Downtown L.A. micro-lofts for rent may be affordable, but they sure are tiny

 

The Rosslyn Lofts in downtown L.A. announced the availability of micro-loft apartments last week featuring kitchenettes, free utilities and free Internet.

Redesigned to serve the downtown workforce, the 1913 concrete-and-steel building at 451 S. Main St. was largely gutted and now has 297 rentals, 259 of which qualify as "affordable housing." Households earning between 35% and 60% of the Los Angeles area’s median income are eligible to lease the units from $484 to $832.

Now here comes the micro part: The spaces range from 200 to 325 square feet. That's smaller than a standard two-car garage.

Does small mean affordable? You tell me.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments

Photo: The building's exposed brick adds visual interest to a wall of a model unit.  Credit: Parness & Associates

Comments

[TK Bruin]

Of course it's affordable. Not everyone can afford $2000/mo rent.

[Latesummer2009]

Affordable housing at $250-400/sqft!!! Hardly. This is disgraceful and insulting to human beings. Give people a little dignity. Imagine paying that to live in a garage with Ikea furniture, in an old downtown building. If this is the cities idea of affordable housing, we'll all be living in cubicles soon. Oh, but on the Westside they should rent for $1300 per month. ABSURD.

www.westsideremeltdown.blogspot.com

[anon]

Low rent.
Less to clean.
Less furniture to buy.

Sounds like a great deal.

There are probably four billion poor people in the world that would love to live there.

If you want to pay people a high, livable, union wage to plan, build and maintain structures, then you either need to charge high rents or shrink the square footage.

There's no ever-lasting-gob-stopper apartment that's centrally located, newly built, large and cheap.

But the brain-dead keep demanding that as "right" as if that will magically turn fantasy into reality.

You want a big, new place cheap?
Move to the IE.

[Lol]

Hmm I don't think minimum pay can cover that. Are we running out of land are we in japan.

[DT]

Latesummer2009,

If you don't want to live in a cube with Ikea furniture, you could always live in Riverside.

Did you see those layouts in Ikea using 200-400 sq feet of space, it's actually really nice.

Having lived in Boston and New York, where a 200 sq feet unit can go for over $1000/mo(there are some units that are literally a box with not even walls for the bathroom meaning that you can see the toilet from the kitchen), this unit isn't so bad.

[mucker]

Nope. Not affordable. Not nearly doable. Not by a long shot. I work downtown and at one point in the 80's lived in a true loft. A 3000+ sq foot workspace. These developer deals are dumps. The picture looks like a rich guys play room for his little girl. C'mon. Downtown has no real living amenities. No grocery, corner market, restaurants, or appealing day or night life. I looked at one place with my son who wanted a pied a tier in LA for work in LA while still living in San Diego. It was 300 sq ft or so and $1200.00, a converted motel. He laughed and walked away. Small means small - not affordable. Affordable means getting the features for a decent life at a rate that allows a lifestyle. Something like the 33% recommended as a budget for home purchase. And don't forget renters do not get an income tax deduction.

[Downtowners]

I paid $1,100 a month at the Promenade Towers for a 297 sq ft studio. $800...that's a bargin! A single person don't need that much space. It's just more crap to buy to fill up the empty space. Learn to live with less. People live like this in Japan and New York and other part of the world. And guess what? People walk in other part of the world too, not live by their car

[manraygun]

"People live like this in Japan and New York and other part of the world. And guess what? People walk in other part of the world too, not live by their car"

And guess what, what? I've lived in New York and downtown LA is no New York.

[anon]

I applaud this -- large spaces are wasteful (and expensive!). More affordable housing is needed in downtown areas if those downtowns are going to be supported with grocery, restaurant, and other amenities. Very nice.

[Apartments Barcelona]

You are right manraygun -- I agree with your view-point.

[Laker]

My storage shed is larger than that...
OMG, The garage is almost double their size, what a dump for $800?

[Ex Tokyo Renter, Pasadena Renter]

Well I have lived in Tokyo for over six years and you know what, even as a single guy living in a place that small sucks.

All of my Japanese friends and co-workers who lived in
those small apartments, hated those things, but because of the cost of real estate they have no choice and many of these people were professionals. Though many of them worked so late they were never home. Also keep in mind that RE prices in Tokyo have absolutely no link to supply and demand. There is a huge glut of available rooms, but prices stay sticky. But that's slowly changing as Japan's economy keeps crashing.

There even not charging the ridiculous key money and offering free rent, which was unheard of in Japan, let alone Tokyo.

My old (2005) apartment was 239,000 Yen a month for 700 square feet, brand new place, central Tokyo. Overpriced, but it is going for 229,000/month now as still no takers.

