caesura, a mixed-used development in Fort Greene—is hoping to capitalize on the trend. According to the New York Times, the building’s tiniest apartments are some of the smallest in the city: 34 market-rate micro-apartments come in at 384 square feet.
The 12-story, 123-unit project is located at 280 Ashland Place, on the site of what was once parking lot diagonal to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was built in partnership with developer Jonathan Rose Companies and New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, so 40 percent of its units are below market rate. When the lottery launched this summer, they were priced between $886 and $1,482 per month.
Some of its smallest apartments are outfitted with space-saving furnishings by Resource Furniture, like a queen-size Murphy bed, plus desks and and a coffee table that expands into a dining table.
Units also come with a two-burner induction cooktop, a combination microwave and convection oven, dishwasher, desk lamp and walk-in closet. About half of the furnished apartments boast a shelf that protrudes from the upright bed and remains horizontal when the bed is lowered from the wall. Finally, a long sideboard is included with an LED television on top. Monthly cable and Wi-Fi service is included.
Pricing for these furnished units isn’t cheap—rents start at $2,588/month for 314 square feet. But a larger, unfurnished studio costs less; those start at $2,360/month for 414 square feet.
Market-rate one-bedrooms (the model unit is pictured below) begin at $2,739/month for 652 square feet, and two-bedrooms at $3,869/month for 814 square feet.
As with at Carmel Place, New York's first micro-unit development, Caesura’s developer is emphasizing the building’s amenities and community space, presumably to make up for lack of actual apartment space. The building has a fitness center, yoga and meditation studio, a game room with a wet bar, basement bicycle room with a tool station, and a rooftop garden lounge. There’ll also be a so-called lending library, open to all tenants, with three dozen items including a porcelain dinner service for 12, ladder, sewing machine, a guitar with amp, and even an ice-cream maker.
The building also has 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space that will house the new HQ of Center for Fiction, relocating from Manhattan, and rehearsal studios for Mark Morris Dance Center, currently located next door. A yet-to-be-named retail establishment is also planned, according to the Times.
Move-ins are expected for early next year, starting February 1st.