These beautiful micro apartments show how limiting square footage forces many to magnify their creativity when designing small spaces
By Dan Avery January 23, 2023
When you consider that the average price for a Manhattan condo was more than $2,000 per square foot last year—and nearly $2,800 per square foot in the luxury market—thinking small can have real appeal (as well as necessity). Some owners simply want a pied-à-terre for the occasional jaunt into the city. Others are more interested in location than square footage. And some city dwellers consider their building’s ample shared spaces, such as rooftops, and amenities well worth the trade off for more modest living quarters. New York housing laws used to require apartments to be a minimum of 400 square feet, but that stipulation was removed in 2016 to allow for the development of “micro apartments.” In 2022, Alex Verhaeg, paid $1,100 per month for a 95-square-foot apartment on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. “People might call this place just a room or a closet, but to me, it is home,” Verhaeg, or @StMarkShorty on TikTok, told CNBC. “Any space can be made into a home, no matter how big or how small that space is,” the 23-year-old said. “You just need to put some love into it.” Below, we’ve gathered 11 tiny gems that prove size isn’t everything when it comes to real estate. And, in fact, when done well, limiting the square footage forces many to magnify their creativity while designing a small space.
208 Delancey, Unit 2G ($799,000)
When construction on ODA New York–designed 208 Delancey was completed last year, it added an unmissable curved profile to the Lower East Side. The 12-story building includes 85 residences, from studios to three-bedrooms, as well as a collection of penthouses. Facing south over Delancey Street, this 456-square-foot studio features quadruple-pane oversized windows that let ample sunlight in but keep the din of the neighborhood out.
It boasts nine-foot ceilings and wide-plank eight-inch European oak floors. Separated from the living area by a dividing wall, the kitchen is outfitted with Miele appliances.