But of course, LA is NO Tokyo, not even by a long shot.
I love LA and I love Tokyo, but there not even close.

Tokyo and other large Japanese cities have amazing public transportation and no gang-bangers and awful ghettos that are 3rd world crime infested pits.

Tokyo has plenty of crappy areas with near 3rd world housing, but I don't have to be worried about getting harassed for being a white guy.In Tokyo I lived near such an area and could walk through it safely any time of the day or night. (Shinagawa-ku, Oi machi area)

I never had a car and could effortlessly go from my apartment in central Tokyo to my wife's parent's large spacious house in central Nara w/out ever having to step foot in a car. Took only 3 changes too!

If LA had the kind of transportation that Tokyo or even NY (which is good, but not as good as Tokyo) or the lifestyle you can have in Tokyo, then the above mentioned apartments would make sense.

[chicka]

Normally when I hear of "Affordable Housing", it's in reference to families - not young swingin thangs.

When will LA realise they cannot build a vibrant downtown without a true base of population. I'm single - I don't *need* affordable housing nearly as much as the the person who cleans offices downtown, with two kids and his also-working wife....THEY are the ones who need the help, not unencumbered moi.

I hope to hell this doesn't get counted in the city's "affordable housing" stats. Because it's a lie.

[Joe Venderwiffle]

I think these are great. The rental costs include utilities. There are months where my utilities alone equal the rental costs of these units.

And how does this rental cost compare to what thousands of students pay each year to share an even smaller space in a high rise dormitory?

[Jonah LaFollette]

To everyone who says "people live like this in Japan and New York"...get a clue! There is plenty of buildable space in LA...we are still dominated by single family homes.

There is a glut of units on the market...why pay crazy prices? The reason this is a rip off is because your are paying 300+sqft...cheap doesn't always mean a better bargin.

[Jonah LaFollette]

Mucker...There is a Ralphs downtown and a good number of restaurants downtown. I just think it's funny that these developers think just because they paid too much for the land that we are dumb enough to pay outrageous rent or loft prices. Let them all go back to the bank!~

[Michael Snyder]

Let's do the math folks; $800 / 325sq.ft. =$2.46 per sq. ft.

Not a bargain when compared to rents in real neighborhoods with grocery stores & schools.

Now if you think drunks defecating on your doorstep is a plus...

[patient_vulture]

The article says the rents are $484-$832 for the low income qualified. Yet if you go to the Rosslyn Loft website, they show the low income rent units to be from $775-$832 a month.

??

[mucker]

Jonah:

Where is that Ralphs? I work downtown but I've never seen it. I understand it is near Washington or the AT&T building. If you have an apartment or Loft near the jewelery center, Little Tokyo or govt center it seems the grocery store is a long way to go. Parking is bad and LA's public transit is not the greatest. Plus almost the whole area is overrun with street people and the homeless (not badmouthing them but you must admit they are not appealing neighbors to interact with). I have lived in Chicago and San Francisco and both of those cities are much more vibrant urban centers than LA - hands down.

[Tony]

Worst news of all - that bowl in the lower right hand corner is the toilet.

[Downtowners]

Ralphs is around 9th and Flowers. There's also the Grand Central Market, and the grocery stores in Japan Town and Chinatown. I don't have problem shopping for grocery living in downtown.

And I lived in San Francisco for 20 years...downtown LA has a lot less bums than SF. I had to walk past bums pissing and doing their #2 walking past Sansome street everyday to work.

[patient_vulture]

Wow, that looks like a fridge/stovetop and kitchen sink all-in-one!

If I was 18 i might dig it....

[problemwithcaring]

Low rent.
Less to clean.
Less furniture to buy.

Sounds like a great deal.
Posted by: anon | July 04, 2009 at 06:25 PM

I am renting out the tub in my bathroom. You can clean it in five minutes, with scrubbing bubbles. Sounds like the perfect "adorable" new home for you....

[patient_vulture]

The sad part is that the low income qualified prices they are offering should be normal street prices, considering the enormous amount of vacant units downtown.

Why is it building owners are so willing to let so many of their units stay vacant for months and months, rather than lower their prices say 20% or so? Logic says they won't come close to making up the losses on extended vacancies by holding out for top of the market rent rates, especially since many move out after their 1 year lease is up (when they pay top $$).

Why is it that rental supply and demand doesn't balance out? Why has the downtown loft/apt market been able to survive for so many months (years now I think) with such high vacancy rates?

Logic tells me they would have loss less $$ by lowering rents to fill the vacancies, than have many months of zero income units.

It just makes no sense.

[David in Los Angeles]

Our family of four is living in a 1000 sq ft condo here on the westside. Tight, but we make it work. $800 for 325 sq feet is pretty pricey. Downtown L.A. is no NYC.